Spring Training - CAN'T WAIT!!!

The Giants have signed all of their significant arbitration eligible players.

These seven players will make a combined $18+M.

The team payroll for next year should be around $115 million.

Cody Ross – $6.3 Million
Andres Torres – $2.1 Million
Jonathan Sanchez – $3.7 Million
Ramon Ramirez – $1.65 Million
Santiago Casilla – $1.3 Million
Javier Lopez – $2.38 Million
Mike Fontenot – $1.05 Million

---

The Giants have invited Marc Kroon to Spring Training. It appears he is signed to a minor-league or make-good deal. An interesting signing, Kroon was clocked at 101 miles per hour three years ago. Kroon has had 177 saves and a 2.68 ERA in Japan the last six years. From his prior stats in the golld old USA he sounds like a bit of an older version of Nuke LaLoush.

The Giants also added depth and insurance to the starting rotation by adding veteran pitcher Jeff Suppan. San Francisco has agreed to a minor league contract with the 36-year-old right-hander and invited him to big league camp. Suppan went 3-8 with a 5.06 ERA in 15 starts last season with Milwaukee and St. Louis. He should fill the role Todd Wellemeyer filled last year.

If one of the starters goes down, Suppan can eat up some innings and give the Giants a chance to win against most other teams fifth starters.

The reports on both Pablo Sandoval's off-season conditioning and Mark DeRosa's rehab from wrist injury continue to be good.

A return by one or both of these guys to form should mitigate the need to go too far out on a limb to acquire a bat. Both returning to peak form would be icing on the cake.

-----

2011 GIANTS PROJECTED 25-MAN ROSTER

Projected Starting Lineup

1 CF Andres Torres
2 2B Freddy Sanchez
3 1B Aubrey Huff
4 C Buster Posey
5 RF Cody Ross
6 LF Pat Burrell
7 SS Miguel Tejada
8 3B Pablo Sandoval

Projected Bench
C Eli Whiteside
1B Travis Ishikawa
IF Mike Fontenot
IF/OF Mark DeRosa
OF Aaron Rowand

Projected Starting Rotation
1 RHP Tim Lincecum
2 RHP Matt Cain
3 LHP Jonathan Sanchez
4 LHP Madison Bumgarner
5 LHP Barry Zito

Projected Bullpen
CL RHP Brian Wilson
SU RHP Sergio Romo
SU LHP Jeremy Affeldt
MID LHP Javier Lopez
MID RHP Santiago Casilla
MID LHP Dan Runzler
LR RHP Ramon Ramirez

Spring Training Invitees and Minor Leaguers of note:

Position Players:

OF Nate Schierholtz
1B Brandon Belt
IF Emmanuel Burriss
IF Ryan Rohlinger
OF Darren Ford
1B/OF Brad Eldred
OF Terry Evans
C Chris Stewart

Pitchers:

RHP Casey Daigle
RHP Steve Edlefsen
RHP Waldis Joaquin
RHP Marc Kroon
RHP Shane Loux
RHP Guillermo Mota
RHP Jeff Suppan
RHP Ryan Vogelsong
LHP Alex Hinshaw

On the prospect front, it is interesting to go through the various prospect lists from publications such as Baseball America, John Sickels and other noted prospect followers.

Some publish a Top Ten List, others go twenty deep. Some list seem to favor and reward high-ceiling players, others look at statistical measures of productivity. I looked at four such lists and the results showed a wide, diverse opinion on some of the Giants prospects.

The following players appeared on all four lists, revealing a consensus opinion regarding their abilities:

Brandon Belt
Zack Wheeler
Gary Brown
Francisco Pegeuro
Thomas Neal
Ehire Adrianza
Charlie Culberson

No real surprises here, some might quibble about Adrianza's bat, but his bat won't get him to the bigs.

The next group appeared on three lists:

Brandon Crawford
Jorge Burcardo
Eric Surkamp
Thomas Joseph

Here, I think Joseph stands out as the surprise, given he displays the one big tool -- a power bat -- strikes out a lot, not unusual for a young player and may have to move out from behind the dish, especially if he remains in SF.

The guys that made only two lists are longer reaches. Some lists like to be the "first to identify" a guy as a legit prospect. It probably helps future magazine or newletter sales.

The two-fers:

Jarret Parker
Mike Kickham
Richard Hembree
Kendry Flores
Jake Dunning
Michael Main

The solo-artists were:

Jose Casilla
Chuckie Jones
Hector Sanchez
Jason Stoffel
Rafael Rodriguez
Chris Dominguez
Roger Kieschnick

I like Casilla, I think he is solid if unspectacular. Stoffel seems like he has more upside than noted here. Kieschnick's star has fallen, perhaps due more to injuries than anything else.

The surprises were the no-votes. The also-rans.

Conor Gillaspie, Seth Rosin head the list. I like them both.

Stephen Harrold, Ryan Verdugo, Clayton Tanner and Nick Noonan are all solid prospects, I'm surprised how far Noonan has fallen as well.

Luke Anders, Aaron King, Edwin Concepcion, Wendell Fairley, Matthew Graham seem to be struggling to get positive attention. Each draft class increases the odds of release for all of these guys.

---

Interesting list published recently were the "20 Most Hated Players in MLB. The list included in order:

Alex Rodriguez
Milton Bradely
A.J. Piercynzki
Carlos Zambrano
Manny Ramirez
Kevin Youkilis
Pedro Martinez
Brandon Phillips
Cecil Fielder
Jonathan Papelbon

The list was heavy on former Sawks and Yankees (Burnett, Pavano, Pettitte, Ortiz appeared later) so the voters must have come primarily from the ESPN, NESN, YES Network axis of evil. Jose Reyes and Frankie Rodriguez of the Mets also made the list later.

I guess the lesson learned from this list is that with the big-contract, the bright lights and the big-city comes a healthy dose of animosity.