Zito and Bumgarner are carrying the load right now while Cain, Vogie and Timmy scuffle. I suspect that there will always be two or three of the five going strong throughout the season. Once the playoffs hit, you're down to 3-4 starters anyway.
On the hitting front, how about that .500 hitting Nick Noonan? Three for five in his one start and three for seven in mop-up/ pinch-hitting duty. He's doing what I envisioned Conor Gillaspie would do with the bat in his limited appearances. It's good to see that when opportunity knocked, Nick answered the door. I'm not sure Conor was given that much of an opportunity, but.....maybe here in Chicago.
Note: Gillaspie @ .429 in the early going for the Pale Hose:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/8378/gamelog;_ylt=A2KJ3CYNRm1RKFMAUtVNbK5_
2013 NL WEST STANDINGS
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 9 | 4 | .692 | -- |
| Colorado | 8 | 4 | .667 | -- |
| Arizona | 8 | 4 | .667 | -- |
| LA Dodgers | 7 | 6 | .538 | 2.0 |
| San Diego | 3 | 10 | .231 | 6.0 |
Medical Watch:
- 1B Brett Pill (right knee surgery in March 2013), who had been on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22, was activated April 15 and optioned to the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies.
- INF Tony Abreu (left knee strain) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He missed most of spring training.
- RHP Eric Surkamp (Tommy John surgery in July 2012) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He is unlikely to return before midseason.On the farm, I got a chance to see # 1 prospect Kyle Crick pitch on MiLB.tv. You can see very early where the Matt Cain comparisons come from and also why he currently is in Class A ball. First couple of innings, lights out dominant. An inning or two later, the plates on wheels and the walks follow. He seems to have trouble maintaining / repeating his mechanics, which will come with 300-500 innings. So he's a couple of years away, but appears to be worth the wait.San Jose is loaded with starters / pitching in general. Edwin Escobar looks sharp from the left side. Good stuff, good control. Good feel for pitching. Then Crick and Clayton Blackburn, who I have not seen to date but appears to have a feel for pitching like the Rays Jeremy Hellickson. Efficient and gets guys out while hitting bats. If that wasn't enough you have LHP's Ty Blach and Adalberto Mejia, who scuffled a bit in the early going.That's not even including LHP's Josh Osich and Bryce Bandilla. The Giants seem to be taking the "you can never have enough pitching" philosophy and expanding it to "you can never have enough LHP".I was surprised somewhat to see college pitchers Martin Agosta and Chris Stratton in Low-A Augusta, but given the logjam in San Jose, maybe not too much.Working up the chain, Richmond (AA) seems a bit prospect barren by comparison. At least from the mound. RHP Jacob Dunnington will be interesting to watch. Twenty-one years old and pitching AA could be a challenge. It will be interesting to see if he maintains his 10+ K/9 rate. At the plate, Richmond is the place to be for the future Giants. C Andrew Susac is off to a good start. He may be blocked at the big league level by this Posey kid. The IF is loaded with 1B Ricky Oropesa, 2B Joe Panik, SS Ehire Adrianza and 3B Adam Duvall. The corners are potential power bats, have to see if they hit for high enough average without a plethora of K's. Adrianza has the glove, his bat may keep him down and he may be blocked by the Crawford kid in SF. Joe Panik is interesting. His stat line indicates he is the most prepared to hit at the higher levels. He may have to move to 2B and he should be able to handle the move. If his stats continue at AA-AAA he should be in SF in some capacity very soon.At Fresno, all eyes remain on OF's Gary Brown and Francisco Peguero. I was surprised the Giants moved SS Carter Jurica this high but he looks pretty good at SS so far. The pitchers to watch here are LHP Mike Kickham, RHP's Jake Dunning, Chris Heston and future closer RHP Heath Hembree.
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