Monday, February 28, 2011

Spring Training: SF 10 MIL 9

A lot of interesting news and links for today, but first, a friendly reminder. Don't get too attached to Spring Training. A lot of the numbers don't mean much, and aren't indicative of what will actually happen in the regular season. I found this to be a great example. Anyway, here goes...not a game summary...just a bunch of notes/links regarding the Giants, including a few on today's game.

  • Gotta start with what's most exciting: Brandon Belt. The kid went three for five today with four RBIs and a couple of doubles. He flashed patience at the plate, opposite-field power...pretty much everything good that we've been hearing about him. Nice to see he's continuing to hit well in what was his first Spring Training start of the year. 
  • Thomas Neal is also impressed with Brandon Belt
  • I've been expecting this, and now Brian Sabean has confirmed its likelihood...Brandon Belt will probably start the year in AAA. I don't really mind. I'd love to see him on the team right away, but I think he'll be in the majors when necessary. If the Giants offense is starving, and Belt is raking in AAA, I'm confident that Giants management will do the right thing and call him up. At best, the Giants offense gets along without Belt until a midseason call-up, shortening Belt's service time so that he can have an extra year with the Giants.
  • Kevin Goldstein released his Top 101 Prospects list. Two Giants made the cut: Belt at 22, and Zach Wheeler at 52...not too different from Baseball America's respective rankings of Belt and Wheeler.
  • Fangraphs' Eno Sarris wrote up a season preview for the Giants. I think he makes some good points about the Giants, but I'm still very optimistic about the Giants. I have no doubts that this offense is good enough to support this pitching staff, and moreover, I have no doubts that this pitching staff will continue to dominate. 
  • Sergio Romo has developed a sinker, with help from Jeremy Affeldt. This is excellent news -- should be a great addition to his arsenal. 
  • Satchel Price of Beyond the Box Score released his Giants Top 15 Prospects list. Overall, I like the list a lot...he has a couple of my favorite sleepers in there (Heath Hembree and Chuckie Jones), and I like that he has Eric Surkamp up at number eight. There's no doubt in my mind that Surkamp belongs in the top ten. 
  • Speaking of Eric Surkamp, he needs a nickname! 
  • While you're at it, Justin Fitzgerald also needs a nickname
  • Mark DeRosa continues to look great in Spring Training. He crushed a home run today, a sign of hope that he hasn't lost his power after two wrist surgeries. 
  • Barry Zito, on the other hand...didn't look great. He walked five of the 13 batters he faced. The walks bother me...I'd be much more content if he had given up five straight hits. But I won't get too caught up in this. I think he'll be a mighty fine fifth starter; of course, not too happy that he'll be making $19MM+ next year, but that's a different story...
  • Jeff Suppan threw three scoreless innings today. Nice to see that the sixth starter, and potential long relief man, has the ability to do that. I want to see as little Suppan as possible in 2011 though, and I think I've made that clear. 
  • Travis Ishikawa started in left field today. Maybe this increases the chances that he'll make the team out of Spring Training? I still would be surprised though. And once Belt comes up, I just don't see where there's room for him. 
  • Brian Wilson launched a website.
  • Former Giant Bob Howry has retired. Not a big fan of what he did as a Giant, to be honest... 
  • Baseball America released the list of the 93 prospects that received votes on at least one of their six Top 150 lists. Two Giants made the cut: Gary Brown and Francisco Peguero
Wow. I think that's everything...