The regular season is right around the corner, with the Giants opener on Friday. Some games have already started in Japan, with the Athletics and the Mariners starting their season there. Now, it's time for the Giants to make the call on who gets to stay in the bigs and who is released/sent down to the minors. Gregor Blanco looks to be the fourth outfielder on the roster because of his torrid .348 batting average during spring training. As far as the infield goes, it looks like Fontenot and Theriot are going to have even less of a role as previously imagined. Emmanuel Burriss looks as if he is going to start the season at second base in place of the injured Freddy Sanchez. Burriss is hitting .360 during spring and is showing exceptional defensive skills around the diamond and good base-stealing ability. Also, Joaquin Arias, a shortstop that had been in the majors before, has impressed mostly with the glove during the spring. Although being merely average with the bat, .275 average during the spring, his glove should make him a viable back-up for rookie Brandon Crawford if he befalls injury or begins to struggle with the bat.
On the back of their excellent starting pitching and bullpen, I do not see the giants losing more than 70 games unless their rotation is absolutely crippled. With the return of Buster Posey and eventually Freddy Sanchez, as well as the addition of Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan, should lead to an improved offense. My prediction for the Giants record is 97- 65, which should be good enough to win them the NL West. I'm willing to bet that the Giants will be a playoff team once again and will be geared for a playoff run with their stellar pitching. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Great blog Nathan, I dont follow baseball too much, so your my one stop for everyhting baseball. According to your bold predictions, you think the Giants will be significantly better this year record wise, even though they haven't improved significantly from last year?
ReplyDelete