The Possibilty

This could be a good week for the Giants. Today, the Phillies announced that they are close to a deal with Pedro Feliz. It would be a two year deal. At the same time Brandon Inge finally spoke about his position with the Tigers. He is angry that he is playing second to Miguel Cabrera. "I am not happy with it. I'm not happy at all," he said. Although he didn't say he wanted to leave the team he wants to play baseball. I find it a bit too much of a coincidence that these two things happened on the same day. Why would Inge wait until today to express his feelings? I think the Giants should listen to Inge's plea to play with them. I have already said he would make a pretty good fit. Hopefully Sabean will be able to see through that thick skull of his and make the move. Then I won't be so pissed off about this off season.

The Men Behind the Mike

There are five of them now, including J.T. Snow, the latest addition. Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Dave Flemming, and Greg Papa are the rest. If you look at at all those names you are probably thinking of a gold-star booth.

Jon Miller is most definitely the voice of the Giants and is planning to be for a long time since he will be remaining with the Giants thru the 2012 season. He has one of the greatest, richest voices in the business and makes the game entertaining even when the play isn't. I am always pissed off on Sunday's when ESPN steals him away for the night. Those days we don't get to here his famous line, "two, a double play."

Miller isn't the only announcer in the booth. Dave Flemming is the perfect person to go along with him. He isn't a standout announcer, but he tells the game the way it is. Now in his third season with the Giants, he is becoming the main play-by-play man of the team. I wholeheartedly agree with that idea. I think he is one of the best at explaining each play so that you can picture it in your mind. His call of 715 is actually one of my favorite home run calls because he was so excited that his voice cracked while he was calling it. Hopefully he will be on the radio for a long time.

T.V.'s have been invented though, so now there is a need for more announcers. Kruk and Kuip are the two for the Giants. They have been a pair for 16 years now. They are two good talkers when it comes to the game, but I don't think they spend enough time on the game. They love to pan the audience and talk about that, rather than watch a couple of pitches go by. If they spent more time on the game, it would be easier to watch them.

Greg Pappa and J.T. Snow are to people who aren't in the booth every game. Pappa fills in for Miller when he is doing the Sunday night game. Snow goes on some brodcasts and gives insight to plays in the game. I think Snow might be participating in a few more games this year than last year. At least I hope so. It is fun to here plays from an ex-player's standpoint.

I'm sure these guys are itching to get on the air as much as I am itching to get this season started. I cannot wait to here their voices describe the plays of the game. Only 19 days till spring training.

The Potential 5th Starter

A non-important signing was made today, but still, it is a signing. Brad Hennesey was re-signed today on the terms of $1.6 million for a year. He avoided arbitration by doing so. He is one of the pitchers who will be battling for that open fifth spot during spring training. He has been with the team for four years now and has struggled to maintain a spot in either the bull pen or the rotation. Yet again, he will be battling for two jobs come this new season in 2008. The fifth spot in the rotation and the closer role. Both have many other possible candidates. Once again it looks like another struggle for Hennessey to get playing time and nobody is really that interested anyway.

The Guy Who Calls The Shots

I know Brian Sabean is in a mess with all this stuff about the steroids scandal, but can the man make some moves here. Giants fans are falling asleep with the action that is happening in the Bay Area. Signing Aaron Rowand got me excited, but that has been the extent of the action this off season. There are still moves to be made that haven't been.

First base and third base are the two major concerns, right now, and nothing is being done. The two candidates for the job, are Dan Ortmeier and Rich Aurilla. One of them is a natural outfielder, the other a shortstop. Sabean could pick up free agent Sean Casey for not much of a price to pay. He would dramatically boost our power, which is at -8000 right now.

Third is a problem as well. I am ecstatic that the management has made moves to get rid of Pedro Feliz, but he hasn't made any transactions to fill the spot. Until a few days ago, Scott Rolen was a viable option, but now he has gone to the Blue Jays. There are still other options though. Brandon Inge, of the Tigers, has shown no interest in backing up Miguel Cabrera and would bring a little more pop to the line up. Corey Koskie is also on the list of free agents. His lifetime .275 average would be fantastically better than Feliz's .252. All that has to be done is the phone to be picked up and the contracts to be inked.

This is not a new story. Sabean has had a history of being slow to pull the trigger. Last year he announced that the team was going to get younger. Nothing happened until he signed Aurilla and David Roberts, two people who are in their mid to late thirties. Things need to start moving here in the Bay Area or seats are going to stop filling up at AT&T. It would be nice to see some new faces in the orange and black.

The Four

As of right now the Giants have four set starters. All of them durable and, for the most part, reliable. Here they are in Opening Day order.

1. Barry Zito, 3.67ERA
2. Matt Cain, 3.73ERA
3. Noah Lowry, 4.03ERA
4. Tim Lincecum, 4.00ERA

The fifth spot is more of a question. There are quite a few people competing for the job. Kevin Correia, Patrick Misch, and Russ Ortiz are the prime candidates for the job right now. Whoever does the best in spring training will most likely have it come April. Personally I think that Patrick Misch really looked good in a few of his starts last year. He has the potential to become a pretty developed player. I would love to see that great curve ball a lot more. Russ Ortiz is past his due and should finish up his career. Kevin Correia just hasn't looked reliable over long periods of time. He has his occasional spectacular game here and there, but in the long run he hasn't looked that brilliant. It will be interesting to see who gets the spot when all comes to an end.

I really like the starting four except for Lowry (I will explain later.). They were MLB's seventh best staff and the National League's fourth best. I don't think that is going to change any time soon, if not improve. Here they all are in detail:

Barry Zito

Barry Zito did not have the best of years last year and that is putting it nicely. He struggled with his control and had trouble keeping the ball down. His curve didn't always have its usual bite to it. I think he was mainly uncomfortable taking in the role of ace and staff leader as soon as he arrived. I'm hoping he'll settle down and assume his position. If he does, I think he will resume pitching affectively and racking up those strike outs when players are standing frozen after the ball seems to drop from above the head to right at the knees.

Matt Cain

I don't know how he put up with it, but he was tortured beyond belief last year. I have never seen a pitcher get that little run support and still have an ERA below four. I don't know how many no hitters or shutouts he took into the seventh or eigth inning last year only to lose 1-0 or 2-1 in the ninth or extra innings. If the Giants had been alive at all and scored just 3 or 4 runs in any of his games his record would be reversed from 7-16 to 16-7. We would be talking about All-Star caliber play. I think if he repeats what he did last year and the line up comes to life at all, his worth will go up even more and he will be considered one of the top pitchers in the league.

Noah Lowry

This pitcher was said to be one of the up and coming young pitchers. I think he was never very interesting to begin with, let alone was going to be. He may be a pretty good pitcher but his stuff really isn't that fun to watch. He doesn't have any one pitch that is amazing or an interesting delivery. I don't look forward to his next start when the one he's on is over. I guess I shouldn't be ranting on him too much since he always seems to get the job done. We will just have to wait and see how he holds up this season. Last year he had a little problem with injuries. Hopefully that isn't going to be a long term thing. I certainly won't be disappointed if he starts off next year 4-0.

Tim Lincecum

Lincecum is probably my favorite pitcher. From his quirky wind up to his zipping fastball and quick-biting curveball, he is fun to watch. I think if he gets more mature and doesn't lose his control in stressful situations he will be a fantastic pitcher. He has already shown signs of a mind-boggling change-up. His 7-5 record doesn't show the potential he as. Rather, the 150 strikeouts in only 24 games does. That is averaging almost 6 strikeouts a game. I can't wait to see what kind of season he has this year. I'm expecting a lot more swing and whiffs and I can't wait.

I'm hoping San Fransisco's lineup doesn't ruin yet another good pitching season because this staff could be talked about f0r years to come if the team gets any recognition. Every night I will be saying "Yay Cain's pitching" or "Yay Lincecum's pitching." I really wish the season could start two months sooner so I wouldn't have to wait so long. But I do, so until then I'm just going to keep on writing.