Pre-Season Picks

OK, time to put up or shut up. 

By Friday night, all but one team in MLB will have kicked off their road to heartbreak.

Thusfar, I've been sniffing around the Spring Training blogs and reports -- The Giants look good, save for a somewhat unnerving oblique strain to B Wheezy and a not-quite-alarming leg injury to Cody Ross.

Let's not forget that Wheez is stronger at the end than he is at the beginning, so maybe the extra week(s?) off will save us from a couple blown stinkers.

And, as much as I like the Rodeo Clown, Cody was strong for all of 10 games last year -- and they weren't before the leaves fell.

Besides, Schierholtz has been strong enough, and I think it's time to give the ol' boy a couple weeks to start the year and see exactly what we got (finally).

So, now without further ado, my division picks (after the fold)

Cactus League: Giants' Bench Beats Rangers' Studs

Okay, maybe it's not fair to say that it was the Giants' bench that beat the Rangers last night.  But the team left Buster, Huffy, and Miggy in the clubhouse, and pitched the only guy that lost to Texas in October, whilst Ron Washington (dripping with thoughts of revenge) started 8/9 of his projected opening day line up.

And, still, Washington and the boys from DFW were left scratching their heads.

Don't worry Red State Central, Spring Training games don't count so nobody will guffaw.

Except for me.

Cactus League: A Flash in the Suppan?

Belt hit a monster.  So did Rowand.  And Jeff Suppan sees an opening on the rotation so he answers.

I am only a tiny bit concerned with how well the Boys are doing this Spring.  Posey's hitting like .700 and Pablo's hit more home runs in the last week than Duane Kuiper did in his entire career.

Great, right?  Well, not necessarily if those knocks are coming off of a guy who'll be bagging groceries next week.  An MLB pitcher is good enough to make you miss those pitches just enough that they die on the warning track.

Still, Jeff Suppan's 3 scoreless is umpteen times better than Z's 5 walks and 5 outs outing on Monday. Well, Z going tonight in the split squad game. Let's see how he does.

Cactus League: Brandon effin Belt

I'm not going to dwell on Z's poor pitching performance.  The lead up to these first games was short, and I don't expect the pitchers to be doing anything other than practicing their junk and strategy.  I'd feel a bit better if he was giving up hits rather than walks, but there's 30 days until opening day.

I will, however, dote on a man who goes 3 for 5, with 2 doubles, and 4 RBIs.

Brandon effin Belt.  Effin Brandon Belt.
Brandon Belt, EFF!

Nope, none of those work for me.  How about Brandon FAWKIN Belt?

I like it.

I'm a little concerned about the surplus in the org right now.  Belt seems to only be slotted for the Mothership if someone gets hurt early.  And by someone, I mean Huff or Burrell.

If Pat the Bat's going to hit 30 and Huffy's going to put up a .290/25/85 line, I wouldn't want to trade either of them for Brandon Belt.  And the Giants just re-signed Pat the Bat and Huffy, so they're not going to try and move them (at least not early on).

I think we're going to have to wait a bit for Brandon Belt.  Hopefully not too long.

Cactus League: Power Surge

stolen from sfgate

Yesterday I mentioned that, in the first 2 games of Cactus League, Panda Bear's 2 errors were a tad more concerning than his 450 foot blast was encouraging.

Well, yesterday's home run (his 2nd in consecutive days) blows the 2 errors out of the water.  A trim, conditioned Panda Bear with power?  Gawd, I only hope it lasts.

I figure him to be a .270 hitter in general, but he's got too much leg bulk to sit anywhere under 20 home runs (and really, he should be above 30 for the next couple few years).  Hopefully, those two days are a portent of things to comes.

I listened a little bit, but not very closely.  Sounds like it got sloppy in the last 3 innings. 

Cactus League: Stringing 'em together

Got to listen to the bulk of the game yesterday -- Giants beat a split squad Dodgers 8-3.

More of the same from the first game.  Jonathan Sanchez pretty much worked his fastball and went 1.2, the boys strung together several hits in a row and scored 4 in 2 different innings.

This is pretty much last year's m.o.: hang around and score in bunches.

Pablo went yard and he booted a grounder for the second day in a row.  The errors are a little more disconcerting than the dinger is encouraging, but maybe this is Panda Bear shaking out the rust.

It was good to hear Kruk and Kuip and Jon Miller, and it sounded almost like baseball again, except for the random names in the later innings.