Fun fact: Sanchez injured his groin posing for this photo. Zuma Images.

- Bad injury news for the Giants: Emmanuel Burriss had to leave the Giants’ spring opener with soreness in his left toe, which is the same toe he fractured last year. X-rays were negative, so an MRI has been scheduled to try and find the source of the pain. Freddy Sanchez, who I’m convinced has never been healthy in his entire adult life, still hasn’t picked up a bat this spring and is highly questionable for Opening Day. Plus, Mark DeRosa’s wrist has kept him off the field so far this week, though he’s likely to take a few swings this weekend.

The Giants managed to stay relatively healthy in 2009, and repeating that feat will go a long way towards another successful year. There are more injury risks up and down the lineup this season (DeRosa, Sanchez, Edgar Renteria, and Bengie Molina, to name a few), so let’s hope these setbacks are just a spring trend.

- The Giants have started the spring 3-0, which of course means it’s time to start printing playoff tickets. Leadoff hitter extraordinaire Aaron Rowand has 4 hits over the first 3 games, and he’s well on his way to providing the spark the Giants need at the top of the lineup *cough*. Molina has 7 hits in his first 9 AB’s, and Kevin Frandsen is showing a strong bat in his attempt to win a utility job.

Things didn’t start out so well for Tim Lincecum, though, as he gave up 3 runs in his only inning of work on Wednesday. Matt Cain looked strong in 3 innings of work today, and setup man Dan Runzler has looked unhittable so far.

What does it all mean? Absolutely nothing, it’s only 3 games into spring training. It’s just good to have baseball back.

Next time, put in Mota. AP Photo

- If the Giants had one huge, pressing issue coming into 2010, it was this: making sure someone nailed Prince Fielder in retaliation for his ridiculous, bush league walk-off celebration last September. Barry Zito did just that on Thursday, and quickly moved up the list of all-time favorite Giants, now ranking behind Michael Tucker.

If there’s one bad thing about Fielder getting hit, it was that the guy with the slowest fastball on the team delivered the message. That celebration deserved more than an 82-mph fastball to the ribs, don’t you think? I mean, isn’t this why the Giants signed Guillermo Mota? To throw at guys and then run for the hills? Just ask Mike Piazza: Mota can throw at guys like nobody’s business. Hell, Mota is the guy who threw at Fielder and caused him to try and get into the Dodgers’ clubhouse last year (question: what do you root for when Prince Fielder fights the Dodgers? Answer: mutual destruction). Ah well, there’s always that 4-game series in July.

Then to top it off, Fielder was quoted after the game: “That’s something I did with me and my teammates. It has nothing to do with them. You’re damn right it was worth it.”

Man, I hope Mota sticks with the team through the summer.

- Thanks for reading. Remember, you can follow Golden Gate Giants on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or email: GoldenGateGiants@gmail.com. Until next time.

At least they agree that Barry Zito is dreamy…that’s something we can all get behind.

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That’s probably my all-time favorite baseball quote, and it sure seems appropriate with the Giants reporting for Spring Training…and, since I couldn’t find any Jersey Shore quotes that applied, it’s the one I went with. Some notes from the Giants’ first week of the 2010 campaign:

Gamer!

- Strictly by default, Aaron Rowand will be the Giants’ leadoff hitter in 2010 (assuming Andrés Torres doesn’t win the job in RF…or in CF…but that’d be asking too much, wouldn’t it?). Rowand batting leadoff is far, far from ideal for the Giants’ lineup, but to his credit, Rowand is getting into better shape: reports are that he’s shed 10 pounds over the winter, mostly through bike riding around Nevada. Nice! Now the Giants will finally have a leadoff hitter with some speed!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Rowand is getting into better shape in the third year of his 5-year, $60 million contract…I guess the first two years were just kind of a wash. The bigger issue, though, is that AARON ROWAND IS GOING TO BE THE TEAM’S LEADOFF HITTER. We all know he’s overpaid, we all know he turned one good year (and one head-first slam into a wall) into millions from the Giants, we all know his defense isn’t nearly as good as everyone outside of San Francisco seems to think it is, and we all know that he’ll have a pretty good first half before disappearing completely after the All-Star break; and, we all could probably live with that were he hitting 6th or 7th in a stacked lineup. This isn’t a stacked lineup. It makes you wonder why the Giants didn’t make a bigger push for someone like Chone Figgins over the winter, but a lot of moves (or non-moves) the Giants make leave you wondering.

The fact that Rowand hit .294 from the leadoff position last season doesn’t mean he’s a good leadoff hitter, either; rather, it probably means he’s better suited to bat from a spot where he doesn’t have the constant pressure to drive in runs. The Giants are going to be a station-to-station team this year, and the glaring lack of speed up and down the lineup is troubling. This could be the slowest Giants team since 2004, when they stole a league-low 43 bases over the course of the season. Ray Durham led the team with 10 stolen bases that year; Rowand has stolen 12 bases total over the last three years.

Rowand should be the biggest “gamer” among all Major League leadoff hitters, though…so that’s something.

- Travis Ishikawa has taken the early lead for worst injury of the year: the first baseman tore ligaments in his big toe after he slipped on a flight of stairs. It’s something that will likely keep him on the shelf for a few weeks, which is trouble for someone who’s trying to earn a bench spot as a reserve.

It’s too bad for Ishikawa, since he seemed ready to work hard and do whatever it took to make the roster this year. There was talk of him taking flyballs in the outfield to increase his value, and with Aubrey Huff’s glove being a liability at 1B, Ishikawa would likely see a lot of time as a late-inning defensive replacement. He’d play a big role on the 2010 Giants, and it’s too bad he’s not getting the chance to go out and earn his spot.

Side note: Ishikawa had one of the most severe home/road splits I’ve ever seen in ’09. He hit .349 and slugged .539 at home, while only managing to go .162/.221 on the road. It seems like it should be the other way around, doesn’t it? If Ishikawa could’ve put up even marginal numbers on the road, he’d probably be the ’10 everyday 1B and the Giants wouldn’t have to worry about Huff’s defense at all. So it goes.

- It looks like Todd Wellemeyer and Madison Bumgarner will battle it out for the 5th starter spot in the rotation, and what that means for guys like Joe Martinez and Kevin Pucetas remains to be seen. Wellemeyer seems better suited to be a long man at this point in his career, and it’d be nice to see the Giants give a rotation spot to a home-grown pitcher. Bumgarner got a small taste of the big leagues last year, but the Giants may want him to start the year at Triple-A. Pucetas has won at every level he’s pitched in, and it’s probably time to see if he can make it at the big league level.  Martinez especially deserves the chance to compete for the job, considering the way he battled back from a scary head injury last year.

The Giants won’t need a 5th starter until the second week of the season due to an off day, so they have some time to make up their minds. I’m hoping Bumgarner wins the job… his name is easier to spell than Wellemeyer.

- Some uniform notes: Aubrey Huff is wearing No.17, last worn by…uh, Carlos Alfonso, maybe? Mark DeRosa is wearing No.7, which surprisingly hasn’t yet been retired to honor Marvin Benard. Kevin Frandsen, battling for a utility spot, has switched from No.19 to No.9, Andrés Torres has switched to No.13, and Emmanuel Burriss has switched to No.2.

Henry Sosa shows off the new socks.

One other note: the Giants’ socks now have three horizontal orange stripes at the calf, similar to how the Cardinals wear their socks. They’re apparently the brainstorm of majority owner Bill Neukom, and they actually look pretty cool. It’s too bad the Giants don’t have more players who wear their socks high, but at least we’ll get to see them whenever Matt Cain or Barry Zito takes the mound.

Coming up this week: a look at the 2010 Giants’ outfield. And remember, you can follow Golden Gate Giants on Twitter, join the Golden Gate Giants Facebook page, or email: goldengategiants@gmail.com. Until next time, thanks for reading.

AP Photo

Thankfully, the Giants decided, “Hey, maybe we don’t want to go to arbirtration with the best pitcher in baseball” and signed Lincecum to a 2-year, $23 million contract. He’ll be paid $8 million this year (with a $2 million bonus) and $13 million in 2011, leaving him with two more years of arbirtration eligibility in 2013 and 2014. It’s a reasonable contract that makes both sides happy, and it makes you wonder what exactly took so long.

You’d hope Lincecum isn’t the kind of guy who’d let hurt feelings linger for four years, but that’s no guarantee. When you consider the fact that Lincecum has won the Cy Young twice with a 10-cent lineup surrounding him, plus the fact that the Giants haven’t done a whole lot to improve their offense this year (unless you count Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff, so…yeah), you’d think the Giants wouldn’t want to play hardball with him and risk making him feel underappreciated. Lesser pitchers like Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez got multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts, but the Giants felt Lincecum was only worth $8 million? Seriously? I’m trying really hard to not mention Barry Zito here.

If the Giants were intent on putting the screws to someone during the arbitration process, they should have went with Brian Wilson; I mean, they could probably get a million bucks knocked off of his salary just by showing the arbitrator the entire season of Life of Brian. Lincecum isn’t the guy to be cheap with, and luckily the giants wised up at the last possible moment. Let’s hope this isn’t a harbinger of things to come, though…the last thing we need is a cheapskate ownership group.

- Quick note: earlier this week, the Giants signed Todd Wellemeyer to a minor league contract in hopes of him taking over the long relief role held by Justin Miller for most of 2009. It’s a small move, but thankfully the Giants don’t plan on using Wellemeyer as the 5th starter. Instead, minor league products Madison Bumgarner, Joe Martinez, and Kevin Pucetas will battle for that spot. You’d think of those guys could fill the long relief role, but the Giants wouldn’t be the Giants without an injury-prone guy in his 30’s holding down a roster spot that could easily be filled with someone from the system. I’m in!

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- According to the Boston Globe and Yahoo Sports, the Giants may be close to settling their arbitration case with Tim Lincecum. Lincecum originally asked for $13 million, the Giants came back with $8 million, and the two sides have been at a stalemate ever since.

Obviously this is good news, and if the Giants were smart, they’d do everything they could to sign Lincecum to a multi-year deal that would take him through his remaining arbitration years. I don’t have to list all of the reasons why, but I’ll nutshell it: Lincecum is the best pitcher in baseball, and he sells a whole lot of tickets. What more to the Giants need?

A lot more, apparently. $13 million seems awfully reasonable for a back-to-back Cy Young winner, and instead of haggling with his agents, the Giants should have offered Lincecum a 2-year deal for somewhere around $22 million. Instead, they stuck to their offer of $8 million; or, less than what Edgar Renteria is making this season. Mind-boggling.

Let’s hope that this gets resolved quickly, and let’s hope that there aren’t any lingering bad feelings between Lincecum and the team. Pay him what he deserves.

- The Giants’ search for a 5th starter continues: they’ve apparently offered a minor league contract to Todd Wellemeyer, have been linked to Japanese swingman Hisanori Takahashi, and ex-Giant Brett Tomko has expressed interest in re-joining the team.

Wellemeyer may be the most intriguing of the choices, since he enjoyed some success in the Cardinals rotation in 2008 when he posted a 13-9 record with a 3.71 ERA. Injuries derailed his ’09 season, and if he’s healthy, a minor league deal could be a risk worth taking. Takahashi is, by all accounts, a left-handed soft tosser who could either start or pitch out of the bullpen. He’d make sense if the Giants want a veteran replacement for Justin Miller, but there seem to be plenty of guys in the minor league system that could fill that role. As for Tomko, well…let’s just not think about that scenario.

The Giants wouldn’t have had to worry about finding a 5th starter had they just opened their wallet and paid Brad Penny, but here we are. Madison Bumgarner is still the odds-on favorite to win the job, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the transaction wire to see what pitchers the Giants dig up. No one expected much when the Giants signed Miller and Brandon Medders last year, and they both ended up being big contributors over the course of the season. Just, please, don’t bring back Tomko.

- The Giants have unveiled new alternate jerseys for 2010, and let’s just say they’re bright…really, really bright. The geniuses in the marketing department have taken the “Orange Friday” concept to the extreme, and the end result is this.

The jerseys are an inadvertent throwback to a forgettable period in Giants history, since they wore orange from 1977-82 and had a combined record of 453-467 in those seasons (at least I hope it was inadvertent). The Giants have broken out those orange throwback jerseys once or twice over the last few seasons, and there was nothing wrong with that; making them a permanent part of the current uniform, though, seems a bit much.

I get that it’s all marketing, and I get that the Giants want to sell more jerseys and hats this year, but the Giants don’t need an alternate jersey. Their uniforms are some of the best in baseball, embracing their long tradition yet still keeping a modern, clean look. The new alternate wrecks all that and turns them into a softball team. More importantly, why orange? The Giants have tried in vain to make “Orange Fridays” popular at the ballpark, yet only a handful of fans go all out with it. Do you know why? Because nobody looks good in all orange. The Giants had black alternates from 2001-02 that looked a million times better than these orange ones do, and those didn’t last because they were so untraditional. What makes them think a Cal-Trans look is any better?

The bright side in all of this: it should be fun watching Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval wearing them.

Coming up soon: an in-depth, position-by-position preview of the 2010 Giants. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Sabean: Guys, I like what we’ve done this winter. Lots of due diligence and tire kicking. I’m proud.

Staff: Thanks boss!

Sabean: There’s one thing that’s bothering me, though: the bullpen. We need to kick a few more tires there, diligently.

Staff: Totally agree. Who were you thinking about? Kiko Calero? Chan-Ho Park?

Sabean: No, no. Those guys want Major League contracts. No, see, we got rid of Bob Howry and Merkin Valdez, right?

Staff: Yeah…

Sabean: Ok, that’s what I’m talking about. We need to replace those guys with equally horrible options.

Staff: Uhh…

Sabean: Listen, I already found Byung-Hyun Kim pitching somewhere in South Korea and signed him to a minor league deal. Tire kick.

Staff: He hasn’t pitched in two years!

Sabean: Exactly. Plus, he’s given up a crapload of walk-offs in his career. We won’t even notice Howry’s gone. Then I went and signed Horacio Ramirez.

Staff: He had an ERA close to 6.00 last year…

Sabean: Right, it’s like still having Valdez without a decent fastball. Diligence. But you guys will love this one…are you ready? Ok, ok. Ready? Ok… I got Guillermo Mota today.

Staff: Wasn’t he suspended for violating the drug policy a few years ago?

Sabean: For sure. And, he tried to dome Mike Piazza and then ran away like a punk.

Staff: Well…

Sabean: No, literally, he ran out of the stadium and drove away with Brian Jordan.

Staff: We remember.

Sabean: Tire kick!

I guess we should be thankful Armando Benitez wasn’t available? That’s the only silver lining I can think of.

Kim was last seen in 2007, when he posted an impressive 23.63 ERA in 2 starts with Arizona, after posting an ERA of 5.42 in Florida that same season. Ramirez hasn’t been very good since his rookie year of 2003, and Mota’s career will likely be defined by the time he threw at Piazza and then ran for his life. Not exactly a stellar crop of signings, those.

It’s unlikely the Giants are going to hand out any more Major League contracts before the season starts, since they’d be forced to clear someone from the 40-man roster (*cough cough* Fred Lewis *cough cough*) to do so. Any bullpen/lineup/rotation help is going to come from minor league deals, but if these recent signing are any indication, there’s not much help to be had.

Hey, you don’t think Erik Bedard would take a minor league deal, do you?

- The Giants signed Brian Wilson to a 1-year, $4.4 million contract, avoiding arbitration with their All-Star closer.

It’s not a surprise that the two sides were able to come to an agreement, since they weren’t very far apart to begin with. Plus, when you consider the problems the Giants have had at the end of their bullpen since 2004, it makes sense that they’d work quickly to make Wilson happy.

Wilson, though, needs to prove he’s worth that kind of investment. His numbers have been good the past two seasons, but he’s not exactly a sure thing in the 9th. When Wilson enters a game, you don’t think to yourself, “Yes! This game’s over!” but rather, “OK! Don’t walk anyone and we’ll be good!” and that’s not what you want from a $4 million-plus closer. To be fair to Wilson, his numbers improved across the board from his All-Star season of 2008, and he certainly has the ability to leap into elite territory in 2010. If he can hone his slider to be as consistent as his fastball, he could be the best Giants closer since Robb Nen.

Then again, Wilson is just as likely to use the money on a new, ridiculous haircut and as funding for a new season of Life of Brian on Comcast (and if that happens, we’re all winners) and forget about working on the slider. Luckily, the Giants have depth in the bullpen, and Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, or Dan Runzler all have the ability to close should Wilson falter. Let’s hope he doesn’t, though, because we all need another season of horrible TV and crazy-ass interviews. Oh, and 40 saves would be nice too, I guess.

- Randy Winn has signed on for one season with the Yankees, and has a good shot to win their everyday job in left field. Meanwhile, Fred Lewis is still on the Giants’ 40-man roster.

Winn would have been a nice 4th outfielder for the Giants, but chances are Bruce Bochy would have played him over Nate Schierholtz, and the Giants didn’t want to delay Schieholtz’s development anymore than it has been. For whatever reason, Bochy tends to confuse Nate with Lenny Harris and uses him almost exclusively as a pinch hitter when Winn is around, so it was time for Randy to go.

Winn is a class act and a genuinely nice guy, and it’d be great to see him return to the Giants organization in some capacity when his career is over. It’s also nice to see him land with a team that’s in perennial contention like the Yankees. Best of luck to him.

- Bay Area native Eric Byrnes made it clear that he was in love with San Francisco and wanted to play here after being released by the Diamondbacks earlier this month; unfortunately, the Giants only liked Byrnes as a friend, and he signed a 1-year deal with Seattle on Friday.

Now, I know I just spent a few paragraphs saying the Giants needed to let Randy Winn walk to give Nate Schierholtz a shot, but Byrnes is a different case. He wouldn’t have cost the Giants any more than the veteran minimum, since Arizona is picking up most of his salary this year. Plus, when he’s healthy, Byrnes brings something to the table that no other Giant currently possesses: the ability to be a legitimate leadoff hitter. The Giants seem fine with the idea of Aaron Rowand batting leadoff this season, which seems crazy on its face; however, when you dig a little deeper, you find…no…no, sorry. It’s still crazy.

Byrnes would have been a risk worth taking, and if the Giants were afraid of handing over another 40-man roster spot, they should remember this: Fred Lewis is taking up one of those spots. Wait, did I say that already in this article? I lose track sometimes.

That’s it for today. Coming later in the week: a look at the Giants’ new 2010 alternate jerseys. Until next time, thanks for reading.

- Now that Bengie Molina is back, here’s what the Giants lineup will probably look like on Opening Day:

1. Aaron Rowand, CF

2. Nate Schierholtz, RF

3. Pablo Sandoval, 3B

4. Aubrey Huff, 1B

5. Mark DeRosa, LF

6. Molina, C

7. Juan Uribe, 2B

8. Edgar Renteria, SS

A few things stand out about this lineup. For one, there’s no Freddy Sanchez (more on him later), and also, it looks like a significantly better offensive lineup than anything the Giants trotted out in 2009. Of course, if you type the word “bad” in a Word document and use the thesaurus, you’ll come up with a list of words that might adequately describe the Giants’ offense last season (my favorite? Ghastly). So saying that the offense is going to be better than last year is almost damning with faint praise.

Going down the lineup, it does look like improvements have been made. Schierholtz and/or John Bowker should provide more offensive firepower than Randy Winn did last year, and if the Giants finally commit to playing Schierholtz every day, his speed and athleticism would be welcome in a lineup that lacks both. Huff’s track record suggests he’s a better option than Travis Ishikawa or Ryan Garko, and he’s the first legitimate RBI man the team has had batting cleanup since 2007. DeRosa, if healthy, is an upgrade over Eugenio Velez and Andres Torres, and his presence allows Molina to slide to the 6th spot in the lineup, where his lack of speed won’t hurt the team nearly as much as when he was batting cleanup. Overall, it’s hard to say that the lineup hasn’t been improved.

There are still a few glaring holes, though. There’s no legitimate leadoff hitter to be found, and Rowand batting there is a result of having nowhere else to hide him. He can’t be counted on to drive in runs, and since he had the most success batting leadoff last year, it’s almost like the team is just throwing up their hands and seeing what happens. Speed is almost nowhere to be found, since the Giants’ best speed options (Velez, Torres, and Emmanuel Burris) have been relegated to the bench or the minors with all of the recent additions. It looks like this is going to be a station-to-station team, which poses a problem since there’s no true power hitter in the bunch. There are a handful of guys who could crack the 20 HR barrier, but no legitimate power threat.

It’s not an exciting lineup by any means, but it’s better than last year’s; hey, I think I just came up with a new marketing slogan!

- You remember Freddy Sanchez, right? The guy the Giants traded Tim Alderson for? It’s ok if you don’t, since it seems like he only played about 5 games in San Francisco before blowing out his knee taking a cutoff throw from centerfield (oh, he played in 25 games…my mistake). Well, after having surgery to clean up his knee, it appears that Sanchez needed another surgery to clean up his shoulder, and there’s a good chance he could miss Opening Day. Fantastic.

There’s no other way to look at it: the Sanchez trade has been a huge disappointment. He was hurt when the Giants traded for him, he didn’t do much when he was healthy enough to play, and he seems to have suddenly become injury-prone. It’s as if he was shipped to San Francisco in a giant wooden box marked “FRAGILE,” like the leg lamp in A Christmas Story. And then he broke into a thousand little pieces, like the leg lamp in A Christmas Story. The leg lamp didn’t get a 2-year, $12 million extension, though.

You know what’s most disturbing about this story? The Giants’ medical staff checked out Sanchez before the trade from Pittsburgh, and gave him their stamp of approval. Sure does make you wonder about Mark DeRosa’s wrist, doesn’t it?

- The Giants made a few moves to make room for Huff and Molina on the 40-man roster. Merkin Valdez and Jesus Guzman were designated for assignment; Valdez was subsequently traded to Toronto for cash, while no one has picked up Guzman as of yet.

Valdez is no real loss. He can throw the ball hard, but it tends to go straight, and that didn’t fool any big league hitters. He and Bobby Howry, who signed with Arizona last month, were the two weakest links in the bullpen, and the Giants have rid themselves of both. The Guzman move is a little more puzzling. He put up big numbers in Triple-A Fresno last year, but didn’t impress in a brief handful of AB’s in San Francisco. He has power, though, and since that’s still in short supply at the big league level, it’s hard to see why the Giants didn’t hang on to Guzman and give him an extended look over the spring. It would have made more sense to designate Fred Lewis, who’s nothing but a 5th or 6th outfielder at this point. The Giants’ front office must still think they can trade Lewis, apparently, which just…I mean… well, they also thought Sanchez was healthy, so…yeah.

That’s it for tonight. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Quick thoughts: wow, what a surprise. Brian Sabean has gone on record saying the ship had sailed on bringing Molina back, and by all accounts, the catcher was close to signing with the Mets. The move improves the middle of the order immensely, since Molina’s 80+ RBI’s were going to be hard to replace; and, more importantly, it gives Buster Posey a year to learn how to be a big league catcher. Plus, it means we won’t be subjected to seeing Eli Whiteside catch 50 games this season. Major victory right there.

More on this story as the details roll in. The 2010 season just got a whole lot more interesting.