Lincecum

[allenreed]

Evidently Timmy has been doing alot of throwing this winter in hopes of finding a comfortable feel earlier on in the season. Threw a bullpen yesterday that supposedly went well.
Hudson did likewise. Says he only feels the ankle when he moves laterally.
Not much news here, but at least it's current Giants baseball.

[islandboagie]

Rumor has it he rented out a warehouse in Seattle and threw over the winter. I hope it helps.

[Rog]

Tim did rent the warehouse, according to Alex Pavlovic IIRC. He brought in dirt and built a mound.

When asked earlier what he hoped to learn from Tim Hudson, Tim replied, "The sinker."

The Giants have considerable upside potential with their offense (Sandoval, Belt and Morse), but they haven't been a strong offensive team since the departure of Barry Bonds. They've built their team around pitching, speed and defense (the last two of which haven't been raving successes), and they've won with pitching.

The bullpen seems likely to decline a bit, so the Giants truly need a rotation revival. Question marks abound, but the rotation is made up of current or former All-Stars -- 12 times between them. It may be too much to expect, but if all five starters pitch to their career or Giants averages, the rotation should be strong enough to be competitive with average relief pitching and above-average hitting.

If the Giants have mostly poor seasons as was somewhat the case last year, they should expect similar (or worse) results. If they play as might be expected, they should be above .500. And if many players have better-than-expected seasons, they should be serious competitors.

[sfgdood]

the report from Baggs is that Lincecum is hoping to avoid slow starts and develop a consistent release point early in spring

[rxmeister]

Ahh, the optimism of spring! Panda in great shape, supposedly looking so quick on defense that Bochy said he will no longer take him out for defense, and looking better hitting from the right side than he has in years according to the coaches. Morse whacking home runs to the oppo field in batting practice, and comments from Billy Beane that he would have hit 40 homers last year if he didn't hurt his wrist. Games starting next week that they NEVER lose in my mind, because a win is a win, and a loss is easily explained by "well the guy who lost the game for them will be in Fresno when the season starts, so to me we won!" Or "well in the regular season they would have used Romo to close instead of Affeldt!" I can usually turn a loss into a win pretty easily!

[Rog]

Sure, the Giants got shut out 9-0, but if the other team had forfeited, the score would have been reversed. Clearly a win for the Giants.

[Rog]

One thing to remember about spring is that with the light air, the hitters are usually ahead of the pitchers.

Speaking of pitching, I think that is why the analysts are so high on the Dodgers. That, and they figure whoever the fourth outfielder is, he would be an above-average outfielder for most teams. As I have mentioned, I'm personally not that fond of Crawford. Big issues at second base. Little infield depth. Uribe might be due for a down year. Ramirez and Puig might come back to earth. Kemp's health always seems to be a question mark.

Because of their pitching, the Dodgers likely won't be awful. If all goes right, they could be aweSOME. Giants could be pretty darn good too if all the pieces fit into place. Most of the Giants' key players have been at least above-average at some time in their careers.