MLB Preview: San Francisco Giants

The 2007 season marked the end of an era for the Giants as the game's most popular player Barry Bonds was not asked to return to the Giants for the 2008 season. The Giants lineup has featured Barry Bonds and little else for the past 5-6 seasons, yet the team was still highly competitive until last season when the bottom fell out as the club went 71-91 and finished in last place in the NL West.

The 2008 season does not appear to look much better for the Giants as they will feature one of the game's weakest lineups. The Giants also play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, and are far less talented then the other four teams in the division.

Now it's time to answer three questions about the 2008 San Francisco Giants.

(1) Who will be replacing Barry Bonds in the lineup for the Giants?

The Giants will never find a replacement for Bonds in the lineup as he posted seasons that will likely never be repeated in the history of Major League Baseball. The Giants signed CF Aaron Rowand from the Phillies to play center for the club, thus allowing last year's CF Dave Roberts to move over to left field.

Roberts could not be a more different player then Bonds as he is a prototypical leadoff hitter and specializes in slapping infield singles and laying down bunts. Roberts is best known for his stolen base in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees that jump started their improbable World Series title.

The move to left field will give the Giants one of the best defensive outfields as Rowand and Roberts both will cover a lot of ground in the Giants spacious ballpark. The move does leave the Giants a huge hole in their lineup as most corner outfielders are expected to hit at least 20 home runs. Roberts has hit 12 home runs during his past three seasons so he will not be able to give the club some much needed punch from that defensive position.

If you look at the rest of the Giants lineup, there is little punch throughout the lineup, so Roberts has plenty of company in that department. The Giants offense will not be pretty this season, and the club will have to utilize Roberts speed on the basepaths to score some runs this season.

(2) We know the Giants offense will be bad, but how about their rotation?

The Giants starting rotation will be the only drawing card for fans to attend AT&T park this season. The Giants will have two of the best young arms in baseball as Matt Cain and Tim lincecum will be overpowering hitters for years to come.

Lincecum was so impressive in the Giants farm system that he went from the PAC 10, to the Majors in less than 12 months. Lincecum throws the ball in the mid 90's, but if you saw him you would never guess it as he has the appearance of a high school chess player. Lincecum uses his fastball to set up hitters for his curveball which he is still refining. Lincecum posted a respectable 4.00 ERA last season, and should only improve upon that this season as he has nearly a full season under his belt.

Matt Cain won the award last season for the Majors most unlucky pitcher as he posted a 7-16 record despite an ERA of 3.65. That ERA would get pitchers in Cy Young conversations in the American League. Cain received absolutely no run support last season, and had the bullpen blow many leads for him. Despite his misfortune, Cain is one of the best young arms in the Majors, and should continue to improve this season.

The team also received a lift this spring as Jonathan Sanchez has been the talk of Giants camp as he may finally live up to the club's high expectations. Sanchez was one of the best pitching prospects in the game entering the 2006 season, but did not show signs of that promise once he reached the Majors. If that changes this season, the Giants could be well positioned to have one of the best rotations in the league.

(3) Who will be playing in the infield for the Giants?

This a question the Giants don't even have a solid answer for. The Giants depth chart lists Eugenio Velez as the third baseman, but other then having an ability to steal a lot of bases, he doesn't have a lot to offer the Giants. Velez really should be a utility infielder and nothing more for the Giants.

Omar Vizquel is over the age of 40, but still plays shortstop at a higher level than most major league shortstops. Viezuel doesn't provide much with the bat, but is a consistent 260's type hitter that is at least serviceable with his defensive prowess.

Despite his defensive talents, it's not a good thing when he is the cornerstone of the Giants infield as they also will be going with Ray Durham provided he can stay healthy at 2B. The Giants have suffered a lot of injuries during Spring Training, and Kevin Frandsen's season ending injury means Durham will have more playing time then what was once believed.

The first baseman for the Giants will be Rich Aurillia who is also at this point in his career a utility player and nothing more. Aurillia will be able to help the Giants out at different positions in the infield should they lose someone else to injury.

The Giants will enter the 2008 season with little optimism as virtually everyone has them pegged for last place in the NL West. It's hard to see any reason why they will finish any better than that as the team has far too many holes in their lineup to be taken seriously.

The best route for the organization would be to build around the solid nucleus of pitchers in the organization, and focus their attention on producing a lineup that will be able to support those pitchers in future seasons.