Big League Chatter

What has happened to Barry Zito?  It wasn’t that long ago he was
considered one of the better pitchers in the American League.  In 2002
he won the American League Cy Young and he was a 3-time All Star.
However, those days are in the past.  Since leaving the Oakland A’s and
the American League Zito has struggled tremendously.  He signed a large
contract with the San Francisco Giants after the 2006 season.  Last
year, his first with the Giants, he was 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA.  This
year he is off to 0-6 record and an ERA of 7.53.  His poor performance
has now landed the once heralded starter a spot in the Giants bullpen.
Pitching coach Dave Righetti still has confidence in Zito and believes
that he can get back on track.  If Zito does not have success in the
bullpen and is unable to return to the starting rotation then his
signing will go down as one of the worst of all time since free agency
began in baseball.

The 2008 San Francisco Giants will feature a lineup without the
all-time home run leader.
The Barry Bonds Era is over and the team has
already started the rebuilding process. The organization needs to make
some major changes if they want to compete in the National League West
any time soon.

This team has several veterans that are over 35 years of age. Utility
man Rich Aurilia, 2B Ray Durham, SS Omar Vizquel and OF Dave
Roberts
are all over 35.  Catcher Bengie Molina and OF Randy Winn will both
turn 34 this summer.  Don’t expect these players to stay in San
Francisco much longer.  The Giants are going to go younger and start
rebuilding their franchise so they can compete again in the National
League. Here’s a quick look at the team’s projected lineup.

C-Bengie Molina
1B-Rich Aurilia
2B-Ray Durham/Eugenio Velez
3B-Jose Castillo
SS-Omar Vizquel
LF-Dave Roberts
CF-Aaron Rowand
RF-Randy Winn

Bengie Molina had a great season offensively in 2007 hitting 19 homers
and driving in 81 runs.  The Giants hope he can come close to producing
those numbers again.  Rich Aurilia will start the season getting a
majority of the playing time at 1B, but look for Daniel Ortmeier to get
some at bats there too.  At 2B Ray
Durham will lose some playing time
to speedy Eugenio Velez.  Gold Glove SS Omar Vizquel will be turning 41
early this season and hopes to rebound from last year’s offensive
performance.  Brian Bocock will play SS when Omar needs a rest or if he
is hurting.  With the loss of Pedro Feliz to the Phillies the Giants
are going to look  for Jose Castillo to take over at 3B.  There was
hope that Kevin Frandsen will be able to fill that role, but the injury
to his left Achilles will keep him from playing.  The outfield is
decent with Randy Winn in RF, Dave Roberts in LF and newly acquired
Aaron Rowand in CF.  Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis will also get some at
bats in the outfield and as pinch hitters.

Look for the Giants to ease some of their younger players into the
lineup as the season progresses.  Also, don’t be surprised to see some
of the older veterans traded this year.  Aaron Rowand is already urging
the Giants management to make a trade with the White Sox for 3B Joe
Crede.

The starting rotation has a lot of promise if they can stay healthy.
Barry Zito signed a large contract before last season and needs to
produce.  Last season he had a losing record and an ERA of 4.53.  The
one
positive from last season is that he did pitch 196.2 innings.
Following Zito in the rotation is 23 year old Matt Cain.  Cain had a
disappointing 7-16 record last year but pitched 200 innings, struck out
163 batters and posted a 3.65 ERA.  Tim Lincecum should follow Cain and
be the team’s number three starting pitcher. Last year, in only 24
starts, Lincecum managed to strike out 150 batters in 146.1 innings.
He will turn 24 this June.  Noah Lowery, if healthy, will be next in
the rotation.  The lefty won 14 games in 2007 and is a strong option to
have at the back end of the rotation.  The fifth spot should go to
Kevin Correia or Jonathan Sanchez.

The Giants bullpen was not very good last season and there isn’t much
reason to expect anything different in 2008.  Brian Wilson and Brad
Hennessey will be the top two options at closer.  Tyler Walker, Jack
Taschner and Steve Kline will serve as setup and middle relief pitchers.

Overall, the Giants’ front office has a lot of work to do if they want
to be a contender any time soon.  The foundation of this rebuilding
process looks to be the young arms in the starting rotation.  With Cain
and Lincecum they have a potentially deadly 1-2 combination for the
future. Until then, look for another losing
season for the Giants.