What Part of the Horse is He

post from LADodgerTalk.com - Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers on 27 February 2012 11:01:56 PM. © LADodgerTalk.com - Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers

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Red Sox C Varitek decides to retire (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 27 February 2012 09:23:28 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Boston Red Sox are going to need a new captain. Catcher Jason Varitek has decided to retire after 15 seasons with the Red Sox, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Monday night. The person requested anonymity because Varitek had not made an announcement. The Boston Globe first reported Varitek’s [...]

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As 3B Sizemore tears ACL, out for year (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 27 February 2012 09:07:29 PM. © MLB News Blog

Athletics third baseman Scott Sizemore will miss the entire 2012 season after tearing a ligament in his left knee last weekend during Oakland’s first full-squad workout. Sizemore was injured Saturday at Oakland’s spring training camp in Phoenix. He had an MRI exam and the A’s announced Monday that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

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2012 Mets Spring Training Fred Wilpon Press
Conference

post from The Mets Report on 27 February 2012 08:27:03 PM. © The Mets Report

Mets owner Fred Wilpon gave his annual state of the team press conference on the first day of full squad workouts today. It was more of the same spin that we’ve heard in recent years from Fred about the team’s woeful financial situation. Although he did attempt to deflect the reason for the team’s $52 ... Continue Reading

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Royals Lock Up Salvador Perez

post from Beyond the Box Score on 27 February 2012 08:03:33 PM. © Beyond the Box Score

Salvador Perez, a relative unknown, just agreed to a five-year contract extension with the Kansas City Royals. The deal will pay him $7M over five guaranteed years (basically, through his first two arbitration-eligible years), and the Royals also[...]

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Mets Players get Underdog Shirts

post from The Mets Report on 27 February 2012 08:02:59 PM. © The Mets Report

The Mets arrived at Port St. Lucie today to some silly Underdog t-shirts that Jeff Wilpon had made. Apparently, it’s a misguided attempt to motivate the players with an “us against the world” mentality. It’s extremely childish for a guy that considers himself an “executive”. Here’s a pic of the t-shirts. What do you think? ... Continue Reading

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Bullpen Preview, Plus Camp Notes

post from The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website on 27 February 2012 08:01:28 PM. © The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website

Alright, we've finally arrived at the last projection post we'll do until around opening day when the 25-man roster is actually announced. Also, again, we'll do sort of a double-post as there's been a lot going on in Giants camp with Cactus League a week away.

Bullpen Preview

Brian Wilson, RHP: The Giants bearded closer entered spring with some question marks surrounding the health of his right arm, but according to him and Giants trainers, he's around 100%, and even though he may not play a whole spring, he'll be bright and ready for April! I expect a rebound from Wilson this year, as he was another Giant who fell off a bit after the Championship run the year prior. I expect things to get back to normal and without all the media and Showtime productions around, it should get things back to how they were during the year in 2010. I don't see another 1.81 ERA, but that's the type of Wilson I expect!

2012 Prediction: 62 G, 5-3, 2.67 ERA, 63 IP, 44 saves, 72 K's, 27 BB's, 1.21 WHIP, .228 BAA

Sergio Romo, RHP: Much like Wilson, Romo enters the spring in cautionary state as he had some arm troubles at the end of the 2011 season. However, you won't find a more dominant set-up man in the game than Romo. Ever since the start of 2010 (minus a brief blunder in the playoffs), he's turned into this out-making machine. Last season was ridiculous as he walked just 5 batters and posted a 0.71 WHIP. While I expect those numbers to rise a bit, I still expect Romo to be All-Star caliber in the 8th inning.

2012 Prediction: 72 G, 4-1, 1.97 ERA, 65 IP, 32 holds, 78 K's, 14 BB's, 0.92 WHIP, .185 BAA

Javier Lopez, LHP: Lopez will again be that guy called upon to get the key lefty late in a ballgame, and as he's done his whole career, he'll again be proficient. He's been a rock since putting on the Giants uniform and has become one of the best left-handed specialist in baseball, who also gets righties!

2012 Prediction: 77 G, 2-2, 2.45 ERA, 56 IP, 23 holds, 46 K's, 22 BB's, 1.08 WHIP, .212 BAA

Santiago Casilla, RHP: The Giants have the pleasure of basically having two set-up men as Casilla can fill that job nearly as well as Romo does. He even filled in for Wilson very admirably as closer in September last season. Like with this whole bullpen, I don't expect a whole lot of change from the 2 prior years, and I feel the same with Casilla!

2012 Prediction: 58 G, 2-3, 2.21 ERA, 55 IP, 18 holds, 52 K's, 24 BB's, 1.20 WHIP, .205 BAA

Jeremy Affeldt, LHP: Now, I like Affeldt just like most Giants fans seem to, but I don't think he's worth the $5 million option the Giants exercised on him. I think they could have gotten him for 2 million cheaper had they declined the option, however, they also would have ran the risk of demeaning him a bit and having him walk on them. They apparently felt it was a gamble worth taking, and are hoping for another 2009 from from their quirky lefty.

2012 Prediction: 77 G, 4-5, 3.13 ERA, 68 IP, 13 holds, 64 K's, 28 BB's, 1.18 WHIP, .227 BAA

Guillermo Mota, RHP: One of the most underrated Giants relievers over the last few years has been another guy, like Lopez, who's been nails since putting on that Giants uniform. It's almost like it's given his career new life at 38! He's not quite as dominant as the other arms in the Giants pen, but still very dependable and has been a Swiss Army knife for this bullpen.

2012 Prediction: 50 G, 2-4, 3.99 ERA, 72 IP, 3 holds, 61 K's, 32 BB's, 1.31 WHIP, .252 BAA

Clay Hensley, RHP: Hensley enters the spring as the favorite for the last bullpen slot, however, if the Giants decide to start the year with 3 catchers, he could start the year in Fresno. Still, I expect him to be a part of the Giants bullpen for the better part of 2012, at the least. He was lights out in 2010 (2.16 ERA), but fell off miserably last season for the Marlins (5.19 ERA). I expect somewhere in between, plus. Also, due to the lack of starting pitching depth, I expect him to log a more than a few starts as he could become the newer, younger version of the bullpen's Guillermo Mota.

2012 Prediction: 59 G, 13 GS, 6-5, 4.06 ERA, 102 IP, 84 K's, 1.29 WHIP, .247 BAA

_______________________________________

Spring Notes: As I mentioned in his capsule, some of the good news to come out of camp Monday was that Brian Wilson was throwing at a high velocity and was displaying that he obviously feels and looks better than he did towards the end of 2011. He'll be 100% for opening day, baring any set-backs, but Freddy Sanchez is still being brought along much slower than Posey. He's been off on a side field just fielding some grounders and doing light throwing, and hasn't hit yet to my knowledge. We all knew Sanchez would miss some time this spring, but I was hoping he'd get to play in the majority of Cactus League games, just cause he hasn't played in so long and he needs the at-bats. Speaking of recovering players, Buster Posey faced a major league pitcher for the first time since his injury last May, and rocked Sergio Romo, who probably wasn't throwing at 100%, but it's still great to see Posey knocking the ball around the yard. He also got down in a squat after to catch Matt Cain's session. The Giants also apparently dodged a couple of bullets too, almost literally, as Matt Cain took a Hector Sanchez line drive off his right leg, but was declared fine. Cain also drilled Panda in the ribs with a slider that slipped, but Pablo also apparently escaped the beaning unscathed. And last but not least on our notes section, Ryan Vogelsong got back in action a little sooner than everyone was expecting, throwing on Monday and reporting a painless session. Good news certainly, though the Giants still could still hold their right-hander out of his first spring start.

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Bench Preview, Lincecum Has Minor Back Issue

post from The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website on 27 February 2012 08:01:28 PM. © The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website

As we've done for each projected Giants starting position player, we'll go ahead and make predictions for who we believe will fill out their 5-man bench. Also, after that, we'll take a little Spring Training notes as the Giants have been linked to some players and Timmy has a minor set-back.

Giants Projected Bench

Eli Whiteside, C: I give Whiteside the edge to win the backup catchers spot though the Giants could go with three to start the year, depending on how often Posey's able to catch. Chris Stewart and Hector Sanchez will each be in the mix, but the Giants pitchers love throwing to Whiteside and that's a big reason why he gets the leg up on the others.

2012 Prediction: 79 G, 157 AB's, .212 Avg., 4 HR, 18 RBI, 10 2B, .277 OBP, .327 SLG% (.604 OPS)

Ryan Theriot, IF: As I said in Crawford's preview, I expect Theriot to get his fair share of at-bats at shortstop, and could also see some time at second base too. I liked the Theriot addition and expect him to do his thing in spring and win a roster spot. I also expect him to battle Crawford for at-bats and push the youngster and I'm expecting some numbers from the Cajun. Maybe not power or run production numbers, but the guy can hit and is a better player than Jeff Keppinger is.

2012 Prediction: 102 G, 325 AB's, .278 Avg., 2 HR, 31 RBI, 41 R, 19 2B, 5 3B, .327 OBP, .399 SLG% (.726 OPS)

Brandon Belt, 1B/OF: Now Belt is the one guy on the bench who will probably get 400 plus at-bats, at least if he's producing. And I expect him to produce. He refined his playing of left field in the winter league, but with Huff being in the last year of his deal, the Giants will have a much shorter string with him at first base so the kid will likely be in the lineup on most days, somewhere. I know Belt has pop, I just hope he can cover up that hole in his swing where he couldn't hit the inside breaking ball or the heater away. If he does that, his average will start looking like it did in the minors, and the power will always be there.

2012 Prediction: 129 G, 476 AB's, .264 Avg., 22 HR, 65 RBI, 45 R, 30 2B, .322 OBP, .474 SLG% (.796 OPS)

Mike Fontenot, IF: Another Cajun and the former double play partner of Theriot has his old partner back, and I expect to see them in a lot of games together up the middle again in SF, just as backups this time around. I'm not as high on Fontenot as I was Keppinger and wish they would have kept Kepp over Fontenot, but Mike has more defensive flexibility than Keppinger where the Giants need it. Until a better one comes around, Fontenot has his niche on the team.

2012 Predictions: 100 G, 223 AB's, .248, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 23 R, 14 2B, .319 OBP, 354 SLG%, (.673 OPS)

Gregor Blanco, OF: Basically, the Giants don't really have a true 4th outfielder, so it could fall to Blanco if they don't add anyone else before opening day. Blanco has some speed and can play all 3 outfield positions, but really isn't much at the plate. However, he did hit .283 with 11 steals and a .360 OBP in just over 200 at-bats with Atlanta in 2010 but was in the minors last season. I can see why the Giants inked him as insurance and at the very least to be a call-up in-season if someone goes down to injury. He's also the one guy on the list most likely to not make the team, which again, is why I call these early projections! Still though, Blanco gives you speed and defense and has a streaky bat so do to the Giants need of outfielders, he's got the leg up!

2012 Prediction: 65 G, 152 AB's, .252 Avg., 1 HR, 13 RBI, 12 SB, .333 OBP, .344 SLG% (.677 OPS)

Spring Notes: As for on field action, the Giants have been battling a bit of rust and injuries to start things out. Not only is Ryan Vogelsong and Brian Wilson under close watch and Vogey out for 10 days, but now Tim Lincecum is complaining of a stiff back as well. He was held out of workouts Wednesday but the Giants don't expect him to be out long at all and don't consider the injury serious. Other than that, it's still just the pitchers and catchers until players start arriving on Thursday with the first full-squad workout coming Friday, which should be a day filled with rumblings coming out of Scottsdale! Also, Baggs wrote an interesting blog piece today about Manny Burris and Brett Pill, two guys fighting for that 25th spot, but in order for one to make it, they have to have an out-of-this-world spring, or they learn to play some outfield cause the Giants really need guys who can cover some grass in the outfield. They have just three Major League outfielders on their projected 25-man roster, unless they indeed plan on using Blanco, hoping for his 2010 numbers, just like they are with, seemingly, everyone else on the team!

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Feliz, Ogando among 13 Rangers signings (AP)

Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland are among 13 players who have agreed to contracts for this season with the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers. Feliz, who is making the switch to the Rangers rotation after being their closer, agreed Monday to a $502,000, one-year deal. That is just less than the $504,700 for [...]

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Royals sign C Perez to $7M, 5-year deal (AP)

The Kansas City Royals have signed catcher Salvador Perez to a five-year contract worth $7 million. The team announced the deal Monday. The contract includes club options for three more years that could keep Perez with the Royals through the 2019. If Perez reached all the performance bonuses and incentives, the contract could be worth [...]

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