Giants 25 man roster announced

The big news is that Brandon Belt will make the team, along with Brett Pill, Hector Sanchez and Dan Otero.

Here is the full 25 man roster:

The 25 Man Roster Decisions

The Giants are coming down to picking the 25 guys that will start the season with the big league team. For the most part the big picture is set with the final spots coming down to just a few different guys.

First up the people we know will be on the team:

C- Buster Posey (Duh)
1B- Aubrey Huff ($11 million contract pretty much guarantees you a roster spot, plus he did Pilates in the off-season)
2B- Emmanuel Burriss (Freddy Sanchez is starting on the DL so this is the Giants best choice)
SS- Brandon Crawford (no other choice on the roster, probably no worse than last years short stops)
3B- Pablo Sandoval (Duh)
LF- Melky Cabrera (Lord Melkington shall save the offense)
CF- Angel Pagan (I think his leash is short with the crazy spring of Gregor Blanco)
RF- Nate Schierholtz (Another guy with a short leash who could lose time to Blanco)

Bench:
OF- Gregor Blanco
DL- Freddy Sanchez (will he even play this year?)

SP- Tim Lincecum (Duh)
SP- Madison Bumgarner (Duh)
SP- Matt Cain (Duh)
SP- Barry Zito (With his money it would take a HUGE reason for him not to be on the team)
CL- Brian Wilson (unless an injury creeps up)
RP- Sergio Romo (unless an injury creeps up)
RP- Javier Lopez
RP- Jeremy Affeldt
RP- Santiago Casilla
RP- Clay Hensley
RP- Guillermo Mota

DL- Ryan Vogelsong

With all of these guys it gets the Giants to 20 guys and five spots left on the active roster. The Giants have also decided to carry and eight man bullpen for the first few games of the season (a big show of confidence in Zito) which means that there is one spot left in the bullpen and four spots left on the bench.

For the backup catcher spot it is likely either Eli Whiteside or Chris Stewart with Hector Sanchez not ruled out. This isn't something that I will get worked up in a tizzy about, Sanchez is probably the best hitter but is also young with little experience above A ball. Asking him to be the backup and also produce offensively with sporadic playing time.

The last three bench spots are down to Brandon Belt, Brett Pill, Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Joaquin Arias. Seeing as the 9am deadline to cut the Cajuns (Fontenot and Theriot) has passed with them both having guaranteed contracts now I will say it is pretty safe to say that they are on the team as the back up infielders. UPDATE 10:52am it looks like Mike Fontenot was released.

That leaves one two spots for either Belt, Pill or Arias (Sanchez could make it as 3rd catcher but I doubt it). Belt has the upper hand in that he can play a passable outfield and has logged more innings out there than the other guys which might help with the team only carrying four outfielders. Pill has the advantage of being right handed with some pop which might help with the regular roster being skewed toward lefties. Arias is a slick defender which normally would help but might not with the Giants really hurting to add offense and full of guys without much in the way of offensive skills.

If I were a betting man I bet Pill gets the nod for the last spot so Belt can get regular reps in Fresno especially with the Giants talking about wanting to mess around with his batting mechanics. With Fontenot released it probably means that both Belt and Pill can make the team. It will be interesting if that is the case what kind of playing time they give him.

All I can say is that it will be nice when regular games start and there is less worry about roster construction, I'm ready to start worrying about batting orders instead!

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Roster Spot Sample Ballot - My Votes

Otis from Bay City Ball put up a quick rundown of the options for the Giants roster battles and I figured I should throw my hat into the ring.

Eli Whiteside vs Chris Stewart:

This is a little tough but probably the one that means the least in terms of wins and losses. Whiteside got hurt and opened the door for Stewart who has tore it up Spring Training, going .318/.400/.545. In the grand scheme of things, one of these guys is going to be backing up Buster Posey and hopefully playing no more than twice a week. Stewart may be the better hitter of the two, but Whiteside has mythical defensive qualities that he picked up while backpacking through the Andes. This choice (like all important choices in life) was decided by a coin flip.

My Ballot: Stewart (tails took the best of seven series 4-2)

Jeff Suppan vs. The Field:

The last time Suppan was any good was 2006. That was before there were iPhones and people thought that Palm Treo's will revolutionary. So yeah, it has been a while and I don't think the goods are coming back anytime soon. The field here is the best and probably the only choice. You can take a flier on Ryan Vogelsong's awesome spring, you can hitch your wagon to Mark Kroon and his fastball, or go with old reliable Guillermo Mota.

My Ballot: the Field

Brandon Belt vs Travis Ishikawa vs Aaron Rowand vs Nate Schierholtz

Now we get to the real tough choice and the one that I am sure keeps the Giants front office workers up at night. Brandon Belt is the future but is he ready? Travis Ishikawa plays above average defense and is a decent left handed bat off the bench. Aaron Rowand is paid like an above average player but last season fell apart and never saw a slider that he couldn't flail at miserably. Nate Schierholtz is an excellent defender and the projection systems have always liked him to someday hit in the majors.

My Ballot: Rowand and Schierholz (with Belt coming up soon)

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The Answer to the Roster Crunch Question

The Giants have a bit of an issue with trying to squeeze 26 players (27 if you count Brandon Belt, which I don't because he's 99.99% guaranteed to be on his way to Fresno) onto a 25 man roster.

So, who do keep between Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, Travis Ishikawa and a 12th pitcher in the bullpen? Great minds have spent many man hours pouring over this question while looking at all the options and permutations and ripples that this will have.

There is one thing that tends to be overlooked; the phantom injury that sends one of these guys to the 15 day DL to extend the battle a little further into the regular season.

So, as March 31st approaches, these guys better watch out because that phantom injury bug has a tendency to strike at the end of spring when no one is looking. See Fred Lewis from last season.

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