Kuzul

The injury bug has taken yet another top Giants hitter. Freddy Sanchez went down hard on his throwing shoulder Friday dislocating it. Sanchez will hit the 15-day DL as a result of this and is to undergo an MRI today. 

Freddy Sanchez will be dearly missed in the Giants lineup as he leads the team with a .289 average and a .332 OBP. Sanchez was hitting out of the three slot and provided the team with three HRs and 24 RBI. His 24 RBI is good enough for second best on the team. 

The Giants have seen plenty of players hit the DL thus far. Cody Ross, Andres Torres, Barry Zito, Pablo Sandoval, Mike Fontenot, Brandon Belt, Buster Posey and now Freddy Sanchez have all seen time on the DL. 

Mike Fontenot would have been the guy to fill in for the injured Sanchez, but he suffered a setback to his groin on Friday during his rehab assignment. 

Pablo Sandoval is very close to a return, as he has shown that the hand is feeling good during his rehab assignment. His power is needed now more than ever. Sandoval did lead the team with a .313 average, five HRs and 14 RBI prior to the injury in only 24 games. 

Bill Hall was signed early today in order to replace Freddy Sanchez. Hall had been cut by the Astros earlier this month, and the Giants went in and swooped him up. Hall will only be payed $300,000 as the Astros will have to pay the rest of his original $3 million contract. 

Hall will not hit for the same average as Freddy Sanchez, but he has very good power. Hall has struggled this year, only hitting .224 with two HRs and 13 RBI in 46 games. 

Hall hit 18 HRs and 46 RBI with a .247 average in 120 games last year with the Red Sox. He hit 35 HRs and 85 RBI back in 2006 with the Brewers, and the Giants are hoping that he can come up big in Sanchez’s absence. 

Bill Hall can play third, short and second. He has also played some outfield.

The only down part about Hall’s game is the fact that he strikes out at a very high rate. In 146 ABs, Hall has struck out 55 times. He has struck out 100+ times in seven seasons in his young career.

Hall is only 31 years old and will help fill in at second. Hall may not turn out to be a star, but he is a decent option under these circumstances. 

If the Giants want to repeat, they will need guys to stay healthy. Injuries are a part of the game, and sometimes they are simply unavoidable. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Buster Posey incident has been driven completely out of proportion by both Brian Sabean and Giants fans. It has already been over a week and a half since the incident, yet everyone seems to be dwelling on the past. 

Brian Sabean came out on KNBR saying, “If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy.” 

Sabean should have no say as a GM on something like this. Scott Cousins was simply doing his job and trying to score the game winning run. 

Scott Cousins has already come out and said that there is nobody more sorry about the incident. Cousins didn’t mean to injury Posey, collisions at the plate are a part of the game. Posey came across to block the plate and Cousins collided with him.

As a former baseball player myself, I would have come into the plate the same exact way. I hate to see Buster Posey go down for the season, but injuries are an unfortunate part of sports. 

The fact that Scott Cousins has received death threats is ridiculous. Cousins has continually come out and apologized for the incident, and there is nothing more that he can do. He was involved in an unfortunate event, and everyone needs to let it go and focus on the 2011 season.

This whole situation has been blown up in part because Scott Cousins really is a no-name player. He is 26 years old and has only received 82 ABs in the bigs. 

Cousins was born in Reno and played college ball at the University of San Francisco. 

As a Californian, I can say we are all better than this. We cannot fault Scott Cousins for doing his job. It would be best for everyone to forgive and forget the whole incident. 

Buster Posey is lost for the season, but the Giants are still the defending World Series champions. Not only that, but the Giants sit atop the NL West as of right now. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Trevor Cahill, age 23, has exceeded all expectations in the early going of the 2011 MLB season. 

Cahill was 18-8 last season with a 2.97 ERA. He had a 118:63 strikeout to walk ratio. 

Cahill has now started off the 2011 season with a 6-0 record, which is tied for best in the American League. His ERA is a very low 1.72, which is best in the American League. 

His strikeout to walk ratio this season is 45:16. He has a WHIP of 1.09 as well. 

Two other pitchers in the AL have six wins also. Jered Weaver came out the gates on fire winning his first six starts. Since that hot start, Weaver has lost his last two starts. 

Detroit Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer has matched Cahill’s 6-0 start. Scherzer has nearly double the ERA of Cahill though, at 3.60.

There are plenty of great pitchers in the AL like David Price, C.C. Sabathia, and last year’s AL Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez. Winning the 2011 AL Cy Young will not be easy.

The only thing that will hurt Cahill in the long going is the fact that the A’s offense is less than stellar. The A’s have scored a total of 129 runs this season, which is 27th worst. 

Cahill pitches in the pitcher-friendly Oakland Coliseum, which bodes well for Cahill. 

If Cahill continues on with his hot start, he will easily be leading the AL Cy Young talks when the season is over. 

A’s fans have had to sit and watch as Tim Lincecum has won two Cy Young awards across the bay in the last few years. This may finally be the year that the A’s get to celebrate a Cy Young of their own— the last was Barry Zito in 2002. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Everyone knew coming into this season that the A’s would have the same setup as the team across the Bay, the San Francisco Giants. The A’s pitching has been hyped up from the get go, and rightfully so. The starters are young and very good, and the relievers are a major improvement over last years.

The A’s lineup looks a bit different from last years as David Dejesus, Josh Willingham, and Hideki Matsui now sit in the 3-4-5 spots. 

Willingham is currently doing the best out of the three with a .231 average with two home runs and five RBIs. Dejesus sits at .217 with 3 RBIs and Matsui is currently hitting .182 with 3 RBIs as well. 

As the statistics show, these guys were brought in to score some runs. Willingham leads the team with his five RBIs, and Dejesus and Matsui are three and four in the same category. 

Willingham has never hit better than .277 in his five full seasons. He has eclipsed 21+ home runs three out of the five seasons. He has only had 70+ RBIs in two of his major league seasons. 

Dejesus on the other hand will provide a somewhat more consistent average as he is a career .289 hitter. Last season, Dejesus had his best average of his career hitting .318. This came in only 91 games though. Dejesus has never hit more than 13 home runs and has never brought in more than 73 RBIs in his 7 seasons. 

Matsui’s average has fallen each season after his highest average in 2005 of .305. Last season, Matsui hit .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs. Matsui is currently 36 and will turn 37 in June, which brings up some health issues this late in his career. 

Not all the blame can just be placed on these three guys. Third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff is hitting a team worse .174. Catcher Kurt Suzuki is tied with Kouzmanoff for the team worst average as well. Kouzmanoff and Suzuki both have an RBI a piece. 

A major focus of the A’s will be the health of outfielder Coco Crisp. Crisp currently leads the team with a .276 average and has 8 hits. Crisp also leads the team with three stolen bases. Crisp has only played more than 130 games three times out of his MLB career of nine seasons. He only played in 75 games in his first season with the A’s last season.

The A’s will be asking a lot out of their younger hitters as well. Short Stop Cliff Pennington hit .250 with six home runs and 46 RBIs in his first full MLB season. 

First Baseman Daric Barton has been hitting out of the two hole and leads the team with a .367 OBP. Barton hit .273 with ten home runs and 57 RBIs. 

The fact is that the A’s offense has only scored more than three runs twice this season. The pitching hasn’t been stellar thus far in the season, but it’s still early and this team could get things clicking. This team is young and is very similar to last years Giants team. There will be many 2-1, 3-2, and 1-0 games for the A’s. They need to find ways to win these games, and it will start with the offense. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

“Panda” went on a much needed diet, and the effects are showing. Sandoval has come out on a tear, leading the team with a .440 average. He also leads the team with a.481 OBP and 11 hits. 

Sandoval, like a few Giants, may be playing this season with a chip on his shoulder after he was benched during the playoffs and didn’t contribute much. Sandoval had an average of .268 last season after hitting .330 in his first full major league season. 

Pablo only had 17 at-bats during the Giants magical playoff run. He hit a measly .176 during the playoffs and was 0-3 in the World Series. 

The Giants let Juan Uribe go to the Dodgers, after they refused to give him a 3-year contract. This meant that the Giants would need Panda to come back slimmer and ready to be a major contributor. 

Panda will hold down the fifth hole in the Giants lineup and will need to be huge this year as Buster Posey now has a reputation as a great hitter with good power. Panda has one home run and three RBI in seven games. 

Panda without a doubt is the Giants hottest hitter. Pablo has only one extra-base hit out of his 11 hits. Panda hit 13 home runs and had 63 RBIs last season. In his first full season, Sandoval had 25 home runs and 90 RBIs. 

If the Giants can get stats out of Panda like his first full season, the Giants will make the playoffs and go far. His defense looks better as he seems more agile now. The 24-year-old Panda is still young. Buster Posey is also 24, and this could create a great middle of the lineup for the Giants for years to come. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants are going to have many decisions to make in the outfield. Cody Ross will return from a torn calf injury in less than two weeks. The biggest decision of all may be what to do with outfielder Aaron Rowand. 

Third baseman, Pablo Sandavol, leads all starters with a .440 average thus far into the season. The stat line most may not see is the fact that Aaron Rowand leads the team with a .600 average in 10 at bats. 

Rowand currently has a home run and 2 RBIs, including a game winning single in the 12th inning of the Giants home opener. The fact that Pat Burrell is still hitting a team-worse .174, may force the Giants to take Burrell out of the lineup. This is going to be a very difficult decision as Burrell leads all Giants’ hitters with three home runs. All three have been solo home runs though. 

The Giants defense has looked somewhat shaky in the early going and Pat Burrell is not helping the cause. Aaron Rowand won a gold glove back in 2007 and has pretty good speed. Rowand was in the starting lineup to start out the season last year, and was benched after getting hit in the head and suffering a concussion. This ultimately gave way to current center fielder Andres Torres.

Aaron Rowand is currently the third highest paid Giants player at $13,600,000. He only trails Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum, in that order. Rowand is getting paid way too much, that is a no-brainer. The Giants should take Burrell out of the lineup due to the fact that he is only a designated hitter this far into his career. Burrell can’t go everyday anymore and is only getting paid $1,000,000. 

The fact is that Aaron Rowand should have a chip on his shoulder as he did very little last season as the Giants went on and won the World Series without him. Rowand has come out hungry as he is 6-10 and has thrived in every situation that coach Bruce Bochy has placed him in. 

The solution to the Aaron Rowand effect has many possible outcomes. The Giants could throw Rowand into the lineup and let him ride out his hot streak to give their third highest player another chance. Another possibility could be that the Giants could try to shop either Pat Burrell or Rowand. Pat Burrell would be a perfect fit on any American League team as a designated hitter. The Giants may not be able to trade Aaron Rowand, but his hot streak could say otherwise. 

All the decisions the Giants are going to have to make are a great thing for a team that just won the World Series. This team has some serious depth, and that could power them to another playoff run. With Torres, Huff, Burrell, Rowand, Derosa, and Schierholtz all fighting for at bats in the outfield, the Giants have more than enough to re-create another magical year. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As many people know already, the San Francisco Giants will be receiving their World Series rings tomorrow prior to their 10:05 PM EST start against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants scuffled to start the season 2-4 on the road and now look to bounce back at home and get their season underway.

The Giants got a great seven inning, 13 strikeout performance out of starter Tim Lincecum in the Giants 8-4 win at San Diego. This win may not look like at a lot, but the Giants started the season out 0-7 against the Padres last season. They also were 1-5 in their first six against the Dodgers. 

Matt Cain will take the mound for the Giants in a big game. We may see some nerves out of the Giants in the series as they will hang the World Series banner on Friday, get their World Series rings on Saturday, and Buster Posey will get his Rookie of the Year award on Sunday. This team is also very confident in their abilities and should be able to shake the nerves at home in front of their home crowd.

Looking forward into the season, things look like they could change in the outfield with the return of Cody Ross. The return of Ross may not move Huff back to 1st, but rather of to left where he would be a better fit.

The Giants sound very confident in the abilities of 1st baseman Brandon Belt. Belt is 4 for 22, six games into the season. He has 1 home run and 4 RBIs to go with his poor .182 average. Belt plays a solid 1st and the fact that Pat “the bat” Burrell is hitting a team worse .143 may keep Belt in the starting lineup.

Burrell simply cannot play an effective outfield. He has lost a few steps and the Giants need more out of their lineup than a 2 for 21, although those two hits were both solo home runs. Ross back in the lineup would help a bunch with average as he is a career .265 hitter and is coming off a 14 home run and 65 RBI year. He doesn’t have the home run capability that Burrell does, but his defense is top notch. 

The offense will continue to be the focus of the Giants as they have scored only one run in two of their loses thus far. Their lineup is looking better over what was last year.

Sandoval came back 30 pounds trimmer and he has stepped it up on both offense and defense. Pablo currently leads the team with a .400 average. The Giants will also heavily rely upon the bats of Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey in the middle of the lineup. Belt, Torres, and Tejada have gotten off to slow starts, but there is plenty of time to get up to speed. Freddy Sanchez has been on a tear as he leads the team with a .481 on base percentage. 

The pitching again will be key for the Giants. Their starting staff is arguably the best in the MLB with two-time Cy-Young award winner Tim Lincecum leading the way. Jonathan Sanchez is coming off a 13-9 record last year, his best in his young career. Matt Cain has come out the gates looking very effective after a minor elbow injury in the spring. Cain went 6 innings in his first start of the season and did not allow a run in a 10-0 blowout over the Dodgers.

Barry Zito takes the 4th spot and should play this season out with a chip on his shoulder after he didn’t contribute during the Giants playoff run. Madison Bumgarner is coming off a 7-6 season last year and showed some great signs of stardom during the Giants playoff run. 

The Giants relief pitching got a huge relief themselves when closer Brian Wilson returned. Wilson pitched against San Diego and gave up three runs off two hits in 2/3 innings pitched. Wilson will bounce back and return to form. Ramon Rameriz has come out hot pitching 3.1 innings and allowing zero runs. Guillermo Mota has tossed four scoreless innings as well. The Giants currently have five relief pitchers that haven’t allowed a run and all have pitched at least two innings. 

While the defensive side of this team is in question now, this team will get better with a healthy Cody Ross. This will be a huge speed boost in the outfield, as well as a guy who has some pop with the bat. The Giants pitching is stacked top to bottom and the pressure will be with the Giants offense. The Giants offense is an improvement over last year, which could mean big things for the Giants. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com