Another week of Spring Training in the books, which means more clarity for the 25-man roster decisions the San Francisco Giants need to make before the start of the regular season. he Giants have won five of them. San Francisco saw strong performances from the majority of their starting pitchers, including
The Giants have won five of their last six games and saw strong performances from the majority of their starting pitchers, including Johnny Cueto. Cueto made his first appearance of the spring yesterday against the Cincinnati Reds and threw two innings while allowing one run.
Early in the week, Matt Moore and Tyler Beede combined for five scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jeff Samardzija allowed one run in his 3 2/3 inning appearance of the week. Madison Bumgarner allowed two unearned runs in his four-inning start. Matt Cain‘s struggles continued during both of the games he pitched in this week. He allowed two runs in his first 3 1/3 innings and five runs in three innings in his second appearance. The Giants used Ty Blach in the middle of an inning for the first time this spring. Blach allowed three hits but did not allow a run in 2 2/3 innings pitched.
The Giants’ bullpen, led by Mark Melancon and his scoreless spring, has been the strength of the team thus far. Luckily for San Francisco, they still have time to figure out how the bullpen will look on Opening Day. As of now, the Giants have more strong options than available roster spots. Having too many relief arms is a good problem for any ball club to have.
A few position players are beginning to separate themselves from the pack. Former Korean superstar and recently signed Giant infielder Jae-gyun Hwang hit two home runs this week. Dark horse to make the 25-man roster, Chris Marrero, hit a pair of home runs this week as well. One-time San Francisco fan favorite, Michael Morse, is back with the ball club and got into the home run race this week as well. Morse hit two home runs in yesterday’s game against the Reds. The Giants noted this fall that they would be looking for some power off the bench. So far these options have shown more power ability than others during the first few weeks of spring.
The World Baseball Classic began this week and the Giants have a few key players on Team USA’s roster. Brandon Crawford started at shortstop in the first two games and Buster Posey was behind the plate in Team USA’s first game. Posey struggled at the dish, with a 0-for-4 performance, but Crawford, on the other hand, has been one of the better hitters for Team USA. In the first game against Colombia, Crawford went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. The following game against the Dominican Republic he went 2-for-4 with a single, a double and two runs batted in.
In other news surrounding San Francisco and the WBC, Samardzija and Melancon both received invites to join Team USA as alternates, if they advance to the second round of the tournament. If Team USA can defeat Canada on Sunday, they will advance to the next round of the WBC, when adding Samardzija and Melancon becomes a real possibility.
Harrison Howard covers the San Francisco Giants and Fantasy Baseball as a Staff Writer for OPSN. Follow him on Twitter @harryhoward54.
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