The Giants spent money on the starting lineup and rotation and neglected the bullpen and they might pay for that in 2007.  34 year old righty Armando Benitez will return as the closer this season and he had a rough time in 2006.  He was 4-2 with 1 hold, 17 saves, a 3.52 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP in 41 games for the Giants last season.  Batters hit .267 against Benitez last season and he walked 21 batters and gave up 6 homers in only 38.1 innings, and that’s not good.  Don’t expect him to pitch well or stay healthy in 2007 for the Giants.

25 year old righty Brian Wilson appears to be the set up man and future closer of the Giants.  He was 2-3 with 4 holds, 1 save, a 5.40 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP in 31 games for the Giants last season.  Batters hit .281 against him (lefties .348) and he walked 21 batters in only 30 innings.  Wilson has talent but if he doesn’t cut down on his walks the Giants will not be able to use him late in games.

34 year old lefty Steve Kline also didn’t pitch that great in 2006.  He was 4-3 with 18 holds, 1 save, a 3.66 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP in 72 games for the San Francisco Giants.  Batters hit .275 against Kline last season and he walked 26 batters in 51.2 innings and that’s just not acceptable.  Kline will pitch late in games for the Giants because they don’t have any better options.

26 year old righty Kevin Correia is a pitcher the Giants should be using later in games.  He was 2-0 with 10 holds, a 3.49 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in 48 games for the Giants in 2006.  Batters only hit .242 against him (righties .218) and he only walked 22 batters in 69.2 innings while striking out 57.  Look for Correia to have a good year in 2007 for the Giants.

28 year old righty Vinnie Chulk was 1-3 with 6 holds, a 5.24 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 48 games for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Giants.  Chulk allowed batters to hit .256 and he walked 20 hitters in 46.1 innings, but he whiffed 43 batters so their is some talent here.  Look for him to pitch better in 2007 than he did in 2006.

27 year old righty Scott Munter was absolutely horrible after he pitched decent in 2005.  He was 0-1 with 5 holds, a 8.74 ERA and a 2.12 WHIP in 27 games for the Giants last season.  Batters hit .366 (lefties .405) against Munter last season and he walked 18 batters in 22.2 innings for the Giants.  He will likely start the season in the minors unless he pitches well in Spring Training.

33 year old righty David Cortes was 3-1 with 3 holds, a 4.30 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP in 30 games last season with the Colorado Rockies.  Batters hit .310 (righties .329) against him last season but he minimized the damage by only walking 6 batters in 29.1 innings.  Look for him to pitch o.k. if the Giants need him.

30 year old righty Tyler Walker is recovering from major surgery that cost him a lot of last season.  He was 1-4 with 1 hold, 10 saves, a 7.11 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 26 games for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Giants.  Batters hit .276 against him (righties .226) and he walked 12 batters in only 25.1 innings and that’s just too many.  Look for Walker to possibly pitch late in games for the Giants if he gets healthy.

The Giants spent some money abd brought Barry Zito to their side of the Bay.  The 28 year old lefty was 16-10 with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP in 34 starts for the Oakland A’s last season.  For Zito to pitch his best he needs to cut down on his walks as 99 batters got on base by just standing with their bat on their shoulder last season and that’s way too many.  Look for Zito to win 15-19 games with an ERA of 3.25-3.65 in 2007 for the Giants.

22 year old righty Matt Cain had a solid rookie season as he was 13-12 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 32 games (31 starts) in 2006.  All Cain needs to do to become a dominant starting pitcher is to cut down on his walks.  He walked 87 batters last season in 190.2 innings but only gave up 157 hits.   Cain allowed a measly .222 batting average against him and he whiffed 179 batters in 190.2 innings and those numbers show the kind of stuff that Cain has.  Look for him to really break out this season with 15-19 wins and an ERA of 3.25-3.75 in 2007.

32 year old Matt Morris will look to rebound as he didn’t have a good first season for the Giants.  He was 10-15 with a 4.98 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP in 33 starts for the Giants in 2006.  Morris gave up 218 hits in 207.2 innings last season and he didn’t have the normal zip on his fastball.  Look for Morris to win 13-15 games this season for the Giants with an ERA of 4.15-4.75 in 2007.

26 year old lefty Noah Lowry was 7-10 with a 4.74 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 27 starts for the Giants last season.  Batters hit .273 against Lowry last season but he was injured part of the season and that effected his fastball as his strikeouts were way down.  Look for Lowry to rebound and win 10-13 games with an ERA in the low 4’s.

32 year old Russ Ortiz was signed in the off season and he appears to have won the #5 job in the rotation for the Giants will a solid spring.  He had a very rough 2006 season as he was 0-8 with a 8.14 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP in 26 games (11 starts) for the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks.  Batters hit .333 against Ortiz last season and he gave up 18 homers and walked 40 batters in only 63 innings in 2006!   The Giants are hoping that a return to San Francisco can inspire Ortiz as he was 67-44 for the them from 1998-2002.

24 year old lefty Jonathan Sanchez has downright nasty stuff.  He was 3-1 with a 4.95 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 27 games (4 starts) for the Giants last season.  His only problem at the major league level was that he walked too many batters (23) in 40 innings.  As soon as he fixes his control issues, look out!  He was 4-3 with 2 saves and a 2.29 ERA with a 0.89 WHIP in 19 games (9 starts).  Look for Sanchez to either start the season in the Giants bullpen or in the minors.  If it’s the minors he won’t be there long.

27 year old righty Brad Hennessey was 5-6 with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP in 34 games (12 starts) for the Giants in 2006.  Hennessey only gave up 92 hits in 99.1 innings last season but he walked 42 batters and that’s a little bit too many.  Look for Hennessey to pitch in both the bullpen and the rotation as he can do whatever is needed to help the Giants.

The Giants have brought Jesse Foppert back after they had traded him to the Seattle Mariners.  The Mariners released Foppert last week and the Giants decided to give their once prized prospect a chance to recuperate his career.  He will start the year in the minors, but he could help the Giants in the rotation at some point if he regains arm strength. 

32 year old switch hitting Randy Winn will return to right field after splitting his playing time between right and center last year.  Winn played in 149 games last season and he scored 82 runs, whacked 11 homers, knocked in 56 runs, stole 10 bases and had a .721 OPS.  Winn played in 89 games in RF last season and he  made 3 errors while showing outstanding range.  Look for Winn to have another solid season hitting in the 270’s with 10-15 homers, 15-20 stolen bases and playing close to Gold Glove defense in RF.

37 year old lefty swinging Mark Sweeney will start in RF once in a while when Winn needs a day off.  He played in 21 games in LF last season and only made 1 error while showing below average range.  He will also play in LF and at 1B this season.  He played in 114 games last season and he hit .251 with 5 homers, 37 RBIs and a .712 OPS.

34 year old lefty swinging Dave Roberts was signed by the Giants as a free agent to start in CF for them this season.  Roberts had a great season for the San Diego Padres last season as he played in 129 games and he hit .293 with 80 runs scored, 2 homers, 44 RBIs, 49 stolen bases and a .752 OPS.  The Giants better hope that Roberts keeps the fire burning because last season was hie free agent year and a lot of players fall off a little bit when they have secured the big money.  Roberts played in 13 games in CF for the Padres last season and he didn’t make an error while showing outstanding range.  Roberts didn’t make an error in his 116 games in LF either.  His only weakness in the field is that he has a weak throwing arm.  Look for Roberts to have a good season, just not as good as last year.

26 year old lefty swinging Fred Lewis will be given the opportunity in Spring Training to win a job as a reserve outfielder for the Giants.  His best position is centerfield because of his outstanding speed.  Lewis played in 120 games in AAA last season and he hit .276 with 85 runs scored, 12 homers, 56 RBIs, 18 stolen bases and a .828 OPS.  He then came up to the Giants and played in 13 games in September and he went 5 for 11 (.455 batting average).  He will probably have a 50/50 chance of beating out Jason Ellison for a job.

Jason Ellison only played in 4 games last season.  He will have a hard time beating out Lewis who looks like he’s going to be a keeper for the Giants.