Soon to be 32 year old Pedro Feliz has really emerged as a pretty good player for the Giants.  Feliz played in 160 games last season and he hit .244 with 22 homers, 98 RBIs and a .709 OPS.  He flashed very good range last season which was part of the reason for the 21 errors he made.  Look for Feliz to have another year like last season as he will provide good power but a low batting average unless he becomes more disciplined at the plate.

30 year old Justin Leone will get the opportunity to compete for a back up job for the Giants and his best position is 3B.  He played in 124 games in AAA ball and he hit .260 with 20 homers, 73 RBIs and a .790 OPS.  He batted 1 time last season for the Padres and he made an out.  Look for him to likely start the year in AAA and get promoted if the Giants have some injuries.

Switch hitting Omar Vizquel will turn 40 years shortly after the season starts, but he still plays the game like a kid.  He won his 2nd Gold Glove in a row for the Giants last season and it was his 11th of his career!  His range has diminshed a little bit, but he only made 4 errors all last season.  He played in 153 games last season and he hit .295 with 88 runs scored, 4 homers, 58 RBIs, 24 stolen bases and a .749 OPS.  Look for Vizquel to have another good season with the stick and glove for the Giants in 2007.

33 year old switch hitter Luis Figueroa will battle for the back up shortstop job with the Giants.  Last season he played in 93 games in AAA ball and he hit .276 with 6 homers, 38 RBIs, 11 stolen bases and a .716 OPS.  He played in 8 games last season with the Blue Jays and went 1 for 9 (.111 avg).  He’s a longshot to make the Giants.

29 year old Tomas De La Rosa will also battle for a reserve infield job with the Giants.  De La Rosa played in 86 minor league games and he hit .303 with 8 homers, 45 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.  He played in 16 games for the Giants last season and went 5 of 16 (.313 avg).  He will have his best chance yet of sticking in the majors this season.  He also can play 2B and 3B.

35 year old switch hitter was re-signed by the San Francisco Giants after having one of his best seasons ever.  Durham hit .293 last season with 79 runs scored, 26 homers, 93 RBIs and an outstanding .898 OPS.  The Giants need Durham to stay healthy again this season if they are to make a run at the N.L. West Division Title.  Durham did make 11 errors and his range has diminished in the field.  It might be hard to for Durham to duplicate the power surge he showed last season, which just so happened to appear in his free-agent walk year.  But, he should have another decent year for the Giants as long as he stays healthy.

24 year old Kevin Frandsen will likely be Durham’s back up this season.  He struggled in his first shot in the majors as he only hit .215 with a .607 OPS in 93 at bats last season.  In his defense, it’s usually hard for a young player to come off of the bench.  He doesn’t have much range in the field on defense and will need to work on that part of his game.  If Durham had to miss some time and Frandsen got an extended shot at playing time, he likely would hit for a much better average than he did for the Giants last season as he’s a .321 career hitter in three minor league seasons.

The Giants will be platooning a pair of 35 year olds at first base this season.  Ryan Klesko and Rich Aurilia could form a productive duo there.  Lefty swinging Ryan Klesko would probably get more at bats as long as he proves that he’e healthy after only batting 4 times last season after having shoulder surgery last spring.  It’s possible that he could have his power come back to him in San Fran as it seemed sapped by the gigantic Petco Park.  He only hit .248 with 18 homers and 58 RBIs in 2005 which was the last time he was healthy.  The Giants will need him to improve on the average and provide them with similar power numbers to make this platoon work.  Klesko has always been a poor defender no matter where he plays on the field so don’t look for that to change this season.

Rich Aurilia played all over the field for the Reds last season but the Giants will probably want him to concentrate on first base this season.  He hit well last season for the Reds and the Giants need him to have a good season for the team to be successful.  He hit .300 with a .867 OPS, 23 homers and 70 RBIs in 440 at bats.  It’s doubtful he will put up numbers that good at Pac Bell Park which is a little bit harder to hit in than the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.  He has adjusted well to first base as he only made 2 errors in 329.2 innings there.

28 year old Lance Niekro really has disappointed the Giants.  They handed him the starting job last season and he only hit .246 with a 673 OPS before the Giants sent him to the minors.  He hit the heck out of the ball at AAA and would up with a .319 average with a 1.009 OPS, 14 homers and 34 RBIs in only 144 at bats.  He’s running out of chances with the Giants and will likely start the year in AAA unless Klesko or Aurilia get hurt in Spring Training.  He took his hitting struggles into the field with him as he made 5 errors in 431.1 innings there and that’s too many.

26 year old lefty swinging Chad Santos is the #4 guy on the food chain.  Santos only hit .257 in the minors with 16 homers and 81 RBIs in only 408 at bats.  He also went 3 for 7 with a homer for the Giants last September.  He’s a big long shot to make the team.

The Giants signed 32 year old Bengie Molina to be their starting catcher this season.  He’s been a very good hitter for a while now and he hit .284 with a .786 OPS last season.  He also whacked 19 homers and drove in 57 runs in 433 at bats.  Molina is an overrated defender as he sometimes gets lazy blocking balls in the dirt.  He only made 2 errors last season but he allowed a whopping 11 passed balls!  He also had a hard time throwing out base runners as he only nailed 16% of them last season.  He should continue to hit well which is what the Giants are looking for.

28 year old Eliezer Alfonzo made the most of his rookie season in the majors.  He hit a solid .266 with a OPS of .767 last season with 12 homers and 39 RBIs in only 286 at bats.  Alfonzo also had a solid rookie season on defense as he made 5 errors and allowed only 1 passed ball in 700.1 innings behind the plate.  He also threw out 20% of the base runners that tried to steal on him.  He should do fine as Molina’s back up.

26 year old Justin Knoedler will start the season in AAA unless there’s an injury to Molina or Alfonzo.  He hit only .243 last season between AA+AAA ball.  He also went 1 for 7 (.143 avg.) in the majors with the Giants last season.

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Do you know anyone else that physically peaked after 40? What a joke! How does he expect anyone to believe anything he says?

In 1999, Barry only played 102 games.  For his entire career up to that point, he batted .288 with an average of 1 home run every 15.7 at-bats.

In 2000, Barry didn’t just recover from his abbreviated season, he was a whole new person.  Since then, he has batted .328 with an average of 1 home run every 8.8 at-bats.

If I can find out Barry’s training regimen maybe I’ll make it to the big leagues in about 11 years… you know… once I hit 40 years of age and enter my prime!

The Giants have made some major free-agent signings as they hope to return to the playoffs this season.  The Giants plucked outfielder Dave Roberts away from the San Diego Padres.  Roberts had a career season last year as he hit .293, scored 80 runs and stole 49 bases (he was only caught 6 times).  Look for Roberts to score at least 100 runs for the Giants if he can stay healthy.  The Giants signed Bengie Molina to be their starting catcher.  Molina hit 19 homers and drove in 57 runs despite only batting 433 times.  The Giants signed a couple of veterans to platoon at first base.  The first one was old friend Rich Aurilia.  Aurilia hit .300 with 23 homers and 70 RBIs despite only batting 440 times for the Reds last season.  His platoon partner will likely be Ryan Klesko.  Klesko missed most of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery but the Giants still think he’ll hit for power.  Third baseman Justin Leone was brought in for depth purposes.

The only big addition the Giants made to their pitching staff was signing free-agent starter Barry Zito.  Zito was 16-10 last season for the A’s with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.  He has an awesome curveball and just enough heat to throw one by you when he has to.  The Giants gave Russ Ortiz a minor league contract and a invite to Spring Training.  It’s up for debate as to whether the Giants can fix what has went haywire the last two seasons for Ortiz.  The last two seasons Ortiz is 5-19 with a 7.33 ERA!  Longshots to make the Giants are lefty starter Damian Moss and righty Sun-Woo Kim.  The Giants also brought back Tyler Walker.  Walker is recovering from Tommy John surgery so he won’t be ready until at least mid-season.