Starting shortstop Omar Vizquel will undergo knee surgery later this week and it will cause him to miss the next 4-5 weeks. The 41-year old switch hitter will miss the start of the 2008 season. Vizquel played in 145 games last season for the Giants and he was 126 for 513 (.246 avg, .621 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 4 homers, 51 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. The Giants can replace Vizquel’s bat but they will miss his glove which is often Golden despite his advancing age. 26 year old righty swinging Kevin Frandsen will likely take over as the starting shortstop until Vizquel is ready to return. He played in 109 games last season for the Giants and he was 71 for 264 (.269 avg, .710 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 5 homers and 31 RBIs.

The Giants are three deep with quality catchers but 33-year old righty swinging Bengie Molina will definately the most important as he will likely open the season as the cleanup hitter on the Giants. He played in 134 games last season for the Giants and he was 137 for 497 (.276 avg, .731 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 19 homers and 81 RBIs. Molina also is a solid defensive catcher as he threw out 24% of the runners that tried to steal on him last season and Giants pitchers had a 4.11 ERA with him behind the plate.

29-year old righty swinging Eliezer Alfonzo had a breakthrough season in 2006 for the Giants but last season he was injured most of the year. He played in 26 games for the Giants last season and he was 16 for 64 (.250 avg, .643 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBIs. Alfonzo is also a solid defensive catcher as he threw out 31% of the runners that tried to steal on him last season and Giants pitchers had a 3.69 ERA with him behind the plate.

30-year old righty swinging Guillermo Rodriguez will likely start the season in AAA. He will get the callup if Molina or Alfonzo get injured at some point of the season. Rodriguez played in 39 games last season for the Giants and he was 22 for 87 (.253 avg, .683 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer and 14 RBIs. He threw out 25% of the runners that tried to steal on him last season and Giants pitchers had a 4.87 ERA when he was catching.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B

The Giants pretty much let most of the other teams in the division improve themselves while they got worse. The one improvement the Giants made was signing Aaron Rowand to play center field. He goes all out all of the time but that has led to injury often during his career. Veterans Victor Santos and Scott Williamson were the only pitchers of note brought to camp this spring.

OFF SEASON GRADE FOR THE FRONT OFFICE: F

The Giants have signed 31-year old righty reliever Scott Williamson to a minor league contract. Williamson pitched in 16 games (0 starts) for the Orioles last season and he was 1-0 with a 4.40 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He has now pitched in 344 games (10 starts) in his major league career and he is 28-28 with 55 saves, a 3.36 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. This was a nice low/risk high reward signing as Williamson still has good stuff.