Giants' Make Final Tune-Up's for Spring

Although a lot of guys have already arrived, Giants pitchers and catchers are all expected in Camp by Monday, with their first workout scheduled for the following afternoon. As far as the positional players are concerned, they'll be reporting Friday with the first full-squad workout scheduled for next Saturday.

With the first spring training workouts scheduled for less than 1 week from now, the Giants are fine-tuning their roster for the Cactus League. They added a few more players on minor league deals over the last few days, none of which really jump out at you, but at least one guy who could play a valuable role for them in 2011, and that guy is Edgar Gonzalez. The Giant inked the former Padres infielder to a minor league deal after the 32 year-old spent the 2010 season in Japan with the Yomuri Giants. Like they did with Jeff Suppan last week, they added Gonzalez in order to provide depth to an area in which the Giants don't have a bunch of ML ready options, and that's middle infielders. After Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada, the Giants do have Mike Fontenot and Mark DeRosa, but neither of those guys are considered fluid shortstops. Gonzalez has plenty of experience at shortstop, and could be in camp to provide some competition to guys like Fontenot and Emmanuel Burris, another younger option for back-up middle infielder. The question about Burris is his health and bat. He's been battling injury for much of the past 2 seasons, and hasn't done much at the ML level since 2008, when he hit .283 in 240 at-bats. Even though he showed some ability in the 2008 season, he tailed heavily towards the later part of the year, and has never really regained his confidence since.

So, long story short, as long as the Giants aren't giving away guaranteed dollars, or roster spots, then they can sign all the minor league, spring training invitees that they want. What's the harm? There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition for the middle infield spots. And speaking of competition, with just a week until Spring Training workouts start, and only 2 weeks until Cactus League games start, which means the Giants tittle defense is beginning. Plus, with all the Zips and Projections being tossed out right now, we feel a little left out, so in our next post, we'll start our own version of the Giants projections. I'll tell you right now though, this team is in a much better position than the one that entered Spring Training 2010, and we all know how well that turned out. Now, with most of those key players back for another, full season, plus the likely-hood of a Pablo Sandoval/Mark DeRosa-rebound and Brandon Belt's debut, I must tell you, things are looking as optimistic in Scottsdale right now, than they ever have.