The San Francisco Giants announced today that 22 year old rookie first baseman Brandon Belt has been named the team's starting first baseman. Back-up first baseman Travis Ishikawa has been designated for assignment, and the Giants hope to move him in a trade during the upcoming week.

Belt stormed through three Minor League levels in the Giants' farm system in 2010, hitting a cumulative .352 with 23 HR, 42 2B, 10 3B, 23 HR, 112 RBI, and 99 runs scored. Belt also posted a 1.075 OPS with a .455 OBP. The Houston, Texas native has been rated an outstanding fielder at first base and brings excellent speed in the field and on the bases. Giants' incumbent first baseman Aubrey Huff will take right field until regular right fielder Cody Ross returns from the DL in about ten days, then Huff will become the team's everyday left fielder.

During the past 18 years, starting with the Barry Bonds era, the Giants have variously constructed their teams around great hitting or great pitching, never quite bringing a balance to both attacks. During the 1993-2007 Bonds years, the idea was to have just enough back-up hitting and just enough pitching to support Bonds' unstoppable offensive powerhouse. During the last several years of Barry Bonds' tenure, the front office began drafting quality pitchers, setting the stage for the formation of arguably the best starting staff in the game, and certainly the best in Giants franchise history.

But the farm system still lagged behind in producing home-grown hitters. San Francisco even entered their 2010 Championship season with serious questions about run production, but the starting staff and the bullpen were dominant, and a number of hitters posted above average offensive numbers-- enough to power the Giants through the 2010 playoffs and World Series.

The arrivals of Brandon Belt and Buster Posey signal the begining of the Giants Minor League system producing above average position players for the big club over the next several years. In 2012-13, look for a number of young players to make their marks: outfielders Thomas Neal, Gary Brown, and Francisco Peguero; and infielders Brandon Crawford, Charlie Culberson, Nick Noonan, and Ehire Adrianza.

Excellent pitching prospects are also on the horizon: Zack Wheeler, Jose Casilla, and Jorge Bucardo will likely be pitching for the Giants in AT&T Park sometime in the next three years.

Brandon Belt represents that extra dimension missing since the days of Will Clark, when San Francisco Giants were dominant at the plate as well as on the mound. Belt's addition turns an already potent run-producing line-up into an absolutely filthy run scoring machine.

The San Francisco Giants have left their Arizona desert encampment to finish the 2011 pre-season with a three game set against the Oakland As in the Bay Area. Opening Day is Thursday March 31st in the decidedly unfriendly confines of Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles. But there will be a delay in making the final Spring Training roster changes, leaving the team and several players in limbo for another week or so.

Cody Ross will open the 2011 season on the disabled list, where he will rehab for about 10 days and join the starting line-up during the first home stand against St. Louis. Let's peg Saturday April 9th as a likely return date. That means decisions about the final outfield set-up are on hold for now. The elements here are:

1) the status of Aaron Rowand, who heard boos from the Monday night AT&T crowd when he came up in the bottom of the 7th inning against Oakland, and more boos when he struck out. The Rowand issue will only get worse for the team and for Aaron Rowand in the coming weeks, but the Giants are likely to put a resolution to the Rowand problem on hold because of the injury to Ross.

2) The fate of Nate Schierholtz. In a sense Schierholtz is the perfect fourth outfielder: a great arm with great fielding instincts, and an occasional extra base hitter with speed on the bases. But someone has to go if Rowand stays when Cody Ross rejoins the team.

3) Travis Ishikawa's situation is the most precarious at this point. The slick-fielding first baseman played some left field this Spring to broaden his value to the team, but there is no question that Schierholtz brings a more skills and versatility to the outfield and at the plate. Which presents another problem for Schierholtz: his greater value over Ishikawa means the Giants can move him in a trade much easier and potentially receive more in return.

Of course the other shoe falling for Ishikawa is Brandon Belt. Whether Belt makes the team on Opening Day, or gets called up in July, at that moment there will simply not be a legitimate roster spot on the team for Ishikawa.

Closer Brian Wilson will also open the season on the DL, and likely return in a week if all goes well. That could mean Wilson makes the 25 man roster on Opening Day at AT&T Park on Friday April 8th against St. Louis. The four way battle for the final spot in the bullpen between Guillermo Mota, Dan Runzler, Jeff Suppan, and Ryan Vogelsong has been won by Mota. Suppan will leave the Giants organization to look for another opportunity, and Vogelsong will likely take an assignment in Triple A Fresno to be brought up if/when the pitching needs a fix. This leaves left hander Dan Runzler, who has fully demonstrated he belongs on the 25 man roster.

While Manager Bruce Bochy will mix and match to fill the closer role until Wilson returns, Runzler will probably take Wilson's slot to open the season. But the real issue is what to do after Wilson returns, because Dan Runzler has demonstrated his value and needs to be part of the Giants' 2011 bullpen. When Wilson returns, the front office will stash Runzler in Fresno, and when that happens we could very well see another Buster Posey-like scenario.

After the Giants sent Posey to Fresno to start the 2010 season, the young catcher immediately started producing runs for the Triple A team-- runs that the Major League team desperately needed. Now Runzler will be getting outs for the Triple A team, and it should only be a matter of time before the Giants will want those outs to be at the expense of National League hitters.

A note about the first pre-season game with Oakland last Monday: fully 38,000 fans attended a Monday night game in San Francisco that was essentially a practice game. The buzz and excitement from the 2010 World Series Championship is alive and loud, and this season is almost as unique as last year-- the team and the fans have never experienced what a season is like after winning a World Series. So it's all still new and wondrous as the adventure continues...

By all accounts the 2011 Cactus League has been a relatively smooth ride for the San Francisco Giants. Closer Brian Wilson's strained left oblique muscle has been the only speed bump on an otherwise open road, and Wilson is typically gritting up and playing down what would likely be a more serious injury for any other player.

But now everything has changed. Opening Day is eight days away and the team roster has just been trimmed down to 34 players. You don't need to slide too many abacus beads back and forth to figure out that nine players currently in camp will either be sent to the minors, cut, or traded in the next week. Spring Training is no longer about feel good stories, slow moving ballgames in the desert sun, and fans stretched out on the lawn beyond center field.

Now, it's all about which players will be chosen to go to battle for the NL West title; it's about athletes who have worked their butts off striving to survive and either get a job, keep their job, or do a better job; and it's about ending old relationships and dealing with new ones. This is when the game gets serious and tough.

The Giants' front office has been creative in providing an array of possible pieces to the 2011 puzzle, but it's time to make the final decisions:

> Will Aaron Rowand be cut? In a scenario that defines the concept of a tough decision, Rowand has two years left on his 5 year $60m contract, with an actual dollar figure owed of $27.2m-- but he lost his center field job and is not a useful utility outfielder. If the team keeps Rowand, players who have an obvious contributing role on the 2011 team will be traded or cut.

The New York Mets, a team in unimaginable disarray on and off the field, recently released pitcher Oliver Perez and infielder Luis Castillo to the tune of $18 million. The Mets are hardly models of baseball business excellence, so this is more along the lines of "wow... even the Mets did it...".

To be clear, it would best best for the franchise if Rowand is moved out before Opening Day; having said that, the season will not be lost if the Giants keep Rowand, an investment that simply didn't work out. Happens all the time and is part of the game.

> The bullpen spots. I say "spots" because there could be a surprise here. In the battle for the acknowledged single open slot, Guillermo Mota appears to have it locked with 10 SOs and 1 walk in 10 innings pitched, plus Mota brings a ton of experience. Dan Runzler and Ryan Vogelsong, who were supposed to be battling Mota for that one opening, have both had a good Spring and the Giants may feel compelled to find room for one of them.

If the Giants trade one of the relievers they signed in the off-season, Runzler could make the team with Vogelsong going to Fresno. He would be the first one called up if a serious problem develops in the bullpen or if any of the starters falter. Although both Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez have been hit magnets throughout March, their market value will likely never be higher than it is now.

>The Brandon Belt watch continues. As was the case with Buster Posey, Giants management has to think about the economic impact of keeping Belt with the big club in terms of accelerating his eligibility for free agency and arbitration. These types of considerations are anathema to fans, but the front office can't arbitrarily blow off the business responsibilities of franchise ownership simply to appease the fan base. 

In Posey's case, the 2010 team left camp with obvious run scoring and power hitting issues; Posey's bat would have significantly improved the offense if he had been a member of the Opening Day line-up. In Belt's case, the 2011 team is starting out as an extra base hitting machine that will almost certainly score enough to fully support the pitching staff. In other words, there is legitimate room to let Brandon Belt develop more in Fresno, and bring him up when everyone feels the time is right.

I actually wish teams spoke more openly about this aspect of the game because it's not something to hide or cover up, it is a legitimate part of what it means to own a professional franchise. The timelines of arbitration and free agency are set for all players, and any team that doesn't balance the business side with the performance side of the game will end up exactly like... well, the New York Mets.

The sophisticated fan base in San Francisco is more than capable of understanding the extra dimensions of the game, beyond simply wanting more home runs and yelling real loud.

Ken Rosenthal is the senior Major League Baseball writer for FoxSports.com and one of the most astute and knowledgeable sports scribes in the country. So when Rosenthal weighs in on specific team issues, it's always worth reading. In a March 18, 2011 piece for Fox Sports, "Giants Can't Hold this Phenom Back", Rosenthal discusses San Francisco Giants' prospect Brandon Belt and the now familiar options available to Giants' team management.

Throughout Spring Training, General Manager Brian Sabean has publically hinted that Belt would benefit from more time at the Triple A level. Last year, the slugging first baseman managed only 48 at-bats at Fresno after 175 at-bats at AA Richmond, and 269 for Single A San Jose. Management and coaches often use a minimum 200 at-bat threshold at AAA ball to ensure a hitter can work out the holes in his hitting at the highest level prior to a big league call up.

But it doesn't always work out that way. When Giants icon Will Clark was brought up to the big club in 1986, he had a total of 22 at-bats at the Triple A level (at the time, the Phoenix Firebirds). 

So things can change. Brian Sabean talked with SF Chronicle writer Henry Schulman on Friday March 18th, and Sabean indicated the team might actually be open to bringing Belt up north: "If Belt forces his way on it would have to be legitimate, and we're all agreed he would be the 7th hitter." While this is probably only positive PR to placate fan enthusiasm for Brandon Belt (and to keep Belt focused), it is interesting that Sabean went out of his way to leave a door open that may only end in disappointment.

And let's add one more positive indication re the Belt issue. The San Jose Mercury's Alex Pavlovic (subbing for Andrew Baggarly) noted Bruce Bochy's announcement that Aubrey Huff (and Travis Ishikawa) would be finally getting more playing time in left field-- a prerequisite to Brandon Belt joining the team and taking over at first base. (Note: Pavlovic has done a great job filling in at Extra Baggs the past week.)

The other dominoes that could fall as a result of the Giants keeping Belt primarily involve two players: Aaron Rowand and Travis Ishikawa. Ken Rosenthal used a term that perfectly defines contract money owed a player like Rowand who is not only unproductive, but is also taking up a critical roster spot: "sunk costs". If the Giants either trade or release Rowand, they do not "lose" the $27.2 million they still owe the center fielder. That money is gone --a "sunk cost"-- whether Rowand leaves or stays. But it further defines the term "addition by subtraction".

In Travis Ishikawa's case, few teams have a back-up first baseman who only plays first base, no matter how good his glove (and Ishikawa's fielding is outstanding). But take a minute to look at Ishikawa's sub-standard 162-game summary stats as a San Francisco Giant: a .727 OPS, a .265 AVG, 87 strike-outs and 46 RBI/46runs scored. He had some success coming to the plate as a pinch hitter in 2010, but batted .200 in 10 post season ABs, with 4 strikeouts. Ishikawa has been a great Giant and some ties are difficult to cut, but this team can no longer waste roster spots on average players.

Which brings us back to Bandon Belt.

Traveling across the country last month I had a short stopover in Pittsburgh, home to the National League Central Division Pirates. Last year, the hapless Bucs achieved something that may be more difficult than winning three World Series in a row: they played their 18th consecutive losing baseball season— 1993 through 2010.

A quick check of Wikipedia confirmed it is the longest losing streak by any organized group of human beings in the history of civilization.

Apparently a number of dedicated Pirate fans believe it will take only another eight to ten losing seasons before the front office finally gets control of this thing and begins to turn it around. They say we’ll know when that happens because by then Ben and Jerry’s ice cream will be stored and sold in hell.

While in the Steel City, I took the opportunity to stop in on an old friend who is a dedicated Pittsburgh Pirates fan and season ticket holder. This is not widely known, but a local ordinance forces the Pirates’ organization to send a letter to all season ticket holders each January asking if they really want to renew, or if they would prefer to watch the games on TV or simply read about them the next day in the newspaper. It's part of the city's nationally acclaimed suicide prevention program.

My buddy asked me if I wanted to go with him to a monthly meeting of recovering Pittsburgh Pirates fans, held in a drafty old warehouse in the industrial section of the city. It seemed harmless, so that night we drove through dark city streets along the river, parked amid broken bottles and trash, then walked up to an old building and entered a large brightly lit room.

Inside, a variety of people sat in several dozen folding chairs facing a worn podium. As we took our seats, I noticed a scruffy table along the side wall with boxes of doughnuts and an old metal coffee urn surrounded by stacks of white Styrofoam cups. On the wall was a Pittsburgh Pirates banner with a red line through it.

A man slowly walked up to the podium and spoke. "I want to welcome everyone and I applaud your courage in coming here tonight. I know it's not easy, but I have faith we can beat this thing together. Now let's hear from someone in the audience who has wrestled the demon down and is now free."

A man raised his hand and stood up. "Hi... my name is William and as of yesterday, I haven't have been a Pirates fan for three straight years." The room erupted in applause and shouts of “Yes we can!” as William smiled and lowered his head.

“You all know I slipped, lost control and became a Pirates fan a couple of times on and off the past ten years, despite all the bad trades of the really good players and the inability of the front office to properly assess and draft minor league talent. But I want everyone to know I'm back."

More applause and cheering filled the dingy room as William smiled sheepishly and sat down. "Thank you, William," said the moderator. “Everyone in this is room knows no matter how long they stop, inside they will always be Pittsburgh Pirates fans. Now, can we please hear from Pastor Bob?"

A black-robed man stood up, shuffled to the podium and began to speak. "After eighteen straight losing seasons, we know we cannot beat the flannel devil that haunts us without looking him in the face, so I want everyone to bow their heads and repeat the names on this partial list as I speak them...".

Pastor Bob held up a remarkably thick set of crumpled papers. “First, the names of Pittsburgh Pirate players we foolishly lost in negligent, ass backward trades: Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, Aramis Ramirez, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Xavier Nady, Jason Schmidt."

After reciting the names, many in the room suddenly began to shift in their seats and mumble in pain and anger.

Pastor Bob continued. "Next, those players the Pirates could have picked before any other team in the annual First Year Player drafts if our GMs didn't have their heads so dramatically deep inside their fat butts: Jayson Werth, Lance Berkman, Jon Garland (1997); C.C. Sabathia, Brad Lidge (1998); Ben Sheets, Alex Rios (1999); Adam Wainwright (2000); David Wright (2001); Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Denard Span, James Loney, Scott Kasmir, B.J. Upton (2002); Phil Hughes, Jered Weaver (2004); Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Garza (2005); Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum (2006); Jayson Heyward, Madison Bumgarner (2007); Buster Posey (2008)."

At this point, a number of the reformed Pirate fans began openly sobbing and wailing, and quite a number pulled out hidden bottles from their coats and began drinking directly from them. When they started yelling and knocking over chairs, my friend and I quickly headed out the back door.

As we sped away in the night, I took a bite from a stale doughnut and vowed to never become a Pittsburgh Pirates fan no matter how desperate I was or how low my self-esteem. That level of pain and suffering is just too much to bear.

(Updated from an original 2009 blog.)

As the San Francisco Giants sprint past the halfway point of their 36 game Spring Training schedule, there is a distinct lack of drama surrounding players and management as all those embarrassing wins continue to pile up. If asked, the politically correct baseball establishment would not doubt follow the proper script and insist the team's 14-4 Cactus League record is completely meaningless; but imagine the stories that would flow from the national MLB media if the Giants were 6-12.

It may be a West Coast thing, or it may be FoxSports TV's continuing addiction to the Yankee-Red Sox crack monster, but San Francisco has simply not received the level of respect from the national sports media that they earned in taking the 2010 World Championship crown. You see it in virtually every 2011 baseball season preview show, feature article, and commentary. The only Giants-related story that will get the interest of ESPN, or Fox Sports, or SI.com, or the MLB Network is if the World Series champs stumble significantly at any point in 2011.

And that, I suppose, is life in the big city.

Getting back to the Giants' extremely impressive 14-4 Spring record, by far the best record in the Majors, here are some top fives in a number of offensive and pitching categories at the halfway point:

AB		TB		XBH		OBP (min. 20 ABs)
1) Pablo Sandoval	40	1) Pablo Sandoval	24	1) Pablo Sandoval	6	1) Buster Posey	.556
2) Brandon Belt	38	2) Buster Posey	19	2) Buster Posey	5	2) Andres Torres	.448
3) Mark DeRosa	32	3) Brandon Belt	17	Brandon Belt	5	3) Cody Ross	.438
4) Aubrey Huff	30	Cody Ross	17	3) Cody Ross	4	4) Pat Burrell	.387
Nate Schierholtz	30	Andres Torres	17	Nate Schierholtz	4	5) Mike Fontenot	.355
5) Mike Fontenot	28	4) Nate Schierholtz	16	Pat Burrell	4
Miguel Tejada	28	5) Pat Burrell	15	Mike Fontenot	4
				Andres Torres	4

IP		SO		WHIP (min. 6 innings)		ERA (min. 6 innings)
1) R. Vogelsong	12.2	1) Tim Lincecum	14	1) Jeff Suppan	.44	1) Sergio Romo	0.00
2) Tim Lincecum	12.1	2) M. Bumgarner	12	2) Sergio Romo	.67	2) Jeremy Affeldt	1.50
3) M. Bumgarner	11.0	3) Ryan Vogelsong	11	3) Dan Runzler	.96	3) Jeff Suppan	2.00
4) Barry Zito	9.2	4) Jonathan Sanchez	9	4) Santiago Casilla	1.00	4) J. Sanchez	2.08
5) Jeff Suppan	9.0	5) Jeremy Affeldt	7	Guillermo Mota	1.00	5) Ryan Vogelsong	2.13
		Dan Runzler	7	5) Madison Bumgarner	1.09

Welcome to "The  Brandon Belt Chronicles", an ongoing series of insightful and revealing commentaries about the San Francisco Giants' number one minor league prospect, and the only debatable issue facing the San Francisco Giants this Spring. Sure, there are several pitched battles being fought for one or two open bullpen spots, but let's get disturbingly real here and admit the only critical question in camp Giants is whether or not super prospect Brandon Belt goes north with the team or finds an apartment in Fresno this Spring.

Even though Giants General Manager Brian Sabean has all but declared that Belt would start the season as a member of the Triple A Fresno Grizzlies, speculation yet abounds Belt might just make the big team. I would say about 99.98% of that speculation can be found exclusively on local Bay Area sports talk radio. That's not surprising since desperation for controversy, whether real or manufactured, is the fuel that allows sports talk radio broadcasters to remain fully conscious during a three hour shift full of callers wondering why the Giants don't trade Aaron Rowand and Travis Ishikawa to St. Louis for Albert Pujols.

Conventional analysis states that Belt either joins the team on Opening Day, and hits the hell out of the ball, or plays in the minors for two or three months and then is brought up (and hits the hell out of the ball). Which is all well and fine, but let's take a look at the dark underside of the Brandon Belt question and explore two unspeakable scenarios so frightening they make the upcoming release "Saw VIII: Now I'm Really Annoyed" look like a G-rated Disney feature from 1953.

Belt Scenario #1: It's early July 2011 and the Giants are 54-26, fourteen and a half games ahead of the Colorado Rockies. Team chemistry is sweet, everyone is contributing, and everything smells like linen-scented Lysol spray. Oh, and Brandon Belt is leading the Pacific Coast League in every offensive category known to mankind, compelling the Fresno Grizzlies front office to place an over-sized easy chair in front of Belt's bank of three adjoining lockers in the clubhouse. Sound familiar?

Do the Giants mess with baseball karma and bring their young phenom up?

Belt Scenario #2: It's early July 2011 and the Giants are 26-54 and in fourth place only one and a half games ahead of the last place Arizona SnakeBacks. Top prospect Brandon Belt is hitting .211 at Triple A Fresno, and has already made 23 errors at first base to break the all time PCL record, held since 1944 by Heinie LaHood, who tragically lost both arms in 1938 during an unsupervised tug of war contest hosted by the Boy Scouts. (The scrappy LaHood found a spot on the Giants' Triple A roster at first base due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II-- more on the amazing story of Heinie LaHood in a future blog.)

Would this scenario cause the the Giants' front office to still bring Brandon Belt up to the Bigs?

So, the message here is: don't count your Brandon Belts before they hatch. And while I'm at it, remember to measure twice and cut once, even if it's all gravy under the bridge.

The San Francisco Giants continue to seemingly glide through the off-season and Spring Training 2011 with few line-up and pitching issues. Will Pablo Sandoval continue to make laser-like contact at the plate and look positively athletic at third base? What will the Giants do with Mark DeRosa, who seems to be on a mission to make up for the time he lost last year, and whose name needs to be somewhere on the daily line-up card? The bullpen appears stocked with about three more qualified candidates than there are open slots.

Hell, the coffee even tastes better and now they're leaving two mints on the pillow each morning. 

It's times like these that allow front offices and sports writers to indulge in introspection, specifically in the areas of further fine-tuning and deciding to finally clean up that mess in the corner that isn't a big deal but can be so annoying. And so the drama-free atmosphere at camp Giants had a mini-explosion a few days ago when San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Bruce Jenkins reported that the Giants' front office was "exasperated" with starter Barry Zito after his Spring debut wherein he pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits, five walks, and two earned runs.

Word from an unnamed team source was that Zito was not in shape and the Giants are ready to "buy out his contract" before the season starts.

The club issued the usual denials the following day, but it's clear the Giants succeeded in sending out several messages regarding Zito. The first message was for Barry Zito: find the motivational fire you need to keep your starting job in the best rotation in the Majors. Zito was left off the post-season rosters throughout last year's playoffs and World Series and the Giants are making no apologies, nor are they going to allow Zito to sleepwalk through the Cactus League and into the 2011 season.

The second message? That one goes out to the Giants' top pitching prospects like Jose Casilla, Clayton Tanner and Jorge Bucardo: don't think the big club's pitching staff is set in stone for the year because you never know-- work hard and be ready.

In the otherwise happy clubhouse of the defending Series champions, Barry Zito's $126 million seven year contract is the large gorilla sitting on top of the rogue elephant over in the far corner. In another corner of the room is just a large gorilla: Aaron Rowand's five year $60 million contract. We haven't heard from Rowand's gorilla yet, but that could just be a matter of time: Rowand lost his center field job to Andres Torres in June last year, and since that is the only outfield position Rowand can play, his presence essentially takes up an extra roster spot.

The story here isn't Barry Zito; Zito contributed an average of 10 wins a year the past four years, and pitched 767.3 innings-- an average of 192 innings per season. That's a significant contribution to an average team (and the Giants were below average the first three years of Zito's contract). For a winning team, those innings and wins coming from a 4th or 5th starter are huge-- without Zito's 9 wins last season, the Giants don't make the playoffs.

The real story is why the Giants still have Rowand on the roster. Despite his professionalism and sheer dedication to the team and to the game, Rowand has just not worked out. It is unrealistic to think the Giants would eat the $64.5 million remaining on Zito's contract when he is actually contributing, but trading Rowand and eating maybe $20+ million of his remaining contract would be a huge addition by subtraction.

Rowand's presence and lack of defensive flexibility means that players like Nate Schierholtz or Emmanual Burriss might not make this team, and the defensive skills and speed they bring are exactly what the Giants badly need.

Let's hope the Giants can get something done to move Rowand before opening day 2011.  

Notes
The Giants owe both players a total of $91.7 million over the next four years.
Barry Zito's contract breaks down this way:
2011 - $18.5m
2012 - $19m
2013 - $20m
2014 - $7m team buyout; a total of $64.5 million.
Aaron Rowand's contract looks like this:
2011 - $13.6m
2012 - $13.6m; a total of $27.2 million.                 

On Friday February 25th the San Francisco Giants topped the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 in the first Spring Training game of 2011. Many players threw pitches, many players had at-bats, and a great number of ballplayers ran around the bases. Those wily Giants reached back into their 2010 bag of tricks to barely hold on to win in the final inning, and with that we are off and running to the first game of the 2011 season-- Thursday March 31st against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Spring skirmishes may only be warm-ups for the upcoming campaign, but for many players these are not meaningless games. And if you look closely, special moments seem to pop up out of nowhere in these games that capture a team's past and its future. For me in the Cactus League opener, the Giants infield line up that finished off the game in the top of the last inning was particularly special: Brandon Belt at 1st base, Emmanuel Burriss at second, Ryan Rohlinger at 3rd base, and Brandon Crawford at short. Pretty cool.

This was a snaphot of four players at career crossroads, and a possible preview of at least part of the Giants' 2012 Opening Day infield.

Emmanuel Burriss has survived the last four years being moved back and forth between shortstop and second base, up and down between the minors and the big leagues, as the Giants front office awkwardly worked around their prospects while they signed a series of veteran free agent shortstops. Through injuries and uncertainty, Burriss has hung in there and performed well on the field and at the plate.

Brandon Belt is everyone's breakthrough headline and one of the most compelling 2011 prospect stories in baseball. If Belt makes the big team out of Spring Training, San Francisco's batting order may finally start to get the attention of the East Coast sports media.  

Ryan Rohlinger hit a series of speed bumps the past several years and never got a lengthy look at third base. Now the 27 year old Rohlinger stands in the back of a suddenly very busy depth chart at third: Pablo Sandoval's anticipated comeback; veteran Mark DeRosa at the ready if Pablo stumbles; 23 year old Conor Gillaspie, picked second in the 2008 amateur draft behind Buster Posey, poised at AA Richmond; and 24 year old Chris Dominguez, who led Single A affiliate Augusta in RBI and total bases in 2010, also waiting in the wings.

Brandon Crawford, 24, could be the real surprise in this group. Crawford must be getting tired of the "great glove--questionable bat" label that now seems super-glued to his back, but he has shown some offensive spark over his minor league career. Ultimately, baseball teams built on pitching tend to seriously prosper with extraordinary infield defense-- and that's exactly what Crawford brings to the party.

For the first time in maybe 20 years, the San Francisco Giants organization has real offensive depth, and not just in the infield. It's a reflection of an organization that has made global errors, has had global successes, but is now on track to institutionally learn and grow.

Kansas City Royals star pitcher Joakim Soria said recently that he wants to dump his nickname, "The Mexicutioner', with its negative connection to all the violence occurring in his home country of Mexico.

The Royals front office immediately came up with a list of potential replacement nicknames for the righty closer (with staff comments), one of which will be chosen and used on an interim basis during Spring Training to see if works out.

Top 10 Replacement Nicknames for Joakim Soria
10. The Sultan of Throw (could be mistaken for local rug emporium owner)
9.The Excuseme-erator (would off-set negatives of his old nickname)
8. Hammerin’ Joakim
7. Charles Hustle (more formal version of nickname used by that other guy)
6. The Medium Sized Unit
5. Mr. Cub (may have to involve a potential trade)
4. The Iron Caballo
3. Lefty (nickname works better if Soria agrees to alter pitching stance, windup) 
2. Stan the Man (might have been previously used—staff is checking)
...and the number one replacement nickname for Joakim Soria…
1. The Soriator (possible identity confusion with popular robot vacuum cleaner)