The 133rd season of Major League Baseball is upon us.  Over the next month and half, we will be taking a look at each ball club, leading up to the Expert Predictions of the esteemed staff at Sparty & Friends.  We will be previewing each team, from worst to first. Today, we take a trip to the land of Rice-o-Roni and stuff like that, San Francisco.

If you like pitching and defense, San Fran is the treat for you! Get it? Seriously, the Giants have a very underrated staff to back up Tim Lincecum. Add to the rotation a very solid defensive lineup featuring Winn, Renteriam and Molina, the Giants should be able to do one thing right.No one was expecting the post Barry Era to be anything successful last year, especially with the NL West coming off a very good 2007 season. However, the team should be much improved.

Last Season: 72-90 (4th place in the NL West)

Who’s Gone: Omar Vizquel (retired), Ray Durham (FA)

Who’s New: Randy Johnson (FA), Edgar Renteria(FA), Jeremy Affeldt (FA), Bob Howry (FA)

Projected Lineup:
1. Randy Winn – RF
2. Edgar Renteria – SS
3. Aaron Rowand – CF
4. Bengie Molina – C
5. Pablo Sandoval  3B
6. Fred Lewis  LF
7. Travis Ishikawa  1B
8. Kevin Frandsen  2B
9. Pitcher

SP Tim Lincecum
SP Randy Johnson
SP Matt Cain
SP Barry Zito
SP Jonathon Sanchez/Noah Lowry

CL Brian Wilson

Key Bench Players:
Rich Aurilia  UTL
Juan Uribe  UTL
Dave Roberts  OF

Manager: Bruce Bochy

Lineup Outlook - If this lineup hits .270 combined it would be a miracle.  Your top five reasons this lineup will be absolutely awful:

5. Aaron Rowand – The guy had some great players protecting him in the lineup in Philly. He becomes old school Aaron Rowand. A once promising prospect who can barely muster enough runs to be close to worth the $9+ Million he’s robbing the Giants of.

4. The Renteria Factor – the guy might give you a good week here and there, but honestly, $10 Million for this guy? He comes into champ touting the amount of weight he’s lost. Which is nice, but it doesn’t mean anything until he takes the field. He will probably be one of their most solid hitters, but again, that’s not saying much

3. .318 – That is projected starting 2^nd baseman, Kevin Frandsen’s career On Base Percentage. Sweet!

2.  The Senior Citizens – Their three top bench players are ancient. They’re combined age makes them older than Elizabeth Taylor.

1. Bengie Molina is their cleanup guy – Do I need to explain?

Starting Rotation - Lincecum is awesome. We know that. However, the remainder of the rotation is pretty solid. Despite all his shortcomings in the win/loss column Matt Cain is a relatively solid pitcher. Expect him to only get better, especially if he can overcome the lack of run support he receives. Another addition to the Giants’ rotation is 70 year old lefty Randy Johnson. While not the pitcher he once was, he still won 11 games for an extremely average Arizona team in ‘08.

And then there is Barry Zito. Nothing on this planet can explain how crappy he was last year. But get this, Zito’s last 8 starts he was 4-2 with an ERA just under 4. If the Giants can get some semblance of the old Barry Zito, they might actually have a very good rotation. The 5^th spot will probably rotate between Sanchez and Lowry. Remember before an injury Lowery was a pretty promising starter. So far, the guy has struggled to stay healthy again, but anything is possible.

Bullpen – To shore up the bullpen the Giants brought in Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry to support closer Brian Wilson. The Giants bullpen might be one of the best in the National League. What remains to be seen is how deep it is.

Prediction - 70-75 wins; 3rd in the NL West. This team is one that could really catch lightning in a bottle and make some noise. The problem sits with their lineup. It is not one that will win them a lot of games. With the potential of the pitching staff, the Giants could be a factor in a relatively weak NL West.

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