SF Giants Offseason Preview: Starting Rotation
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by Agent0
Looking at the San Francisco Giants off-season needs and possible moves I start with their very young and actually pretty good rotation. This is a rotation that is young, yet can still have a pretty big impact in he National League this year. They have tons of potential and if they can get some runs support, they could possibly carry the Giants into a race for the Wild Card and/or possibly the NL West Division Title. Of course everyone knows about the three at the top of the rotation: Barry Zito, Matt Cain, and Tim Lincecum. Then there is Noah Lowry and Jonathan Sanchez rounding off the rotation. These five starters have an average age of 25.4 years of age. This is a statistic that proves the future shall be nice rotation wise. This rotation isn't set in stone though due to the fact that GM Brian Sabean wants to deal for some middle of the order pop. He has stated that Lincecum and Cain are "untouchable", but knowing him neither may be in the Giants rotation come May. There are many deals out there though that can be completed using the likes of Lowry and Sanchez. Dealing both though could become costly making a whole in the rotation, but dealing one for some pop in the line-up could prove to be a very nice deal for the Giants. Either Sanchez or Lowry could be on there way for Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles. The Giants have shown interest in Tejada and seem to be willing to give up either a Sanchez or Lowry. So who fills the spot if Sanchez or Lowry exit the scene? Well the Giants have no real standouts in their Triple A minor league affiliate the San Jose Grizzlies, but one young pitcher seems able to fill the five spot in the rotation if Sanchez or Lowry get traded. Travis Blackley is a twenty-five year old lefty that had a 4.66 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 162.1 IP. He averaged 5.8 innings per start. Though these stats are not superb I think he could survive in the fifth spot of the rotation. So an very early look at the Giants possible Starting Rotation
1 Barry Zito
2 Matt Cain
3 Tim Lincecum
4 Noah Lowry/Jonathan Sanchez
5 Jonathan Sanchez/Travis Blackley
