Well, it is spring, all right. Major-league baseball, practice version, starts tomorrow after a cold winter's lockout, and we've cleaned up the site here a little bit. Our cold war with Google Blogger has been settled to our satisfaction, and it looks like this blog won't be moving after all. That's a relief-- who wants to do that much work when there's a game on? (Actually, the game today is our Tennessee Vols versus Longwood in the NCAA opening round, but baseball is coming soon.)
Over on your right, all four of the ongoing pages have been updated. If you peruse the Greatest Giants Players page, you'll see that the team's two valetudinarians, Brandons Crawford and Belt, have both moved up. Crawford's epochal 2021 season has vaulted him into a tie with Gaylord Perry for tenth on the all-time San Francisco list, and there's every chance he could eventually end up as the fifth greatest SF Giant of all time, behind only Mays, Bonds, Marichal, McCovey, and Posey. As for Belt, all we can think about is how he was missed during that LA series, but we will note that his fine 2021 elevated him to 17th all-time, ahead of Jason Schmidt and Jack Clark.
With Buster Posey retired and Johnny Cueto and Tony Watson now gone, Crawford and Belt are the only Giants who've been with the team since before 2018. Evan Longoria, entering the final year of his contract, is now the club's third-longest-tenured player, and Tyler Beede (!) is now the senior member of the pitching staff by service time.
Does that mean the makeover is almost complete? What team is this, and whose team is this now? Brandon Crawford seems to be the latest "face of the franchise," with Logan Webb a contender. We may see Heliot Ramos join Joey Bart in the everyday lineup before the year is out. We're not sure who's going to play second base-- is Mauricio Dubon still in contention? Gabe Kapler's Giants still have an outfield/DH rotation full of Gabe Kaplers, with Austin Slater, Steven Duggar, Darin Ruf, Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade, and Wilmer Flores all in circulation. Carlos Rodon brings a second left-handed arm to the rotation, and Alex Cobb may be the latest candidate to try and pull a mid-career revival here, in the manner of the dearly-departed and newly-rich Kevin Gausman.
And, oh yeah, the DH. It's a "thing" now, National League fans. As much as we've resisted it over the decades, all indications are it will help this team win. And you know that can't be bad.
