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Ladies and gentlemen, the focus is now officially on 2012. For all of us, except for maybe Cardinals fans, it's time to move on from 2011. This year is so last year anyways. So here at MLBDD we're spending some time projecting each team's 25-man roster for Opening Day 2012. We're not projecting trades or free agent signings here, so this is purely focusing on the talent that each team already has in-house. The 2012 season may not start soon, but we can still think about what it might look like.
Starting Lineup (ages are based on April 4, 2012)
Catcher: Buster Posey - Age 25
First Base: Aubrey Huff - Age 35
Second Base: Freddy Sanchez - Age 34
Third Base: Pablo Sandoval - Age 25
Shortstop: Brandon Crawford - Age 25
Left Field: Brandon Belt - Age 24 (as of 4/20/12)
Center Field: Melky Cabrera - Age 27
Right Field: Nate Schierholtz - Age 28
Full batting order, bench, starting rotation and bullpen projections, as well as some of my thoughts, are included below the fold.
Batting Order
1. CF Cabrera 2. 2B Sanchez 3. 3B Sandoval 4. C Posey 5. 1B Huff 6. LF Belt 7. RF Schierholtz 8. SS Crawford
Bench
C Eli Whiteside, IF Jeff Keppinger, IF Mike Fontenot, UTIL Brett Pill, OF Andres Torres
Starting Rotation
1. RHP Tim Lincecum - Age 27
2. RHP Matt Cain - Age 27
3. LHP Madison Bumgarner - Age 22
4. RHP Ryan Vogelsong - Age 34
5. LHP Barry Zito - Age 33
Bullpen
Closer: RHP Brian Wilson - Age 30
Others: RHP Sergio Romo, LHP Jeremy Affeldt, RHP Santiago Casilla, RHP Ramon Ramirez, LHP Javier Lopez, LHP Dan Runzler
Some Quick Thoughts
- Unfortunately, it appears that the Giants will be going with Huff once again at first base in 2012, which pushes Brandon Belt out to left field. There have been rumblings that Belt might start the season in Triple-A, which would be absolutely ridiculous given his skill level.
- It appears that they may acquire a veteran shortstop to start in place of Crawford, who's a good defender but a pretty miserable hitter. They've been rumored to be in on Alex Gonzalez, but they shouldn't spend too much on him given that he's pretty similar to Crawford as an all-glove/no-bat player.
- There are rumors that the Giants want to trade Affeldt and his $5.1 million salary, which would free up a spot in the bullpen. Ramon Ramirez is reportedly another possible trade candidate given that the Giants already have a pretty sizable financial commitment to their bullpen.