Why Ochoa and not Burriss? What about Rohlinger? You assume a lot of progress from Frandsen. Hope he comes through - young, powerful 1st and 2nd basemen sound good to me. Another hopeful thought - more than one stud catcher, at least one of whom could play more than one position. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

>Why Ochoa and not Burriss?

I like Ochoa's D at short a lot better so far. Plus he has a little bit of power. Burriss has none. And at the plate as a LHB, which is how he would spent most of his time, he is not good. I'm not saying Burriss won't be good (though I have doubts), I'm saying Ochoa is a better short-term solution, with Burriss getting much-needed seasoning in the minors to start '09.

>What about Rohlinger?

I'd love to see him do well and become next year's home-grown answer to the 3B problem. But see this post for an explanation why I'm not holding my breath.

Boy, that is still one real shitty offense, no matter who the mystery 3B man ends up being. Should be pushing the 100 loss mark again in 2009.

I don't see Velez being in the mix. He was an intriquing project, but bad defense and base running and OBP. And he's, what, 26? Should have figured the basics out by now. Move on. Burriss or Frandsen are better options, as Burriss has the speed and the defense (at 2nd) without the night-of-the-living dread that accompanies Velez everywhere he goes, and Frandsen seems to be able to hit.

But here's something else to mull over. How much need or value is there to having veterans on the team to help and teach the kids. I see lots of push, mostly by bloggers, to dump Winn and Aurilia. I'm okay with keeping or losing both. How many veterans does a team need to progress?

Nice post. Believe it or not, I know where DART runs. :^) I am a business geek!

Another alternative is trading Winn, using Roberts and Bowker and Horwitz as utility OF with Lewis in LF, Rowand CF, Schierholtz RF but Bowker get starts RF and LF (bunion could put Lewis out first half of 2009 and even if not, I would give him less games to baby that bunion more). When necessary, Lewis can take CF, Bowker can take RF, with Roberts also capable of CF in a pinch and can obviously play LF.

Also, I think the Giants might go with Frandsen at 3B, allowing a number of internal candidates to battle over 2B. At the end of the day (last day of spring training), you could go with one of them or even put Frandsen back at 2B and start Rohlinger at 3B if he has a good spring training, with Aurilia as backup starter at multiple infield positions (except for SS).

That's partly why I'm for Burriss starting 2B, as he could switch to SS in a pinch, Frandsen move to 2B then Aurilia takes 3B (or even 2B straight). Plus the Giants appear very serious about him, they have Lansford working with him to hit with more power from the left side, unfortunately he's using Willy Tavares as his model, a slap hitter, and will send him to winter league.

I agree with Ochoa, because SS is too defense dependent over history of baseball to go otherwise, particularly with our dependence on pitching to win. You just have to hope for offense from other positions.

Speaking of offense, I like Ishikawa/Sandoval as platoon buddies at 1B with Sandoval backup at C and Bowker as backup at 1B. Assuming they can do well in spring training.

I also don't think Velez will be Figgins-worthy, I'm just hoping that he will be good enough right now. I think he goes back down to AAA to figure things out and, more importantly, learn a position or three.

I think the Giants will look to pick up somebody discarded who can play 2B/3B, maybe SS, like how they got Castillo this season, to be another backup at those positions for 2009. Too bad Sandoval's experiment at 3B didn't work out, else maybe he could get a chance there too.

Lefty,

How could you? That link to an ideal outfielder has me...well, feeling blue. Yech.

I guess you could do this anywhere but in Seattle you can ride the SLUT - South Lake Union Streetcar

I'd rather have a scrap heap guy (e.g. Jorge Cantu or Dallas McPherson) via free agency than an actual third baseman next season if we're still rebuilding next season.
I would also like to see a somewhat strict platoon at first with Ishikawa (if his performance is suitable) and Aurilia (if he comes back relatively cheap). I'd also like David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Fernando Martinez from the Mets for Barry Zito and Dave Roberts, but I'm trying to keep it realistic here.

Prediction: Giants will sign either Crede or Furcal. Crede seems more like "our" type of guy, but he would block Gillespie

Trollope?

I`m pretty much with you on every point here. I would throw Burriss in the 2B mix, in case Frandsen or Speedy are horrible in spring training.

I`d take Beltre in a heartbeat if the price is low enough. I suspect the giants will make a run at Crede, though.

I share the same concerns with Nate`s RF, and if they can trade Roberts I`d be thrilled.

my dream scenario here: Pablito is decent at 3B, so they stick him there, but I don`t think this will happen.

oh, and there is yet hope for Kemp: Agent Ned hasn`t been axed yet, and might have kept himself around until next year with the Manny deal.