Giants vs. Diamondbacks, Series Preview: Giants Have Options With Andres Torres, Mark DeRosa Off the DL

Coming off of their first series sweep of the season against the Colorado Rockies this weekend, the San Francisco Giants will now host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three game set at AT&T Park. An added bonus/issue for this series will be the return of both Andres Torres and Mark DeRosa off the disable list Tuesday, forcing skipper Bruce Bochy to play some proverbial musical chairs with the lineup card over the next few days. 

Despite Aaron Rowand filling in admirably in Torres' absence, Bochy seems to be leaning toward starting Andres in center out of the gate on Tuesday. From Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:

"It's fair to say we'd like to have Andres out there," Bochy said. "He gives us some speed and a switch-hitter in the lineup."    

Along with Rowand, Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, and Nate Schierholtz are all viable options to start in the outfield for the Giants as well, a problem I'm sure Bruce Bochy doesn't mind having. I'm sure it will change game-by-game over the next few days depending on pitching match ups, and I'd be willing to bet there won't be the same starting lineup in the outfield during this series. Personally I'd like to see Ross in left field, Schierholtz in left, and Torres in right.

The infield poses the same issues with the return of Mark DeRosa. Mike Fontenot has been playing decently enough at shortstop to keep him there while coming up with some clutch hits, while Tejada has been seriously struggling at the plate but has been doing well at third base. Henry Schulman suggests that Bochy historically won't move to bench a veteran like Tejada this early in the season, but Bochy does admit that deciding who to play is not an easy decision to make:

"That's going to be a tough call," Bochy said of Fontenot. "He's doing such a nice job. We'll get together Tuesday and talk about how we're going to work this out."    

Getting DeRosa a few days in a row under his belt seems like a good idea to me, while giving Tejada some time to figure out his swing and get some rest. But Boch is the skipper for a reason and always seems to make the right calls in regards to the lineup, and I'm sure all of these guys will see a good amount of playing time. 

As for the Diamondbacks, this will be their third series in a row against NL West opponents after going 3-3 last week against the Rockies and Padres. At 15-18 the Diamondbacks are only 2.5 games behind the Giants in the NL West, and are a dangerous team that can get hot and in a hurry. Luckily the Giants are rolling out the top of their rotation to keep the D'backs in check, hopefully recording their second series sweep in a row.