The San Francisco Giants spring training is now well underway, only three more days until the first Spring Training game!
One of the most integral parts of spring training are in camp competitions. Whether they’re between two up and coming youngsters, a youngster and a seasoned veteran, or veteran against veteran, very few jobs on the field are ever safe, and The Giants are no different. One that is shaping up to be a doozy is the battle for 3rd base between Pablo Sandoval and Mark DeRosa. Pablo is coming off his worst season as a pro while DeRosa is finally healthy after almost two years are wrist issues. Pablo’s background is mainly as an infielder, his experience is at 1st and 3rd (with a little bit of catcher peppered in there) while DeRosa has played all over the infield and outfield, making him more flexible to be used somewhere besides 3rd base.
Can Kung Fu Panda’s weight loss help improve his fielding or can DeRosa prove that he’s back and ready for action? My early guess would be Pablo will be at 3rd most of the season, but the way that Bochy loves to rearrange his lineups, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some variations. I’ll be looking at positional battles between Giants players throughout spring training and DeRosa is going to be in the running for multiple positions. Look for him to compete (and possibly succeed) in almost all of them.
In pseudo-baseball related news, Brian Wilson apparently was at Chalie Sheen’s house, but not to party. He was there along with a few other players to talk to him about the upcoming addition to the ‘Major League’ movie franchise Sheen will be starring in. Now that you mention it, isn’t Wilson just the ‘wild thing’ reincarnated? All he needs are a pair of black-rimmed glasses and he’d be good to go.
Also for all of you who are addicted to Giants baseball (like me) you can stream the live spring training practices from Scottsdale. Sort of cool to see the guys doing their thing.