NL West

Brian Wilson is hurt!

Let the madness begin.

Some headlines are already there, most of which are referring to buzz phrases like "oblique muscle" and "out for opener" and "former Beach Boy still playing guitar" and "PANIC PANIC PANIC."

I'm not exactly in panic mode yet.

If anyone has seen anything on Brian Wilson in the past year, you'll know that he actually tore his oblique muscle in his major league debut and then pitched another inning afterwards.

Padres All Star closer Heath Bell is the latest Padre to step to the edge of the contract precipice, looking down at the Padres future meager wage offerings and hearing the call of the Yankees or the Red Sox and their monetary sirens song.

This is what is wrong with the sport and in some waysm all sports in the 21st century. There is no longer any semblance of a level playing field when it comes to the buying and selling of players.

By now we've covered most of the important parts of the 2011 San Francisco Giants. For those of you who didn't read the first two parts of this preview, here are the Cliffs Notes...

Pitching = good

Aaron Rowand = bad

Every year, new players come into spring training with the hopes of making a team whether they are from the farm system or have bounced around the majors for their entire careers.

Some of those players stand out in camp, snatching up a roster spot by showing that they belong at the highest level. This year is no exception.

For the world champion San Francisco Giants, not much is needed to change for the team to have a chance at a repeat so expectations of non-roster invitees and minor leaguers coming into camp was low to say the least.

After a disappointing 2010 campaign, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed first-baseman James Loney only to a one-year deal.

With a decrease in home-runs and batting average each of the last four seasons, anything more than a one-year deal may have been questioned.

So, the question remains; Should the Dodgers give him one more year to get back on track, or put him on the trade block?

Well, here are some potential candidates if L.A. chooses the latter. 

By now we've seen why keeping Barry Zito despite his hefty pricetag makes sense. But the Giants have another monster on their hands, and that's Aaron Rowand.

Unfortunately, while there are a lot of teams that would love to have a fourth or fifth starter that had an ERA around 4.00, and that could log 200 innings of solid pitching, there aren't that many that are looking for an outfielder that can only play center who doesn't really hit for power or average all that consistently.

During the reign of Kevin Towers, and especially since their move to PETCO park, the Padres have been known as a team with good pitching and a below average and boring offense. Games of 1-0, 2-1, etc., are what Padres fans have come to expect.

The Offense (1 of 2)

At this time last year, a preview of the Giants offense would have been a lot like looking at a sunken ship—rusted-out, depleted and depressing. Not only was Bengie Molina batting cleanup, but the SF offense was so decrepit that no one batted an eye at this decision.

The National League West has been a toss up division in recent history.  The trend will continue this season.  Despite the Giants winning the World Series last year, this division is up for grabs.  The Giants made a fantastic playoff run last season and brought the National League West a World Series trophy. 

The San Francisco Giants have been dominating their Cactus League opponents throughout the start of spring training.

Excited and ready to gear up for back-to-back World Series championships, the Giants seem to be heading down the right road. Veterans and rookies alike are playing great baseball, and Giants fans should be starting to get the itch that only comes when it's time for baseball to begin.

I headed down to Scottsdale, Arizona last weekend to take a look at the Giants for myself, and they looked to be in great shape. Here's how I rate their performances thus far.