San Francisco Giants

Many times, the low man on the totem pole does not get recognition for the job he does for an organization.  Giants batting coach Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens is that man in their organization this spring.  The Giants are leading both leagues in wins with 17.

There was something to be said for growing up in the 1960s and only being able to hear San Francisco Giants exhibition games on my transistor radio.

I felt all the hope of spring without actually seeing Jim Ray Hart butchering ground balls at third base or the parade of inadequate starting pitchers behind Juan Marichal.

When Street and Smith's baseball annual had the Giants picked to win the National League, I knew everything I needed to know about the club and the glorious summer that was surely ahead.

On Wednesday, the Giants inked reliever Jeremy Affeldt to a two-year, $9.5 million extension, according to USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale .

On paper, it makes sense.

I received "Giants Past and Present" in the mail yesterday from MVP Books . In all honesty, I plowed through the book in one night. In many ways, it is not a very dense book. It runs 144 pages long and for the most part, it is very picture-heavy.

There is no doubt that a National Football League fantasy season is fun. Major League Baseball's storied infatuation with statistics and the length of its season just happen to make the diamond's make-believe game infinitely better.

I mention this because I'm of the camp that believes our resultant addiction to fantasy baseball skews some current observations of the game.

One example appears to be the growing import of Spring Training numbers.

This is a series of posts leading up to the season preview which will be posted sometime next week.

This post will look at the No. 1 and 2 starters for each team in the NL West (other than the Giants, since these posts will concentrate more on what the Giants will be facing in 2010 in various categories).

One thing to note about these posts is that I'm not looking specifically at the No. 1 and 2 pitchers in the rotation according to MLB.com depth charts.

It only seems like Buster Posey has become the center of the San Francisco Giants' universe.

No. No. Wait...

Given that Posey's the top prospect in the organization and that he's hitting the devil out of the ball in spring training, the Giants' universe is spinning around the guy.

Brian Sabean’s drafting and construction of pitching depth in the organization has set manager Bruce Bochy up to be a very lucky man.

His biggest decision at the culmination of spring training?

To decide on who gets the fifth spot in the rotation.

The two most likely contestants to win that spot have been narrowed down to free-agent acquisition Todd Wellemeyer and the homegrown pitching prospect, Kevin Pucetas.

Matt Cain is a good pitcher. In fact, he's a very good pitcher. If he wasn't teammates with the defending two-time NL Cy Young award winner, Cain would be the ace of the Giants staff, and already be known as one of the top pitchers in the game.

Fortunately for Cain, he doesn't mind playing second fiddle to Lincecum. Now, he just needs his offense to give him proper run support, and he'll be known as the current Giants ace.

I wish I could write something on Giants baseball today. I wish I could write about prospects, or how lousy the free agents (Huff, Derosa, etc.) will be next year, or some sabermetrics article that proves how good Fred Lewis is, but I just can't.

The NCAA Tournament is blowing me away. I have been glued to my television and computer all day. Even as we speak, I have the March Madness On Demand playing in the background (I'm watching Montana-New Mexico right now...man...I am starting to think that picking Montana wouldn't have been totally crazy).