Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Giants 2013 Starting Rotation

With the announcement yesterday from Manager Bruce Bochy that Matt Cain will be the Opening Day starter it is now fairly easy to project the 5 man rotation to open the 2013 season.
Bochy likes to divide up his lefties so we can expect that Madison Bumgarner and Barry Zito will not pitch in consecutive games. Bumgarner had the second spot in the rotation last year, he has done nothing to lose that position. Ryan Vogelsong will be pitching in the WBC which will probably give the Giants reason to give him a little rest before his first start, that makes him a candidate for the back end of the rotation. And just in case anyone was thinking there was a chance Tim Lincecum is "fighting for a spot in the rotation" after his worst season, you can put that to rest, he has reportedly showed up in great physical shape and is focused for the season already. This allows us to assume his spot in the rotation is more than safe, it's guaranteed.
With this logic you can assume the Giants 5 man rotation will be;
Matt Cain
Madison Bumgarner
Tim Lincecum
Barry Zito
Ryan Vogelsong
What's exciting about this rotation is that the Giants get to pitch Cain, Bum, and Timmy against the rival Dodgers (in LA) to start the year. Also, this is a great opportunity for Zito who, in this scenario  gets a chance to be the starter for the home opener. After the up and down (and now back up) relationship he has had with Giants fans since his infamous 100 million plus contract he now can expect a big ovation from the Giants fans after his big renaissance last year.
Giants fans all should have expected Cain to be the opening day starter after his perfect game last year, tie for team lead in wins, team lead in era and whip, and he was the pitcher on the mound for all 3 play-off game clinchers. After the last 4 years of seeing Lincecum take the ball on opening day it was pretty clear that Matt Cain had earned the right for this season, which is good because if the southpaw Madison Bumgarner continues to progress at the rate he is going he should be next in line for a long run at the honor of taking the ball opening day for the S.F. Giants in the future.

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