Giants Spring Training 2013: Week 1

Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The sun is shining, baseball is warming the fields of Scottsdale Stadium, and your world Champion San Francisco Giants are in the best shape of their lives.

Well, some of them are, anyway. Here’s the latest from the Cactus League warm-ups:

• Following a bout of colitis over the offseason, Pablo Sandoval has been instructed to shed a few pounds this spring. It’s not an unusual request, but one that should be no cause for concern. As long as he keeps putting up those three-homer games, we’re not going to complain.

• From Chris Haft’s report on Buster Posey: “I don’t want to get that heavy, dumpy feeling,” Posey said before Giants pitchers and catchers participated in their first spring training workout on Wednesday.” Aside from slight stiffness in the morning, there seem to be no legitimate outstanding concerns for his ankle.

• RHP Mason Tobin is recovering from an early onset of shoulder fatigue.

• Heath Hembree seems to have put his elbow issues behind him, but is struggling with location.

• Triple-A center fielder Gary Brown will fill in outfield gaps during spring training games when several Giants depart for the World Baseball Classic.

• Tim Lincecum threw to Buster Posey for his first bullpen of the year. From Schulman, a promising first report: “Lincecum looked good. Was able to keep the ball down, a huge problem last spring and season. Pretty much threw fastballs.” He also mentioned that Timmy is working on connecting more with Buster.
• Pat Burrell is one of several Giants stopping by San Francisco’s camp this spring, including J.T. Snow, Jeff Kent, Will Clark, and Randy Winn. Baggarly: “He’s now a Giants scout who had a hand in preparing the team for the postseason.”
• Second baseman Kensuke Tanaka watched the 2010 Giants as a fan, and will join them in 2013 as a spring training invitee. Baggarly has the full story here.
• Of course, what would a Giants update be without some news of the latest facial hair trends? So far, it looks like RHP Chad Gaudin leads the group. While no photo was provided, we can only hope it’s a little more maintained than this Brian Wilson-esque goatee.

Quotes of the week

Spring training schedule
February 15 – Position players report to camp
February 16 – First full-team workout
February 23 – First spring training game vs. Angels, 12:05pm