Article:SF Giants: Roster Moves On the Horrizon

The Giants made one of their easier roster decisions on Wednesday by bringing Vinny Chulk off the Disabled list and sending down Keiechi Yabu. Chulk brings a fresh arm to a bullpen that has been used pretty heavily through the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season and showed immediate dividends by throwing 2 scoreless innings of relief in Wednesday's game. They now have two more guys on the DL who are set to return in the next couple of weeks in Omar Vizquel and Noah Lowry. Vizquel's arrival will send Brian Bocock to Fresno, but it's unclear on who's spot Lowry will be taking when he makes his '08 debut, most likely in early May. Jonathan Sanchez and Kevin Corriea are in a battle for that last rotation spot and both have had their ups and downs. Corriea has the better era and has shown more consistency in being able to get deep into ballgames. As a matter of fact, Corriea may be the most economical of all Giants' starting pitchers with his pitch count. If Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum could learn a little from Corriea in that regard, maybe they'd start lasting longer than 5-6 innings a start. Sanchez also has struggled to keep his pitch count down but he has shown an uncanny ability to get the strikeout. Sanchez is currently 6th in the national league in strikeouts and hasn't even made a 4th start yet. That gives you a little hint on just how good this kid can be if he can iron out his mechanics. Both players are making strong cases to be rotation mainstay's and If I were running the team I'd send Barry Zito to the bullpen to iron himself out for a few weeks when Lowry returns.

There has also been a lot written lately about the Giants search for a first basemen. They have apparently contacted the Washington Nationals about Nick Johnson and the Florida Marlins about Mike Jacobs. Both of those guys would cost the Giants at least 2 solid young pitchers, so I don't know how serious they want to get there. Jacobs has had a tremendous April and the Marlins have been a surprise so I don't think Florida is looking to deal him at this point. Dan Johnson was another guy who had been mentioned in recent weeks and he had been on waivers until Friday when he was claimed by Tampa Bay. Sabean said he had no interest in trading for Johnson but it would have made no sense at all not to put a waiver claim in on him. The Giants, once again, are trotting out the least productive corner infield in the National League and when they have a chance to possibly improve that situation without giving up a thing, you'd hope they'd jump on the opportunity.

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