– 33 steals in only 97 games, the highest ISO of the hitter’s career, 26 years old. Keep these numbers in mind as they will all be factors as to why I feel Taveras will breakout in 2008. Additionally, Phil Garner called Taveras ‘the most talented hitter he has ever been around’ claiming that he expected a power outbreak from him in the near future.

Major Addition: None – This team decided not to make any major moves this off season allowing last years NL champs to take another swing at things. I’m not impressed.

Major Subtraction: Kaz Matsui – I recognize it was a bad signing for the Astros but this was a tough loss for the Rockies. There does not seem to be an obvious nor quality choice to replace Kaz and unless Marcus Giles steps up, this is going to be a long and painful season up the middle for the Rocks.

5. San Francisco Giants

This is an embarrassing assembly of talent and a terrible job at managing the organization. I understood the Zito signing at the time and at this point the club simply needs to swallow its pride and take that hit. But to have the farm system this club has combined with brining in Aaron Rowand is simply an embarrassment. This team should be booted out of the division for not representing an understanding of how to rebuild.

The rotation is solid with Cain and Lincecum. Unfortunately, by the time these two are truly in their prime, SBC Park will be a ghost town and the Giants won’t be able to afford to keep either player around for the future. The other youngster (Noah Lowry) is hurt and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was shut down for the year. That leaves the door open for Jonathan Sanchez whom had an incredible minor league career; watch out for this kid as PECOTA projects him to be close to a strikeout an inning.

For a contender this would be a bad bullpen. In fact, it would be one that probably made a contender into a pretender, like the Tigers. For the Giants, this will be exactly what it should be, a bridge to the next game. Brian Wilson has closers stuff and should succeed when called upon, but to target him as a guy with more then 25 saves would be to make a mistake.

I simply cannot believe that an organization would go into a season with Rowand and Molina as the heart of their order. From a Fantasy perspective I like Molina, but that is simply because of the opportunity he is being handed. There is no way he truly deserves that. The club is also continuing to give old as dirt veterans Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham starting jobs. I can understand Vizquel as he may be able to put some butts in the seats because of his glove, but Durham should hardly be a major leaguer at this point in his career. With Velez having a terrific Spring, what would it hurt to give him full time at bats at second base?

Breakout Candidate: Jonathan Sanchez – Honestly, I don’t think anyone is capable of breaking out this year. Considering it does not matter how well any one player plays, they will be overshadowed by the pathetic performance of their teammates. Sanchez is a player who will be given the opportunity to shine and should take the ball and run with it-hopefully out of town.

Major Addition: NONE! This team should have stood pat with what it had, cut their loses and wait for the contracts of Roberts, Winn, Vizquel and Durham to expire and completely rebuilt. Instead, the club brought Aaron Rowand aboard in hopes of who knows. The only bright spot about Rowand is that he will be a nice clubhouse presence once this team is ready to contend, an expensive one, but a nice one.

Major Subtraction: I am actually going to say NONE! There isn’t a player that could have left this team that would have hurt their chances at competing in 2008 or in the future. Letting go of Bonds and Feliz was the right thing to do, unfortunately the club didn’t realize this in June or July of last year.

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