2007 Giants Projected Lineup

2007 San Francisco Giants

Batting Order

1. CF Dave Roberts
2. SS Omar Vizquel
3. LF Barry Bonds
4. 2B Ray Durham
5. 1B Rich Aurilia
6. RF Randy Winn
7. 3B Pedro Feliz
8. C Bengie Molina

Bonds has been hitting third in spring training, and a Bonds-Durham-Aurilia alignment may look better than Aurilia-Bonds-Durham. Roberts gives the Giants their most noted leadoff hitter since Kenny Lofton joined the club in July 2002 for their run to the World Series. Vizquel is a fine No. 2 hitter. Feliz struggled in the second half, and the hope is to keep him lower in the lineup, especially if he continues his routine of too many strikeouts and too few walks.

The Giants need another big year out of Durham, who posted career highs with 26 homers and 93 RBIs, and all eyes will be on Aurilia, the former full-time shortstop who's returning to the Giants as an all-purpose infielder who could see significant time at first.

Rotation

1. Barry Zito
2. Matt Cain
3. Noah Lowry
4. Matt Morris
5. Russ Ortiz/Jonathan Sanchez/Tim Lincecum

Jason Schmidt is gone, and Zito replaces him as the ace. Finesse replaced power, but Zito is a big upgrade in terms of health, having never missed a start in six-plus seasons. Cain, 22, is a future ace and has the best stuff on the staff. He had a team-high 13 wins last year. Lowry needs to be more consistent over six months, and Morris needs to live up to the three-year contract he received before he dropped 15 games last year.

The final rotation spot could go to Ortiz early, if he succeeds in spring training, and eventually Lincecum, who was selected in the first round of last June's draft out of the University of Washington. All indications are that the Giants would like Ortiz to win the fifth spot in the rotation. Yes, the same Ortiz who posted a 2.00 WHIP in 26 appearances (11 starts) last season and has a 1.48 career mark over nine seasons. The question with the talented youngster, Jonathan Sanchez is whether he can finally handle a spike in workload.

Closer: Armando Benitez

The veteran closer has missed large chunks of the last two seasons due to bad hamstring and bad knees, but he's currently throwing off the mound and claims to be near 100 percent. Benitez has seemingly been around forever, but he's only 34 and will be the closer if he looks fine this spring. Brian Wilson is being groomed as the successor.