MLB Preview: San Francisco Giants

The 2007 season marked the end of an era for the Giants as the game's most popular player Barry Bonds was not asked to return to the Giants for the 2008 season. The Giants lineup has featured Barry Bonds and little else for the past 5-6 seasons, yet the team was still highly competitive until last season when the bottom fell out as the club went 71-91 and finished in last place in the NL West.

The 2008 season does not appear to look much better for the Giants as they will feature one of the game's weakest lineups. The Giants also play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, and are far less talented then the other four teams in the division.

Now it's time to answer three questions about the 2008 San Francisco Giants.

(1) Who will be replacing Barry Bonds in the lineup for the Giants?

The Giants will never find a replacement for Bonds in the lineup as he posted seasons that will likely never be repeated in the history of Major League Baseball. The Giants signed CF Aaron Rowand from the Phillies to play center for the club, thus allowing last year's CF Dave Roberts to move over to left field.

Roberts could not be a more different player then Bonds as he is a prototypical leadoff hitter and specializes in slapping infield singles and laying down bunts. Roberts is best known for his stolen base in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees that jump started their improbable World Series title.

The move to left field will give the Giants one of the best defensive outfields as Rowand and Roberts both will cover a lot of ground in the Giants spacious ballpark. The move does leave the Giants a huge hole in their lineup as most corner outfielders are expected to hit at least 20 home runs. Roberts has hit 12 home runs during his past three seasons so he will not be able to give the club some much needed punch from that defensive position.

If you look at the rest of the Giants lineup, there is little punch throughout the lineup, so Roberts has plenty of company in that department. The Giants offense will not be pretty this season, and the club will have to utilize Roberts speed on the basepaths to score some runs this season.