With Taschner now gone with a minor leaguer in return, Bochy now has a simpler short term decision for today. There is only 3 left to cut to bring them down to 30 as he suggested would happen today on KNBR yesterday. There is the potential addition of Ohman to be considered, but that merely factors in the overall non-roster invitee decisions to be made.

I think its pretty clear that one of the three to dropped out of the running on the active roster is Bowker. Between Nate, Torres, Velez, Aurilia, Guzman, and even Sandoval, his positions available to him are simply full up. 

I'm having trouble with the other two cuts, but I think it'll be by Joe Martinez and Osiris Matos who get told today to head over to the minor league camp. We expect Lowry and Romo to go DL, but they need to retain Valdez since he's out of options. 

With regard to the non-roster invitees, I think Aurilia is still a strong consideration, with only Guzman providing opening day competition for that spot. Velez could be trade fodder if the older Torres is considered a better bet. I'm not hot on Hinshaw so far this spring, but he got a reprieve with Taschner gone (see Ohman above). I only bring up Hinshaw here since we have the whole Perdomo/Medders/Miller slot to consider. I think Medders has earned it, and can play the long reliever as can Miller. Sadly, Perdomo will likely be shipped home unless packaged in a trade.

I always thought that the whole 11-12 man roster for pitcher discussion was dancing around the elephant in the middle of the room.

As Baggs is want to do, he threw in a nugget at the end of this article on sagging ticket sales:

 Pablo Sandoval will begin catching in the bullpen as early as today and log a few innings behind the plate over the final Cactus League games, Bochy said. The Giants had hoped to use Sandoval as a third-string catcher, but backup Steve Holm could be squeezed out if the Giants feel they must have a 12th pitcher.

So, when Bochy puts Sandoval in at catcher, its not that the 3rd base experiment is over, but rather that the solution to having that extra bench spot for Torres, Guzman, or the like may in fact be moving Holm down or otherwise.

During my morning commute I turned off the CD and switch to KNBR to hear the tail end of Fred Lewis speaking about the potential for Manny Ramirez being signed. Apparently, he has already had discussions with Bobby Evans concerning this and has been told that in case they do sign another left fielder (who, eh?) that Freddy will still be in the lineup daily, likely at right field.

This is another piece in the puzzle of the outfield that perchance has been put in place. My guess is that either one of Winn or Rowand are assured of being traded. My guess, considering their interest in retaining both Freddy and Nate long term is that Rowand is the likeliest to be traded. A Manny signing is more of an all-in proposition at this point with the collection of Cy Young winners on board. 

Going further, my _feeling_ is that the likeliest trading partner is the Yankees, moving Rowand to them as their CF, with Swisher in return for first base duty, along with perhaps some cash. Longer term, one can only presume that the outfield would be Manny, Lewis, and Nate from left to right, agreed?

MP3 of Fred's conversation is now up! -- Edited to add the interview

I was thoroughly roasted weeks back when I jokingly suggested we solve the Padre's Peavy problem by sending local boys Zito and Roberts back home to them. Just like CC, those two might just want to be closer to home. I even got "Abe Simpson"ed to the merriment of all others.

Well, Peavy's agent at least thinks that the only likely candidate for the Padre's to unload Peavy is the Giants, as noted over on the Padres site. Well, if you really wanted to solve their problem, they are looking for prospects and other approaches to lower payroll at all costs. If I recall correctly, they are trying to put the team up for sale.

I can see sending a few of the mid-level "prospects" of the batting sort, and either one of Sosa and/or losing Sanchez to them. Today's favorite post regarding Adrian Gonzalez doesn't seem as far fetched now. If the Padres really want to drop payroll, then perhaps the Giants can get these two if they also bet some of the future, considering the ages of these two proven players also makes them relatively young and under decent contracts. I can only guess it would be 4+ players on the Giants end to make it happen, two pitchers with one ready, and two position players. 

The real monkey wrench is that Adrian's brother will probably want to tag along and also fight for 2nd base.