Saltzman Says...Answering Giants Questions

First and foremost
1. Matt Cain signed long term is priority #1 because he will be a free agent after this year.

Short term, Long term, The Freak is staying.
2. Tim Lincecum prefers short term deals, but the Giants would like to sign him long term if possible.

If we can only keep one lefty...
3. Jeremy Affeldt will be re-signed even if his option isn't picked up, in case Javier Lopez is too expensive to re-sign.

Too expensive to keep?:
4. Javier Lopez and Carlos Beltran will probably be offered more years/money than the Giants would like to spend.

Buster is still our catcher, but...
5. Buster Posey will be our starting catcher, but after him is another story.  Chris Stewart is the most likely to return with an outside chance Eli Whiteside could remain the backup.  Hector Sanchez should begin 2012 in the minors, so the question will be if the Giants go get a catcher in the open market to backup Posey.

Logjam at 2nd will get clearer.
6. Freddy Sanchez healthy is an oxymoron to Giants fans, but when he is, there is no issues at 2nd.  Will Jeff Keppinger be kept as insurance, or will he find an every day job somewhere else.  Manny Burriss has a better glove and Mike Fontenot's lefty bat are intriguing, but who stays is anyone's guess.  Even Conor Gillaspie will get a look next year.

Put down the cookies Panda! Put down the beer and cigarettes Huff Daddy!
7. Aubrey Huff and Pablo Sandoval's conditioning is the biggest offensive question marks of the players returning.

Brandons not Ready for Prime Time.
8. Both Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford are having problems with their swing, and both could use some more minor league seasoning if possible.

Nate still Great, but the rest of the outfield...
9. Nate Schierholtz is the 2012 starting right fielder barring an upgrade or a fall off at the plate.  Neither Andres Torres, Justin Christian or Cody Ross seem like options to start 2012 in CF, so the question becomes who will.  Gary Brown is not ready and might not be until 2013.  Even if he is ready sooner, the team will not go into Spring Training with Torres and Ross only as options.  Torres and Ross might not even be brought back, but if they are, it will be to compete for the 4th or 5th outfield spot.  Pat Burrell has said he will only return to SF if he does come back in 2012, and Darren Ford doesn't have the bat to go with his legs.