San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain(18) warms-up during the start of spring training at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale Ariz., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Giants can’t be sure how Matt Cain’s stuff will play this season. There is no sense trying to predict how many games he’ll win, how many innings he’ll throw or whether his ERA will look lovely under the lights.
But the Giants had become reasonably sure that Cain will start the season healthy, and in the rotation. The right-hander took a necessary step toward that end on Monday, throwing a breezy 90 pitches in 5 1/3 innings against a Single-A Chicago Cubs squad in minor league camp.
“I mean, a month ago, to have surgery …” said Cain, who lost 10 days early in camp after having a cyst removed from his upper right arm. “It wasn’t something big, but it was the arm. So to be able to bounce back is great. They’ve done a good job of maintaining it to get the arm strength to where it needs to be.”
Cain’s arm strength and mechanics aren’t quite what they were two years ago. He is trying to reestablish himself after undergoing elbow surgery to remove bone chips shortly after the All-Star break in 2014; he ended up missing nearly a calendar year because of a strained flexor mass that he sustained at the end of spring last season.
With one more tuneup start remaining, Cain is not worrying about a setback.
He held the Cubs kids to a run on four singles and struck out five. He exited after a one-out walk in the sixth, the only bases on balls he issued. Cain also had the satisfaction of retiring Shawon Dunston Jr. on a fly out and a ground out to first base with the pitcher covering the bag.
“Been wanting to face him for years,” said Cain, who could remember when Shawon Jr. was a Giants batboy. “It was fun. A friendly competition. And I can still beat him to first.”
Cain incorporated a couple small mechanical tweaks and his breaking ball was loopy at times, but he tightened it up in the later innings and recorded strikeouts on a sweeping slider. His fastball was 89-90 mph and touched 91 – a slight drop from past years, when he could hump up to 95 when needed.
Cain acknowledged he’ll just have to locate better if the extra mph doesn’t come.
“If there’s another mile or two, as we gain arm strength and get going, then great,” Cain said. “And if not, it’ll be fine.”
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Cain threw to catcher Andrew Susac, who reported more improvement in his sore right wrist. Susac also faced live pitching for the first time in a week and stung two hard fly outs while going 0 for 2 with a walk.
Backup catcher is the only roster spot that essentially remains undecided, although Trevor Brown has been catching all the starters and would appear to be the favorite at this point.
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Buster Posey, who was scratched from Sunday’s game because of right hip stiffness, is back behind the plate as planned for Monday night’s exhibition against Arizona. Posey said the hip crops up from time to time and wasn’t anything to be concerned about.
The Giants have their opening day lineup out there against the Diamondbacks, with the exception of Chris Heston (hitting eighth) against Madison Bumgarner: Denard Span, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, the pitcher and Angel Pagan.
Bruce Bochy appears to be going back and forth on how he’ll order his Brandons in the 6-7 spots. Other than that, the opening day lineup order is more or less set:
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The Giants are sending most of their regulars to play behind Johnny Cueto on Wednesday at Triple-A Sacramento. It would’ve taken chutzpah for the Giants to do otherwise, after extending their player development contract with the River Cats through 2020.
While most of the squad flies to Sacramento Tuesday morning, the Giants still need to abide by MLB rules and send a few regulars to play in Tuesday night’s Cactus League finale against the Royals at Surprise. Matt Duffy and Joe Panik are staying back, and they’ll fly straight to San Francisco afterward.
Also, Madison Bumgarner will not start against the Royals. He’ll start in minor league camp instead Tuesday to ensure he can build his pitch count. Susac will catch him.
Clayton Blackburn will start against the Royals’ Yordano Ventura.
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Mac Williamson understood when the Giants optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento on Monday. The club will break camp with a healthy outfield trio (Angel Pagan, Denard Span, Hunter Pence), Gregor Blanco’s place was secure, and the club decided against carrying a fifth outfielder to begin the season.
“It didn’t matter how I did,” Williamson said.
In a broader sense, though, it did. Williamson hit .298 and his five home runs was one behind Hunter Pence for the team lead. He had a little trouble at times in the outfield, although glare is a common issue here. Mostly, he showed the front office and coaching staff that he’s a viable option to compete against big league pitching when the need arises.
In the meantime, he didn’t have to be sold by Bruce Bochy on the value of playing every day over sitting on the bench in the big leagues. He appreciates the fact that they see him as an everyday player in the future – perhaps next year, with Pagan and Blanco coming up on free agency.
“I got to think about it last night,” Williamson said. “I’ve really only played two full seasons (of pro ball). In the long run, it’s much more beneficial for me to play every day.”
Williamson hit an offensive lull in the latter stages of the spring and acknowledged “I could have made it a little tougher on them. But what I hoped to be coming in was (to get established) as a viable option. Whenever it is, May or June or even the end of the season, they’ll be confident to call my number.”
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The Detroit Tigers released Casey McGehee, who was trying to make their club in a bench role. That's got to be tough news for Duffy. He had been excited to see that McGehee, who was so classy to him last season, was getting a chance this spring. It didn't work out for McGehee with the Giants last year, but he departed with the admiration of a lot of people. Duffy's at the top of that list.
The post Giants notes: Matt Cain passes an important 90-pitch test, updates on Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, a solid squad heads to Sacramento, Mac Williamson looks ahead appeared first on Giants Extra.
