The month of May will not be kind to the San Francisco Giants during the 2012 regular season. During those 31 days, the team will play 29 games with only one off-day. Numerous postseason contenders and division rivals are on the slate. The rest of the months in the season are hypothetically not nearly as tough for the team. In any case, the second month of the season is going to prove to be a vital one for the organization. A major slip-up is the last thing the Giants need.

To start things off, the Miami Marlins come to AT&T Park for a three-game set from May 1-3. It remains to be seen whether that team’s offseason signings will make it a contender. It will likely not be a pushover by any means though. From there, the Milwaukee Brewers will roll into town for three games. The Brewers did taste the postseason in 2011, but they could be without Prince Fielder at this point. Knocking around opponents from the other divisions is always good for obvious reasons.

Can the San Francisco Giants do that?

After opening the month with six games at AT&T Park, the Giants will hit the road for six games. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks are the opponents on that road trip. Los Angeles did manage a winning record and were only a handful of games behind San Francisco in the NL West. Of course, that could make the series go either way. All Giants’ fans know that the D-Backs are not a team to take lightly. That club did upgrade its pitching and retained the same potent offense from last season.

Returning home, the San Francisco Giants will play a two-game set against the Colorado Rockies. I would not call this an easy series, but it should be the simplest task for the team during the month. We should see two wins for the Giants here. At that point, the 2011 World Series champs come to town for a two-game series. The St. Louis Cardinals will lack Albert Pujols, but that will not make both games any easier. A three-game set against the Oakland Athletics will wrap up that homestead and should be somewhat easy.

The Giants will then take to the road again on a seven-game road trip. During that time, the team will face the Brewers again for three games and the Marlins for four games. Once again, both clubs should prove to be a challenge. May then ends with three games against the Diamondbacks back at AT&T Park. There could probably be a tougher schedule, but it is not like the Giants need that at all.

How will the team do with such a grueling schedule in May?

In reality, the San Francisco Giants are no pushovers, so cracking a winning record during the month should not be too hard. Going 15-14 would be nice, but it would not be anything too noteworthy. The club absolutely needs to reach that mark for the month at the very least. Without a doubt, anything less would be more than disappointing. This is a club that cannot afford to post any losing months.

Winning 15 games in a month is always nice, but the Giants will need to go above and beyond that against such a tough slate of opponents. The schedule will only give the team one other month with 29 games in it, which will come in August with a much weaker list of opposing teams. With that in mind, posting a record too far south from 15-14 is really going to do harm to the team. That will show that it cannot beat potential postseason teams or even the clubs within its own division.

Fortunately, the San Francisco Giants are backed by a top-notch pitching squad and an average offense. It is not like the team is likely to fail during the first couple months of the season and then just nosedive in the standings. Well, it could happen, but who expects that to be the result? April, May, June, and the rest of the months should be all right for the Giants no matter who the opponents are.

Errick D. Williams is a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants who has attended over 200 games at AT&T Park. He lives in San Diego but regularly travels back up to the Bay Area to catch a game with friends and family members.

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On the same day longtime San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds’ received a sentence for 30 days house arrest and other minor charges for obstructing justice during a steroids investigation, Bonds’ former team made a small-scale move to bring back a player from the team’s 25-man roster. After non-tendering him earlier this week, the Giants re-signed catcher Eli Whiteside to a minor-league contract on Friday, Dec. 16.

San Francisco Giants C Eli Whiteside
Wikimedia Commons

After the season-ending injury to Buster Posey during the 2011 season, the 32-year old was thrust into a shared starting role with Chris Stewart. With Posey expected to fully return from injury for 2012, the backup catcher position will still be an interesting battle to watch. Unless the team signs another free agent catcher, the three men who are most likely backing up Posey next season are Whiteside, Stewart, and Hector Sanchez.

Signing Whiteside to a minor-league deal just days after not offering him arbitration was a best-case scenario for the team. Even though Whiteside only hit .197 in a career-high 236 plate appearances, the team still does not know who will win the backup catcher spot next season. By having Whiteside sign the minor-league contract, he will either serve as insurance in Triple-A Fresno or win the roster spot in Spring Training, thus earning close to the league minimum of $480,000 instead of the approximately $750,000 paycheck he would earn had he received arbitration from the Giants.

Despite going through his own elbow problems during the season, Whiteside could be a reliable backup for the Giants in 2012. When healthy, Whiteside has proven to be a good game caller and a solid defender behind the plate. That being said, Whiteside, Stewart, and Sanchez will compete for the roster spot.

Stewart had a career-high 162 at bats last season, only hitting .204 with three home runs. However, Stewart’s great defense in regards to throwing base runners out at second base put him into a platoon with Whiteside. Sanchez, at only 21 years of age for his MLB debut, hit .302 with Single-A San Jose and .261 with Triple-A Fresno before being promoted at the end of the season.

While the backup catcher will hopefully not matter too much in 2012, manager Bruce Bochy did announce at the Winter Meetings that Posey would play some time at first base to help him rest his ankle. With this news, the Giants backup catcher will see some starts during the season. All that’s left is to figure out which player will hold that spot during 2012 Spring Training.

Sources:

After sentencing, Bonds free to tell the truth, Yahoo! Sports

Giants re-sign Eli Whiteside to minor-league contract, HardballTalk, NBC Sports

Report: Giants re-sign Whiteside to minor-league contract, CSN Bay Area

More from this contributor:

Giants Re-Sign Guillermo Mota for One-year, $1 Million Contract: Fan’s Take

Giants Trade Torres and Ramirez to Mets for Pagan: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Avoiding Long-term Contracts This Offseason: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Designate Darren Ford for Assignment: Fan’s Take

Giants Trading Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera a Great Offseason Start: Fan’s Reaction

Austin Chang is a lifelong San Francisco Bay Area native, baseball fan, and supporter of the San Francisco Giants. Follow him on Twitter @_austinchang.

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Last season, Eric Surkamp debuted with the San Francisco Giants late in the season. Things started out well over his first two starts but then quickly worsened. He wound up with a 2-2 record, 5.74 ERA, and more walks than strikeouts. Currently, it appears as though he will spend most of his time in the minors in 2012, but he might see some big league action. With that in mind, here are some predictions for him this coming season.

1. Surkamp will be the go-to guy when a starter suffers an injury.

The team appears to be set on letting Barry Zito take the fifth spot in the rotation instead of acquiring someone else. Of course, that leaves Surkamp as the potential guy to take over for any starter that suffers a severe injury. With Zito in the rotation, that very well may happen at some point. Surkamp probably will not earn the job out of spring training or get a call-up based on his performance in the minors though. He showed that he still needs some major improvement after his first call-up.

2. With some luck, he will see a promotion to Double-A or Triple-A.

Surkamp has spent all of his time in the lower levels of the minors. His performance has improved greatly and he now mows down opposing lineups though. Therefore, he will probably get a shot at the Double-A or Triple-A levels. I think he will wind up at AA for most of the season. Either way, he needs to be promoted through the ranks so that he can face stiffer competition. Then we will all see if he can eventually grow into a Major League-ready pitcher. I do not expect him to get stuck at Single-A or something low-level like that for too much longer.

3. Alas, he still will not be prepared for extended time in the Majors.

No matter how well he performs in 2012, Surkamp is highly unlikely to warrant a call-up to the Majors for anything other than an emergency start. He is not a power pitcher, so he has to rely on breaking pitches to get the job done. That works well in the minors, but his 5.74 ERA and 13/17 strikeout-to-walk ratio shows that it does not work in the Majors. Obviously, the San Francisco Giants know as much, so he will not be ready for nor will he receive any extended playing time during 2012.

4. Expect him to work on improving his fastball and other pitches.

With that in mind, Surkamp is going to work on developing his pitches even more. This is undoubtedly something that all pitchers do, but he should work on it extra hard. He cannot find success with the Giants or any other MLB team if he cannot throw a decent fastball and even stronger breaking pitches. Unfortunately, his fastball is below average, so he will have to really work on his curveball and other pitches. It remains to be seen whether he can drastically improve his pitching abilities.

5. This could be the make-it-or-break-it season for Surkamp.

Personally, I do not want to see Eric Surkamp stay as a minor league pitcher for the rest of his career. The guy really needs to work on his abilities during the 2012 season in the minors. He might be passed on by management if he cannot do more than just dominate hitters in the minors. Of course, he did exactly that in 2011, but management needs to see him do something really special to keep thinking of him as a future everyday starter. He is only 24 years-old, but Surkamp needs to really shine to stay relevant or someone else could become the focus.

In any case, I am fairly certain that Eric Surkamp is going to have a great season in the minors. He might make a spot start now and then with the San Francisco Giants too. Without a doubt, he needs to make the most of those opportunities to start impressing more people. To make up for his lackluster call-up from this past season, Surkamp will need to really work hard to be seen as a future starter rather than a nobody. I think he can get the job done though.

Major-League ready now? No. In a couple seasons? Quite possibly.

For more information, visit The San Francisco Giants Site .

Derrick Williams is a fan of the San Francisco Giants and lived in the Bay Area for nearly three years.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants have declined to offer salary arbitration to free-agent outfielders Cody Ross and Pat Burrell.

The moves Wednesday mean the Giants will not receive compensation if Ross or Burrell sign with another team.

The Giants still could re-sign Ross, but Burrell has said he will likely retire because his troublesome right foot hasn’t healed. Burrell batted .230 with seven homers and 21 RBI in 92 games last season.

Ross batted .240 with 14 homers and 52 RBI last season. He won the NL Championship Series MVP in 2010 after being acquired off waivers from Florida late in the season.

The Giants also were unable to offer arbitration to outfielder Carlos Beltran under terms of his contract.

The 49ers rank 29th in the NFL in passing offense and don’t have a player ranked higher than 44th among the league leaders in receptions. But the use of diverse targets has become a constant during the seven-game winning streak San Francisco takes into Sunday’s game against NFC West rival Arizona.

“Our passing game numbers don’t just jump up at you and slap you in the face,” Walker said Friday. “But we get the job done. That’s why you see what our record is today — a lot of people touching the ball and then having opportunities to make plays.”

The 49ers (8-1) have relied this season on a strong rushing attack led by two-time Pro Bowl running back Frank Gore and have been conservative in the passing game with quarterback Alex Smith, who has been efficient but not prolific. Smith’s passer rating of 97.3 ranks seventh in the NFL, but he ranks just 23rd in the league in both completions and passing yards.

With Gore battling injuries and being limited to zero yards rushing for the first time in his career, the 49ers were forced to rely more on passing against the Giants. That had been the plan entering the game, anyway.

Smith spread the ball around as eight San Francisco players finished with at least one catch. The 49ers have tried to get all of their pass catchers involved, and first-year coach Jim Harbaugh said the team doesn’t have a go-to receiver this year.

“They all are,” Harbaugh said. “That’s how we look at it. We have talented players at multiple positions and they know how to get open and catch the rock, and then know what to do with it after they catch it.”

Tight end Vernon Davis and wide receivers Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan and Ted Ginn Jr. also have led the 49ers in receptions this year, and rookie running backs Kendall Hunter and Bruce Miller have joined Gore as options out of the backfield.

The 49ers have been working wideout Braylon Edwards, who missed four games with a knee injury, back into the starting lineup. They have even completed passes this season to left tackle Joe Staley on a tackle-eligible play and 330-pound nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, who occasionally lines up with the offense at fullback in coordinator Greg Roman’s system.

“Every week we change it up,” Walker said. “Defenses and D-coordinators are trying to figure out what we’re doing. We can go to everybody. And that’s a big part of what’s helping Alex out in G-Ro’s offense. Nobody’s a decoy. Everyone’s live, and anyone can get the ball. We’re not running guys off. Everybody’s trying to get open.”

Davis last year became the first tight end in franchise history to lead the 49ers in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in two consecutive seasons. Davis tops the 49ers this year with 34 receptions, but he has seen constant double coverage from opponents, which has affected his numbers.

Crabtree, who missed one game with a foot injury, has 31 catches. No other San Francisco player has more than 19 receptions, but the team has seven players with 10 or more.

“This is the most attention I’ve ever gotten in my life,” said Davis, who had 56 receptions last year and a career-high 78 during his Pro Bowl season of 2009. “They try to get me the ball, but I can’t help it if I’ve got a lot of people on me. But it’s helping out the team and working out in other ways, and it’s setting up things for others.”

Davis and the versatile Walker have combined for seven of San Francisco’s 11 touchdown receptions. They have created such problems for opposing defenses in two-tight end formations that now even Walker is seeing double coverage in some sets.

That happened last week, allowing Davis to get wide open on a short crossing pattern early in the fourth quarter for a catch he turned into a 31-yard scoring play that put San Francisco ahead to stay.

“You saw what happened when they focused on Delanie. I got open underneath and I scored,” Davis said. “When they’re on me, then Delanie’s getting open, and if they keep looking to me, a lot of other guys can get open. So there’s no way they can really stop us.”

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