Marquis Grissom

Grissom surprised last season and has played in more than 145 games for the Giants in each of the last two seasons. His age is not nearly the liability that many consider it to be. He'll likely be overlooked on draft day, and if he can remain near the top of the Giants' batting order, he'll be good for similar numbers this season.

Grissom was exactly the same player for the Giants as he had been for the Dodgers. Because Felipe Alou didn't platoon him, though, he racked up extra runs, RBI and steals. He's not likely to repeat his 2003 quality, but the Giants lack of a true center fielder almost assures him 500 at-bats as long as he stays healthy. Think fourth outfielder on your team.

Signed by the Giants in the offseason. Played about 70% of the time (343 at-bats) for the Dodgers in 2002 and posted a mildly surprising .277-17-60 (only five steals and 22 walks, though). It appears that Grissom was used wisely by LA manager Jim Tracy; against lefties, Grissom was in the lineup nearly every night, while he seemed to sit out a lot against really tough righties. If Felipe Alou similarly picks his spots in utilizing Grissom, then we'd see Grissom play in 105-120 games, max, and hit something like .250-15-60 (Grissom turns 36 in the spring, and he'd hit .244 and .221 in the two seasons before last, so we have a tough time believing he'll duplicate that .277). However, if Alou just makes Grissom his everyday centerfielder, we'd expect his production to decrease noticeably in 2003. He's best used as a role player at this point, and kudos should go to Tracy for using Grissom that way in 2002 while apparently making Grissom believe he was a regular.