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The Giants have made a pair of key late-offseason additions to the offense, adding and since the opening of Spring Training. They join new center fielder in an overhauled lineup, leaving the starting rotation as the glaring question. San Francisco has been frequently tied to top remaining starter , in part because of injuries to some of their in-house options. , , and are all likely to begin the season on the injured list. However, Cobb appears slightly ahead of schedule as he works back from last years hip labrum repair. The veteran righty got through a 25-pitch bullpen se sion yesterday and will throw live batting practice early next week. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters that while the team will be cautious not to push Cobb too quickly, theyve probably sped (the timeline) up a little bit based on his progre s ( ). The team announced a six-month recovery timetable for Cobb to log game action of any kind when he underwent surgery on Halloween. It now looks as if he could be on track for a minor league rehab a signment earlier than that. To this point, the Giants have kept him off the 60-day injured list a move that would prevent him from pitching at the MLB level before May 27. The Giants also provided an encouraging update on Hjelle, who was diagnosed with an elbow sprain earlier J.J. Barea Jersey in the week. Susan Slu ser of the San Francisco Chronicle that hes on track to begin a throwing program in one week after receiving a second opinion. The team had announced on Tuesday that Hjelle would be down for two weeks before going for reevaluation. The injury almost certainly still rules him out of the season-opening rotation mix, but its a positive development that his complete shutdown wont last too long. San Francisco has three locks for the Opening Day rotation: , and . Righty is the frontrunner for the #4 job. He was delayed early in camp with what seems to be minor elbow sorene s and is still expected to be ready for Opening Day. Unle s the Giants dip into free agency for someone like Snell, or , the fifth spot will be up for grabs. Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic that former third-round pick appears poised to take a season-opening rotation job. The Lehigh product was scheduled for his third start of Spring Training this evening, but the game was rained out. He has logged five innings over his first two appearances, allowing three runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Black, a 24-year-old righty, is not on the 40-man roster and has yet to make his MLB debut. He split last season almost evenly between the two highest levels of the minors. Black combined for a strong 3.71 ERA while striking out an excellent 30.3% of opposing hitters acro s 123 2/3 innings. He i sued a few too many walks in a very hitter-friendly environment in Triple-A but hasnt handed out a free pa s yet this spring. recently ranked him the #8 prospect in the organization, crediting him with a plus sinker/slider combination and fine if unexceptional control. Josh Richardson Jersey
