Giants release Wild Card roster

The Giants have released their Wild Card roster.

Pitchers
Madison Bumgarner
Tim Lincecum
Jake Peavy
Yusmeiro Petit
Santiago Casilla
Sergio Romo
Jeremy Affeldt
Javier Lopez
Jean Machi
Hunter Strickland

Catchers
Buster Posey
Guillermo Quiroz
Andrew Susac

Infielders
Joaquin Arias
Brandon Belt
Brandon Crawford
Matt Duffy
Adam Duvall
Joe Panik
Pablo Sandoval

Outfielders
Gregor Blanco
Gary Brown
Travis Ishikawa
Hunter Pence
Juan Perez

The key is that Michael Morse, a terrible defender but one of the Giants' better hitters this year, won't be available even to pinch-hit. Travis Ishikawa will start in left, and the Giants are pretty short on good outfielders. That's significant in PNC Park, where the Pirates will have a small but significant edge on balls hit to left field -- in the long term, starting a guy like Ishikawa there at PNC Park would be a big mistake. At catcher, the presence of Guillermo Quiroz will allow rookie Andrew Susac to pinch-hit.

The Giants are going heavy on starters, with Tim Lincecum (who finished the year in the bullpen), Jake Peavy and Yusmeiro Petit available in addition to Bumgarner. So they'll be well equipped if Bumgarner has to leave early.