With no Barry by the Bay, Giants look to put 'fun' in fundamentals

Giants: Five things to know

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Oh yes, Barry Bonds has been heard from around here this spring. Outfielder Dave Roberts has spoken with him over the telephone. So has outfielder Randy Winn, and infielder Rich Aurilia.

In fact, Aurilia and Bonds exchanged text messages early in camp after Aurilia vacationed with his family in Mexico this winter.

Will 36-year-old Rich Aurilia hold up? (Getty Images)

"Turned out we stayed in the same place as Barry," Aurilia says. "We were there within a week of each other."

And there you have it, laid out clear, the fate of these 2008 San Francisco Giants: Wherever they go, even over the border, there's going to be no escaping the shadow of the Big Man.

"Nothing against Barry as a person or as a player, but it's a lot more relaxed around here," Roberts says. "I think with what he's done in his career, it commands that type of respect. Anyone with his status, in all walks of life, sometimes people are uneasy around them.

"He was a great teammate. He's a good friend of mine. But now it seems like people can be themselves more.

"It remains to be seen whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."

So far this spring, it hasn't exactly been peaches and cream. Everyone knew it would be a fierce transition into the post-Bonds era in San Francisco, but the early indications are, this could be declared a disaster area for the near future.

The Giants remain unsettled at the corners, where first baseman Dan Ortmeier has been more disappointing than not and where third basemen Kevin Frandsen and Aurilia haven't played well enough to stop Giant dreams of acquiring help such as Joe Crede of the White Sox or Brandon Inge of the Tigers.

The Giants are old, creaky and so far have produced the worst spring record at 6-15. They have little power. Where Bonds crushed 73 homers himself back in 2001, this year's projected starting lineup combined to hit only 88 homers in 2007. Pro-rate center fielder Aaron Rowand's 27 -- AT&T Park is not the bandbox that Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park is, where Rowand played last summer -- and the lineup is even less imposing.

But here's the thing: None of this adds up to the need to bring Bonds back.

They have looked so ragged this spring that it's not as if the mere presence of Bonds himself would make a significant difference.

After all, with Bonds, the Giants were a cumulative 222-263 over the past three seasons -- including a miserable 71-91 last summer.

Scottsdale Stadium is a veritable ghost town now. As Roberts and others are not shy about pointing out, the players don't miss the giant media mass that did everything but pitch tents on the clubhouse floor in past springs. When I was with the Giants the other day, there were only three of us present who were not members of the regular San Francisco media. In past springs, that number rarely dipped under 15 or 20.

"I think they're enjoying their privacy," manager Bruce Bochy says. "And I think they're enjoying searching for their own identity."

Bochy is helping them with that by paying attention to fundamentals this spring the way Meryl Streep obsesses over her movie accents.

Taking the extra base, hit-and-runs, sacrifice bunts, slapping ground balls to the right side of the infield to score the runner from third base ... all stuff the Giants of the Bonds era never had to care much about.

"One run here, one run there, that could make a difference," Roberts says. "It's playing the game of baseball.

"We can't sit back and wait for the three-run homer. We don't have that anymore."

Bochy admits the Giants' spring record concerns him, which serves as a pretty good indicator of how rocky things have been around here. Generally, managers eschew spring numbers the way they spit out sunflower seeds and tobacco juice.

"Normally, I would say no, I'm not concerned, but it's going to be important for us to finish strong and win some games this spring," Bochy says. "When you go through a transition like we're going through, part of it is believing and knowing you can win."

The complicating factor about this aggressive, old-style baseball is whether the Giants' old-style muscles will hold up. Vizquel is 40, Ray Durham 36, Roberts 35 and Bengie Molina and Winn are 33 each. Vizquel (knee) already is out and probably won't be back by opening day. Roberts (knee) missed several days of camp this month but returned to the lineup Wednesday.

"When you don't quite have the power that Giants teams have had in the past, it's going to be imperative to do the little things," Bochy says. "Along with pitching and catching the ball, we're going to have to execute, do some things to get runners across the plate."

Everyone knew the Giants were going to have a traumatic time in the immediate aftermath of Bonds. But the problem around here isn't that Bonds is gone. The problem is that there are too many others still around in his age bracket.

There aren't enough speedsters like outfielder Rajai Davis and infielder Eugenio Velez (a Rule V pick from Toronto a few years back who stole 118 bases in 150 attempts in the Giants' system in 2006 and 2007). There aren't enough young arms behind Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Noah Lowry. There aren't enough homegrown guys, period.

The last Giants draft picks who were position players to play at least 500 games in the majors? Try infielder Bill Mueller and outfielder Chris Singleton from the 1993 draft. The Giants have not had a homegrown All-Star since Royce Clayton in 1988.

Meanwhile, down there in the corner of the spring clubhouse, pitcher Barry Zito hangs his clothes in Bonds' old spring locker. And that's pitcher Lowry two lockers down, inhabiting space once designated for Bonds' posse.

The word they hear from Bonds is good.

"He's relaxing," Aurilia says. "Keeping himself in shape."

As for themselves, they're not quite ready to escape the shadows. And it might be awhile before they are. While Zito is using Bonds' old locker now, guess who'll be using the Big Man's locker this summer in AT&T Park?

Nobody, according to one prominent Giant.

Says Zito: "It's just going to be a circus if anyone took it."