Projected 2012 Giants 25-man roster, as it stands now

Tim Lincecum should expect a significant pay raise above the $15 million made in 2011.

With the re-signing of Javier Lopez, the optioned exercised on Jeremy Affeldt and the acquisition of Melky Cabrera, the Giants’ 2012 roster is starting take shape. There are still decisions to made, particularly with to tender some arbitration-eligible players, of which there are 13.

So here is the 25-man roster, based on players currently under the Giants’ control in 2012 (a-denotes arbitration eligible).

LINEUP

CF Melky Cabrera-a
2B Freddy Sanchez
3B Pablo Sandoval-a
C Buster Posey
1B Aubrey Huff
RF Nate Schierholtz-a
LF Brandon Belt
SS Brandon Crawford

BENCH

C Chris Stewart
IF Mike Fontenot-a
IF/OF Emmanuel Burriss-a
OF Andres Torres-a
1B Brett Pill

STARTING ROTATION

SP Tim Linecum-a
SP Matt Cain
SP Ryan Vogelsong-a
SP Madison Bumgarner
SP Barry Zito

BULLPEN

RH Brian Wilson
RH Sergio Romo-a
RH Santiago Casilla-a
RH Ramon Ramirez-a
LH Jeremy Affeldt
LH Javier Lopez
LH Dan Runzler

NON-TENDERED

C Eli Whiteside, IF Jeff Keppinger

Notes

Torres, Fontenot and Burriss are also non-tender candidates. We’ll count them on the roster for now. The Giants may non-tender all players, then attempt to sign them back at a cheaper rate.

The Giants have already committed $81.7 to 2012 contracts, including the $12 million they will pay Aaron Rowand to NOT play for the Giants.  If the Giants non-tender Whiteside, Keppinger, Torres, Fontenot AND Burriss, they will still need to pay $36 million to the remaining eight arbitration-eligible players, according to mlbtraderumors.com projected arbitration salaries.

That puts the 2012 payroll at $117.7. GM Brian Sabaen projected the 2012 payroll to be at $124 million, a modest jump from the $118 million figure they opened the 2011 season.

It doesn’t leave a lot of room to add more salary with a payroll at $117.7 million and three open roster spots yet to fill.