Something about a stone that rolls.

The Giants have officially released their opening day roster. It took eight transactions Saturday, most notably putting Armando Benitez on the DL, but we now have a 2006 San Francisco Giants. Since the end of the 2005 season the Giants have acquired eight new players: one first baseman, one outfielder, two relief pitchers, two starting pitchers and one utility player (if you can call Jose Vizcaino that). Besides the trades for Steve Finley and Steve Kline, all the other players were picked up as free agents.

But saying that the team picked up eight new players doesn’t really do justice the amount of movement the organization has done sine this time last year. Only nine of the 25 players on the 2006 opening day roster were on the 2005 opening day roster: Pitchers Jason Schmidt, Noah Lowry, Jeff Fassero and Tyler Walker, catcher Mike Matheny, infielders Ray Durham, Pedro Feliz and Omar Vizquel, and outfielders Moises Alou and Jason Ellison.

But of the 16 new players, 7 spent some time with the Giants last season. Last year Bonds was hurt on opening day (and most of the days after), players like Lance Niekro and Jeremy Accardo were called up from the minors and Randy Winn was picked up mid-year from Seattle. Still, that means almost 2/3 of the team either didn’t spend all last year either in the majors or with the Giants. But considering who the Giants started with last year, this isn’t such a bad thing. Though this will be the first season in a while without Rueter, Snow and Torrealba, it also will be without Michael Tucker, Jim Brower and Edgardo Alfonzo, so take the good with the bad.

Over the last year, the Giants have redone 3/5 of the starting rotation, exchanging Rueter, Brett Tomko and Jerome Williams for Jamey Wright, Morris and Matt Cain (I’ll be looking at this later this week). Five of the seven bullpen arms are new, but that’s with Benitez on the DL and not the 25-man roster.

The Giants have been through a lot of change this off-season, but it has built a team that at last David Pinto thinks will make it to the playoffs. Of the 25 players now suiting up for the Giants, eight started in the Giants organization, four were acquired in trades and the rest, 14 players, were free agent pickups.

Amazing to think, but it took the organization a little over 13 years to build this team. The Giants started on December 8, 1992, with the signing of Barry Bonds from the Pirates, and finished on February 7, 2006 with the signing of Todd Greene (side note: While looking this up, I found out that of the 11 Greenes or Greens who have played in the majors, none have been an all-star. Unfortunately, Kahlil Greene may break that eventually...), formerly of the Rockies. Here’s the whole time line of the 2006 San Francisco Giants:

• December 8, 1992: Sign Barry Bonds as a free agent from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• February 7, 1994: Sign Pedro Feliz as an amatuer free agent.
• June 5, 1999: Draft Jack Taschner
• June 5, 2000: Draft Lance Niekro
• June 5, 2000: Draft Jason Ellison
• June 5, 2001: Draft Noah Lowry
• June 5, 2001: Draft Scott Munter
• July 30, 2001: Traded for Jason Schmidt of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• June 5, 2002: Draft Matt Cain
• December 7, 2002: Sign Ray Durham as a free agent from the Oakland Athletics
• June 5, 2003: Sign Jeremy Accardo as an undrafted free agent
• November 25, 2003: Sign Tyler Walker as a free agent from the Detroit Tigers
• November 16, 2004: Sign Omar Vizquel as a free agent from the Cleveland Indians
• December 2, 2004: Signed Armando Benitez as a free agent from the Florida Marlins
  
• December 15, 2004: Signed Jeff Fassero as a free agent from the Arizona Diamondbacks
• December 15, 2004: Signed Mike Mateny as a free agent from the St. Louis Cardinals
• December 27, 2004: Signed Moises Alou as a free agent from the Chicago Cubs
• July 30, 2005: Traded for Randy Winn of the Seattle Mariners
• December 2, 2005: Signed Tim Worrel as a free agent from the Arizona Diamondbacks
• December 5, 2005: Traded for Steve Kline of the Baltimore Orioles
• December 8, 2005: Signed Mark Sweeney as a free agent from the San Diego Padres
• December 13, 2005: Signed Matt Morris as a free agent from the St. Louis Cardinals
• December 21, 2005: Traded for Steve Finely of the Los Angeles/Anahiem/California/Los Angeles Angels
• December 23, 2005: Signed Jose Vizcaino as a free agent from the Houston Astros
• January 17, 2006: Signed Jamey Wright as a free agent from the Colorado Rockies
• February 7, 2006: Signed Todd Greene as a free agent from the Colorado Rockies