Just a great post on McCovey's the other day

by Kevin (aka Brute) on his projections for each Giants farm team's rosters for 2008. A great read for serious and casual fans and an interesting discussion thread follows. Here's his take on the 2008 Defs team:

"Connecticut Defenders

Connecticut will inherit a championship team, but this team is even less high-prospect laden than the '05 team that dissolved in CT in 2006. That said, there's some possibility, with some returning faces and possible pushes.

As usual, pitching will be in the forefront in CT. The team will likely have a couple of holdovers from this year's rotation, especially Broshuis and McKae. They'll probably also get a couple of San Jose's top guys, including Paul Oseguera and the streakier-than-usual Joe Martinez. The question is whether Augusta's rotation will see some pitcher's skip San Jose. The likeliest are Ben Snyder, Adam Cowart and Kevin Pucetas. Cowart seems most likely to follow the Jonathan Sanchez road, as Sanchez also spent a full season in Augusta and just cameoed in a San Jose offseason before moving up to Connecticut.

The bullpen won't be as strong as this year's. The top name coming up is the ever-controversial Sergio Romo. Taylor Wilding, Jason Waddell and Darren Sack will likely get second shots, and Ben Cox is a probable to move up along with Ryan Paul. If Kelvin Pichardo is held back, this squad should be good, if not exactly great.

The offense is going to be touchier, but a mix of returning players to CT (Which usually leads to more production) and a couple of SJ guys may have some promise. The biggest names coming up will Ben Copeland and Antoan Richardson. Richardson is Velez with better OBP, much better OF defense, and believe it or not, slightly better speed (if not a more aggressive attitude). They'll probably match with Eddy Martinez-Esteve in the outfield, who is no guarantee to stay healthy. Travis Ishikawa may also get shot number three in Double-A. Catcher is the other hot spot, where Pablo Sandoval and power hitting Adam Witter will fight for playing time (and probably with EME for DH time).

The question marks are elsewhere in the infield. Kyle Haines and Anthony Contreras are solid performers, and will likely mix with the return of Mark Minicozzi for a mix-and-match infield. But what if the Giants get aggressive with either Brian Bocock or Emmanuel Burriss (the latter being more likely)? And then there's newcomer Travis Denker, who has proven to be a power hitter, but has some serious questions as he comes up. And will he be moved to the outfield, or stay at second?

Defenders fans may again be disappointed in the names of the talent headed their way, but it's not an untalented team. It's a gritty blue collar team that may or may not be able to stay that way without Lenn Sakata."