Giants preserving pitchers for busy spring

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Opting to save their horde of pitchers for Cactus League action, the Giants declined to conduct their usual intrasquad game Friday.

With a handful of pitchers at less than full strength (Javier Lopez and non-roster right-handers Edward Concepcion and Mason Tobin) and five veterans due to leave in early March for the World Baseball Classic (Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, Jose Mijares, Sergio Romo and Ryan Vogelsong), manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti reasoned that they should save their pitchers' arms for game activity as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Bochy will do what he can to get San Francisco's Classic-bound position players game-ready. That group -- Pablo Sandoval, Marco Scutaro, Angel Pagan and Andres Torres -- might play a few extra innings in exhibition games before they depart.

"They'll probably get stretched out a little bit more than they normally would," Bochy said.