2012 Record: 94-682012 finish: First Place, NL West
2012 Payroll: $138 million
Predictions
2013 Record: 90-72
2013 Payroll: $137 million
2013 finish: 2nd Place, NL West
Offseason Action
There is comfort in the familiar and comfort in the successful, and the gap between the two is significant. If San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean went out and signed Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Jeremy Affeldt to free-agent contracts totaling 10 years and $78 million because he knew them, it would register high on the offseason game of "What the Hell?" Because he signed the three to such contracts following a championship, the Giants' second in three seasons, Sabean gets a pass because he has two rings.
Sabean could sign anyone, peg him as an ace-in-waiting and the acolytes who have grown to love the sort of team he constructs would start applauding in excitement. For Sabean to have done this as the industry diverges from his worldview – he is a scout's scout – really is a testament to how well he has done his job. GMs can back into a World Series. They generally don't luck into it twice.So even though keeping together the 2012 team that ran roughshod through the back end of the postseason meant giving Pagan a $40 million deal less than two years after he couldn't beat Gary Matthews Jr. for a job. And handing $20 million to Scutaro for three seasons, going that extra year other teams wouldn't for the 37-year-old. And spending the final $18 million on Affeldt, a good left-handed reliever, sure, but not $6 million-a-year's worth, and certainly – as is the case for any reliever – not three years' worth.
On the backburner for the time being is the truly important deal Sabean must prioritize: a long-term contract for catcher Buster Posey. This season, his first arbitration year, he will make $8 million. Seeing as he has three more arbitration seasons left, and the process is so out of whack it rewards players the caliber of Hunter Pence with $13.8 million salaries, well, two things are evident:
1) It will not be cheap. Posey will command nine figures and deserves every last cent of it. He is this team's heart, its thunder, its ideal.
2) It does not pay for a club to go to arbitration, especially when the goodwill of the championships remains fresh in Posey's mind and the security could influence him away from the sirens of free agency.
Season Outlook
The Giants are basically fielding the same team they had last season. Which isn't bad, but it's not too great either.
Buster Posey is the heart and soul of the lineup, playing with a fierce mentality at catcher while still batting .336 with over 100 RBI. Pablo Sandavol definitely has his moments, like hitting three homers in a game to open the world series, but his .283 average and 12 homeruns are going to have to come up this season. The rest of the lineup, being Belt, Scutaro, Pagan, Blanco, and Pence, will do pretty well, but for the Giants to repeat this season with a loaded division, more guys will need to step up.
Even if the lineup can't be relied on too much, San Francisco will always have their pitching. Even when former two time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum was taken out of the rotation last season, the team still had enough depth to win it all. Matt Cain is the ace of the staff and is expected to throw no less than 200 innings and win around 20 games, being the consistent pitcher that he is. With Bumgarner and Vogelsong both having 3.37 ERA's and Barry Zito showing signs of life in the playoffs last year, the Giants rotation competes with the best in baseball.
Savior
Since nobody can say with confidence or certainty that Tim Lincecum is back – just as no one similarly can say he's gone – he enters this season mounted atop steed, waiting to become, once again, the conquering hero or the dolt who falls off. Worth remembering: Lincecum is just 28. Worth remembering: He still struck out more than a batter an inning last year. So despite the travails – a league-high 107 earned runs – battering him about, Lincecum paid penance in the postseason and wants to recapture that today. Last thing worth remembering: Until last season, his career ERA was 2.98 and we talked about him as a Hall of Famer. One bad year does not a candidacy ruin.
-Wyatt Smith, Sports Editor, Clickege Media
