The March Towards 2012 Starts Now

I know I didn't dedicate a whole boat load of time to breaking down, inch-by-inch the positives and negatives of the 2011 San Francisco Giants, cause to me it came down to 3 simple things. The loss of Posey and then the complete fall of offensively by Aubrey Huff and Andres Torres, and the complete lack of a #5 starter all year long.

The Giants pitching was there all year, sure guys like Bumgarner and Vogey hit some bumps in the road, but I know that Dave Righetti will tell you he's more than happy with the way his staff threw as a whole (minus the 5th spot in the rotation), from their ace Tim Lincecum, all the way down to closer Brian Wilson, these guys were nails yet again. However, Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez delivered less than stellar outings in the final months of the season, as the Giants lost everyone of their starts down the stretch, and many weren't even close. To me, that sums up the Giants 2011 in a few short sentences. They had enough to win the division even after Posey went down. The Giants replaced Freddy Sanchez adequately, but they failed to do so with Buster, which still bogs me to this day. In mid July, this team looked all but assured a spot in the 2011 postseason. Remember when Beltran had just arrived in Philly with the Giants and the buzz around that time was incredible, a playoff like atmosphere, yet it seems like that was the one series that ended up doing the Giants in. That was their last real push of 2011 before they simply ran out of gas. But now with the MLB Postseason flying by (Championship Series' all ready), time to start putting in motion a plan for next years team is just weeks away. Let's hope the Giants learned from their mistake-full 2011 campaign, and right the ship.

It's still early October, so I don't want to start jargaining off potential trade scenarios or Free Agent targets, because so much can happen between now and the end of October. However, I am in very good position to give my 2 cents on what should happen with the guys the Giants currently have on roster and whether some of them should have a spot on 2012's squad. Believe or not, the Giants do have some big money coming off the books in the realm of Mark DeRosa ($6M), Miguel Tejada ($6.5M) and Cody Ross ($6M+), among others, and will have a little wiggling room for upgrades, and by golly, with the way these guys played last year, it would be hard for anyone not to be an "upgrade on that bunch. Ross was streaky, but hit below .250 and had 13 homers while Tejada suffered through one of the roughest season I've ever seen an ex-MVP go through. Again, I don't think any of these guys should be back in any role at all. Possibly DeRosa as an instructor/hitting coach as he seems to be good on the bench and a solid teacher. Anyway, I very much believe the 2012 Giants could feature just a portion of the 2011 opening day lineup they trotted out. Just to throw out an early guess for the heck of it, I could see Sabean entertaining the ideas of FA's like of shortstop Jimmy Rollins, a (Bay Area native), as well as Mike Cuddyer (who he's always had trade interest in) and quite possibly Coco Crisp (they need a leadoff guy, and he seems to fit what the want financially and possitionally). Wouldn't surprise me if at least one of those three are with the Giants in Scottsdalle come February though.

Note: First (of three) GBB Giants Mock Lineup: 2012 - October 31st!