2010 Season Preview: San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants will look to build on their encouraging 2009 campaign, which resulted in an 88-74 record and their first winning season since 2004. For the first time in five seasons, the Giants actually remained in contention throughout the entire year in 2009, as it took an incredible run by the Colorado Rockies to edge the Giants for the wild card spot. Nonetheless, the team received multiple positives from last year.

First, pitchers Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum established themselves as one of the most lethal one-two punches in all of baseball. Lincecum won his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award, after posting a 15-7 record, a 2.48 ERA, and recording a NL-leading 261 strikeouts. Cain additionally pitched a phenomenal season, which earned him his first career all-star appearance. He posted a 14-8 record, a 2.89 ERA, and 171 strikeouts. Both players would have received many more wins had they not played in front of a dismal offense.

Another positive from last year was the resurgence of third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who led the team in batting average, home runs, on-base percentage, and RBI’s. With last season’s performance, Sandoval established himself as the heir apparent to Barry Bonds, as he finally brought back life to an otherwise atrocious Giants offense.

Speaking of the Giants offense, the batting was clearly the biggest lowlight of the 2009 season and was a significant factor in the team’s failure to reach the postseason. The Giants finished 26th in the MLB in offense, as no player other than Sandoval posted a .300 batting average. In addition, acquisitions Edgar Renteria, Freddy Sanchez, and Ryan Garko all had disappointing seasons, with Renteria batting a dismal .250. Furthermore, the team did a poor job of working counts, which resulted in several quick, unproductive innings.

Therefore, with all things considered, here are the five keys for the Giants in the upcoming season:

1. Back end of the Giants rotation – Outside of Lincecum and Cain, the Giants did not receive consistent contributions from the final three pitchers in the rotation. Barry Zito, although pitching his best season as a Giant, only recorded 10 wins and an unimpressive 4.03 ERA. Jonathan Sanchez, who pitched a perfect game last year, was demoted midseason and posted a 4.24 ERA. These two pitchers, along with Madison Bumgarner and Todd Wellemeyer, need to have consistent, productive seasons for the team to have any shot at reaching the postseason and to ease the pressure on Lincecum and Cain to perform.

2. Outfield Hitting – Last year’s opening day outfielders, Aaron Rowand, Fred Lewis, and Randy Winn, all had subpar seasons, which largely resulted in the inefficient Giants offense. With Lewis struggling mightily and Winn no longer with the team, Nate Schierholtz, Mark DeRosa, and Eugenio Velez need to have quality seasons to provide a lift to the Giants offense. Rowand had an encouraging spring training, while Velez and Schierholtz batted well towards the end of last season. All three players hope to carry the momentum into the 2010 season.

3. Middle Relief – For the large part, the Giants bullpen pitched extremely well last year. Brian Wilson had 38 saves, Jeremy Affedlt had 33 holds, and Sergio Romo had 41 strikeouts in 45 innings. However, other than those three pitchers, the Giants received inconsistent contributions from the rest of the bullpen, including Merkin Valdez, Justin Miller, and Bob Howry. The middle relief cost the Giants in last season’s heartbreaking, 14 inning loss to Colorado. Overall, though, this unit needs to remain strong, efficient, and consistent throughout this season.

4. Bruce Bochy – Although Bochy did record his first winning season as a Giants manager, he still made some controversial, dubious decisions that cost the team games. He played several aging, unproductive veterans over the younger players. He often pulled some of his starters and bullpen pitchers out too early. He sat some streaking players due to matchup problems. Bochy needs to make smarter decisions and trust the younger players for the Giants to perform at a high level.

5. Playing Well on the Road – While the Giants used their spacious ballpark effectively by posting a 52-29 home record, the Giants stumbled to a 36-45 record, which resulted in their absence from the postseason. The Giants finished four games back of the Rockies for the wild card spot, so if they had won a few more of those road games, they could have caught up to the Rockies. This season, the Giants will need to split on the road to increase their chances of reaching the postseason.

The Giants have the potential to make the postseason in 2010. If they continue to build on last year's winning season, they can do some serious damage this season.