2009 Record: 88-74
Pitching:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Jonathan Sanchez
Madison Bumgarner
Barry Zito
This rotation remains superb. Tim Lincecum is as good as his two Cy Young Awards say he is, and there's nothing to suggest any sort of dropoff. Matt Cain would be an ace on a lot of other teams. Jonathan Sanchez has had some ups and downs, but he did pitch a no-hitter last year. Madison Bumgarner, one of the top pitching prospects in the majors who made his MLB debut late last year shortly after his 20th birthday. Kind of amazing when you have all that talent and you are only a 4 starter. Zito is horribly overpaid, but as far as being a backend of the rotation guy is much better then most on other teams.
Hitting:
C - Molina
1st - Huff
2nd - Sanchez
3rd - Sandoval
SS - Renteria
LF - DeRosa
CF - Rowand
RF - Schierholtz
Having Zito as your 5th starter might be nice, be is comes with a heavy price. With him making over $18MM a year the Giants have a hard time spending money on offense. We have seen for the past couple of season that the Giants just can't score runs. I think this offseason they have somewhat improved that. Huff had a bad year last season, but he can be a 25-30 HR guy, and if he does he will be a nice addition to the middle of that offense. Pablo Sandoval is a star in the making, he should be able to build off nice .330 BA, 25 HR, and 90 RBI season. One would think with the additions the Giants have made he will have a chance to knock in more runs. Still, overall this isn't a great offense, but they might not need it with the pitching staff they have.
Overall:
I really like the Giants this year. There aren't too many teams that will put out a better pitching staff then what the Giants have, so as long as they stay healthy they should rack up the wins. I don't love their offense, but I do think it improved enough to get them over 90 wins.
Predicted record: 94-68
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