The Giants are, once again, the World Series champions. They beat the Royals in Game 7 on Wednesday night to clinch their third title in the last five years. Are they a dynasty? We can talk about that another time. First let's review their season.
What went right
Well, winning the World Series first and foremost. Madison Bumgarner had a historic postseason -- he was named both NLCS and World Series MVP -- and others like Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence, Yusmeiro Petit and Michael Morse had huge Octobers. The Giants snuck into the postseason as the second wild-card team and they turned that into a title.
In the regular season, Buster Posey was baseball's best all-around catcher. Certainly the best hitting catcher in baseball. Pence had a fantastic season and Morse was rather beastly at the plate (130 OPS+). Gregor Blanco stepped up when Angel Pagan's back acted up and had a huge second half. Tim Hudson's return from ankle surgery was strong and Jake Peavy was ace-like after being acquired a few days prior to the trade deadline. Three relievers (Jean Machi, Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla) had a sub-2.70 ERA in 50+ innings.
What went wrong
Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain combined for a 4.54 ERA in 246 innings while soaking up nearly one-quarter of the team's payroll. Lincecum was banished to the bullpen and Cain got hurt (elbow, ankle). Ryan Vogelsong was just okay and Hudson really faded late in the season. All told, the team's non-Bumgarner starters had a 4.23 ERA in more than 750 innings during the regular season. Considering their home ballpark, that's pretty bad.
Among players with the most plate appearances at each position, the Giants did not have one regular with a sub-100 OPS+ in 2014, but Brandon Belt (thumb, concussion), Morse (oblique) and Pagan (back) all missed time to injury. Marco Scutaro appeared in only five games because of back trouble, and it wasn't until midseason that Joe Panik emerged as a qualified replacement. Weirdly, the Giants struggled for a good chunk of the summer because of the pitching, not the offense. That's a bit different than the last few years.
MVP: For the regular season, it is Posey easily. He'll draw plenty of second and third place MVP votes and should finish in the top five of the voting alongside guys like Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutchen, Jonathan Lucroy and Giancarlo Stanton. If we include the postseason, then Bumgarner easily. How about co-MVPs? Works for me.
LVP: Since Cain can fall back on the injury excuse, I'll say Lincecum. He had a 4.67 ERA in 26 starts -- that includes a no-hitter, remember -- and was somehow even worse in the bullpen (5.73 ERA). Lincecum was the team's second highest paid player this season and he had little impact.
Free agents to be: 3B Pablo Sandoval, RHP Jake Peavy, RHP Sergio Romo, 1B/OF Mike Morse, RHP Ryan Vogelsong
Gameplan heading into the offseason
The Giants head into the offseason with two glaring needs: starting pitching and third base. Every team needs pitching, so they aren't unique, but Vogelsong and Peavy are free agents and who knows what they'll get out of Cain and Lincecum (and Petit) in 2015. Re-signing Peavy or a similar veteran free agent to a Hudson-esque two-year contract seems very likely. Maybe Brandon McCarthy?
Sandoval is a free agent and Jon Heyman says the two sides haven't talked about a new contract since spring training. A healthy Scutaro could take over at the hot corner but backs are tricky and it's hard to count on him in 2015. One outside the box solution: move Posey to third. He played all over the field in college and there's been talk of moving him out from behind the plate to avoid wear-and-tear.
If they do keep Posey at catcher, prospect Andrew Susac could become a prime piece of trade bait. If they move Posey to third, Susac could take over behind the plate. If they move Posey to first, Susac could take over behind the plate with Belt becoming trade bait. Mapping out the plan for Posey -- both for 2015 and long-term -- is something the Giants should figure out sooner rather than later, especially since he faded so badly in the postseason.
Ridiculously premature prediction for 2015
The Giants have a very good core in place with Posey, Pence, Belt and Bumgarner. The pitching needs more help than at any other point in recent memory, but the Giants are a strong team that will contend again next year. I don't think they can outlast the Andrew Friedman-led Dodgers across the 162-game regular season, so they'll have to settle for a wild-card spot again next year.
