It's not uncommon to see writers make what they call "bold" predictions before a season starts in the sport they cover. I would like to make a habit out of it here for the Giants and 49ers. So here is my BOLD predictions for the 2012 Giants.
First the offense;
- 4 players will hit .300+; Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Melky Cabrera, and Brandon Belt all reach the plateau.
- 5 players hit 20+ HR's. Sandoval, Posey, Cabrera, Belt, and Brett Pill are the power here. Pill is my wild card. I predict he gets more playing time than we expect because of his big bat and he mashes his way down the stretch to 20.
- 2 players hit 30+ HR's. I got Sandoval and Belt showing the big power. I know that Belt could possibly start the season in the minors, which would be a shame, but I think he gets recalled in time to show what all the hype has been about. Which leads me to...
- 3 players have 100+ RBI's. Sandoval, Posey, and Belt. Not hard here, I have them mashing all year long.
- Brandon Crawford more than holds his own hitting .270 BA, 15 HR, 65 RBI, and 15 SB.
- Aubrey Huff struggles and is a pinch-hitter most of 2012. Pilate's or not, Huff is on a decline. I know that he has had a trend his whole career of having a good year then a down year but I think now is the time that Huff stays down, and we are once again way over paying for a veteran who isn't contributing much on the field. That being said, Huff is a great personality and he is very valuable all year in the clubhouse.
- Freddy Sanchez retires. After finally making a brief comeback Sanchez gets hurt again and decides to announce his retirement do to continuing injury issues. This leads to...
- Prospect Joe Panik, who is once again tearing up the minors, is called up mid-season to take over the 2nd base role for good. He gets off to a slow start but holds his own, showing signs of line-drive gap placement and brief stints of power and speed along with solid defense.
- The Giants offense ends up in the top 3 of all major league baseball.
Obviously, I see a huge change on the offensive side of the ball, because of this the pitching is going to excel.
Now the pitching;
- With a ton of run support from the offense, finally, the pitching starts to rack up the wins. The Giants have three 20 game winners; Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, and Matt Cain.
- The pitching continues to be dominant with four sub 3.00 ERA's; Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain, and Ryan Vogelsong.
- 3 pitchers have 200+ strikeouts; Lincecum, Bumgarner, and Cain. Lincecum and Bumgarner are locks here but Cain has never reached the milestone in his career. However, this season Cain has been locked in during Spring Training and appears to already be prepared for a big year, add in that it's a contract season and I think he finds a little extra something here and there to finally reach the plateau. With 186 SO's being his former best he hits 203 total this year.
- The bullpen posts the lowest ERA in the majors.
- Brian Wilson is just raunchy with a big bounce back year and surpasses his former career high in saves (48) by recording 52 on the year.
The awards;
- This is a lock- Comeback Player of the Year- Buster Posey. Can Giants fans see anyone else winning this in 2012?
- Sandoval and Posey finish in the top 3 in NL MVP voting. Pablo is the big winner.
- Pablo Sandoval wins the batting title hitting .349, this is what propels him past teammate Posey for the MVP.
- Gold gloves galore for the Giants defense; Sandoval 3B, Crawford SS, Posey C, and Lincecum P all take home the honor.
- Tim Lincecum wins his 3rd Cy Young award! Madison Bumgarner finishes a close second and Matt Cain is able to finish 5th in the voting. Lincecum leads in SO's and Wins while Bum leads in ERA, which propels Lincecum. Plus, the voters lean towards the older player considering the younger will have many more opportunities.
- The Giants win 100 games. After finally establishing an offense the Giants show their true potential. They go on to take the NL West crown on their way to...
- The Giants win the 2012 World Series. The Tampa Bay Rays put up a hell of a pitching performance in 2012 themselves but are no match for the now dominant S.F. Giants. The Giants take the series 4-1 and talk starts to spread that we have a dynasty on our hands.
- Matt Cain signs a 5yr/$115million contract extension with the team.
Well that was fun! Obviously this would be a perfect season. In fact, I forgot to add that Lincecum adds his name to the "Perfect game club." I've always thought that Lincecum's ability to get a strikeout when he needs it can allow him to accomplish that. Bumgarner has that same potential. Like I said though, this is a perfect season which quite frankly doesn't happen. I do believe the offense will be much better than people think this season, but a lot of things need to go right in order for the Giants to reach the potential I think they have. The season is just around the corner, Play Ball!!!
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