Champs 2012

The Giants won the World Series again, in case anyone didn't know. That's 2 in 3 years, and I'm going to stick by my prediction that this nucleus will win 5 titles when all is said and done, they're almost half way there.
I just looked over my silly predictions for this past season and I was happy with some of my near pin-point accuracy (including crowning the Giants champs in 2012). I also was amused by some of my bold predictions that fell further than short of reality or were ironic, like saying Pablo and Posey would be finalists for the MVP but neither would win, or the awesome prediction that we need Theriot to step it up in the second half (no mention of a still not acquired Scuturo). Now I'd like to give some tid-bits on the off season and future as us Giants fans get ready for the holidays and bask in championship glory.

This off-season
-The Giants shouldn't over-pay for Pagan. I know, I know, he was great this year and very valuable but the fact of the matter is that he is 31 and he had a career year playing in S.F. Remember back in 2010 when we had a lead-off CF who had a career year as we marched to the championship (Torres), how did that go? I'm not saying Pagan is Torres but the Giants do have Gary Brown in the minors and simply do not need to over-pay to keep Pagan around.
-Speaking of Brown, he needs to get a shot. The Giants need to seriously consider starting him next year. Brown played CF with Mike Trout and Bryce Harper in the same outfield in a minor league division; it should say something that he was the one playing CF. Brown will be cheap for a while so the Giants could cut payroll there and Brown is getting close to his mid twenties so you need to pull the trigger eventually. I could even see a scenario where the Giants re-sign Pagan on a decent contract and still bring Brown up to play an outfield spot along side Pagan and Pence.
-Melky Cabrera is a catch 22 this off-season. I think there are one of two Melky's a team will be signing this off-season; either a still-juicing Melky that is able to perform at the high level he left off at, but you run the risk of losing him again to another suspension, or a non-juicing Melky who's production returns to human like levels and he becomes not worthy of the money he's going to demand. Either way I think Melky is a big gamble for any team this off-season. Keep in mind he will be a distraction because he is a convicted "user" and it won't help how he immediately dealt with the situation. On the other hand Melky might also come cheap. There is an outside chance that I am wrong and he his going to be dominate without the juice, but if you look at the numbers over his career they say that he's probably headed back to being an average player if clean.
-Warning: This is not going to be a popular suggestion! The Giants should consider bringing back Melky over Pagan. Yeah I said it. Look Melky is a gamble but Pagan could be locking up as much as 15 million a year for 4 years! I'm sorry but right now I'd rather see the Giants gamble on Melky for 1 year and then re-assess next season how to deal with the third outfield spot (assuming Pence and Brown would have locked down RF and CF).
-The Giants need to trust in Crawford at SS and Belt at first. They have experience now; let them blossom!
-Pence and Lincecum should get extensions. The Giants have wanted Pence for years, they got him. The Giants gave up some good prospects for Pence and after trading their top prospect for Beltran and losing him for no return I can't see the Giants letting that happen again with Pence. Pence is under team control for one more year but expect an extension soon. Even with Posey winning the MVP the Giants most popular player is none other than Tim Lincecum, they have to extend him. Sure both sides may wait until after next year to reassess his value but the Giants need to get this done or they might piss-off a really strong fan base, even with the championships.
-Scuturo must be resigned. They have Panik in the minors ready for a call-up soon but that could still be a year or so away. With Scuturo's age (38) getting up there he won't be able to demand many years, the Giants should pay him to be the stopgap until Panik is ready.
-The Giants should lower the tickets prices. Hey, I'm still in college with a wife, a son, and a daughter due in December, I need to find a way to still afford games!