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Pitchers and catchers report in about two months, but that does not silence the baseball talk.

The winter meetings have come and gone, but it seems the Giants prefer to stand pat. They have publicly stated they aren’t going after any of the top free agents, and why should they? The team of misfits they put together last year achieved baseball immortality, so why should the team be assembled any differently?

So far, the Giants appear to be the favorite in 2011. They have retained most of their tremendous pitching staff, which was first in baseball in ERA and strikeouts in 2010. All they lost was Chris Ray out of the bullpen, but their whole Cy Young-caliber starting rotation remains intact for 2011 and beyond.

Even with Tim Lincecum’s August struggles, the Giants still have one of the best starting staffs in all of baseball. Matt Cain had a phenomenal year and competed against Lincecum for the ace status, but Lincecum showed why he was an ace during the postseason. Zito and Sanchez remain a question, but they are undoubtedly one of the best four and five starts in baseball, depending on how the Phillies‘ newly beefed-up staff does. Expect another solid year from the rotation.

As for the Giants bullpen, it should also be stellar in 2011. Brian Wilson, Javier Lopez and the rest of the staff are all back for next season. With the Giants re-signing Guillermo Mota, the Giants shored up the back end of their bullpen in case of injury or if mop-up work is needed. Basically, what got the Giants to the World Series in 2010 will return for the 2011 season.

The Giants offense only needs mediocrity to win the West, but anything less will not get the job done. In 2009, the Giants offense was abysmal, nearly the worst in baseball. Even so, they somehow won 88 games, but it was not enough to beat out the Rockies for the Wild Card.

In 2010, the Giants were closer to the middle of the pack in hitting, and they won the West with 92 games. Now that the Giants added Tejada, Cody Ross (mid-2010), Pat Burrell (mid-2010) and a healthier Pablo Sandoval (who lost 15 pounds in San Diego so far), the Giants offense is worlds better than on April of 2010. They also have a stronger bench, with Mark DeRosa returning in 2011. Don’t forget Buster Posey, who just jolted the offense in July.

In order to keep their bench strong, the Giants offered Edgar Renteria a one-year contract worth $1 million. I think it is fine to bring him back as a backup infielder, but for no more than the $1 million they offered him. He can fill a hole if, say, Freddy Sanchez or Miguel Tejada were lost to injury. He can be a short-term solution, since he is streaky, but is not ideal for a starting role. Still, he has a flare for the clutch as shown by the World Series, and his game-tying home run during the home opener.

Despite him feeling disrespected about the Giants contract offer, Renteria needs to realize the Giants did anything but that, considering they were the only team thus far to offer him a major league contract.

The one weakness I see for the Giants is athleticism. With the exception of Torres and Schierholtz, team speed is weak and so is their range. If Pablo Sandoval loses a few more pounds, I think he can give the Giants more athleticism as he did when he first came up in 2008. Watch any of his baserunning from ’08, and you would think he was Carl Crawford compared to the way he runs now. Any speedster who isn’t a loss at the plate (a la Eugenio Velez) will give the Giants another dimension offensively. Darren Ford can fly, but I don’t think the Giants trust him entirely at the plate yet.

That said, I pick the San Francisco Giants to win the West once again. Their pitching is just superb, and I think having Burrell, Ross, Buster Posey and Torres in the lineup for a full season will get them 95-100 wins. Imagine how many of those early-season 2010 games they would have won with these players.

This article was featured on the blog Talking Giants Baseball.

Be sure to take the poll here on how you think Renteria should have reacted to his contract offer.

Look out for the 2011 National League West Preview No. 2: Los Angeles Dodgers, Can Their Glory Days Return?

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Fans have dubbed most of the Giants’ 2010 season and postseason as torture, but after the team’s impressive World Series victory against the Texas Rangers, the Giants’ faithful at the High Five Pizza Co. restaurant and sports bar felt euphoric.

The Giants won the seven-game World Series in just five games, courtesy of a Game 5 seventh-inning three-run home run from the series’ MVP Edgar Renteria, and brought home the first championship in their San Francisco history.

Cathleen Belknap, a manager at High Five, was among those who were thrilled about the Giants’ World Series title. She said that although she was a southern California native, she began following the Giants when the playoff games were on the televisions at work, and when everyone came into the restaurant to watch them.

“I feel very good about it because it will bring revenue to the city, and it’s long overdue so it is nice for the fans,” Belknap said.

Like Belknap, bartender Mark Mitchell recently began following the Giants during the frenzy when the playoffs began. As a fan of San Francisco itself, he felt the Giants’ World Series victory was one of the best things to happen to the city.

“I really liked what it did to the city of San Francisco,” Mitchell said. “It was similar to what happened when the Saints won the Super Bowl.”

Mitchell was also drawn to the team by the personality and charm of some of the players, including Buster Posey, his favorite.

“I saw Buster Posey in an interview, and I was impressed with the way he conducted himself,” Mitchell said. “If I see him, I would like to buy him a beer.”

Some were so excited about the Giants’ World Series title that they celebrated in surprising ways. Kealaa Kai, a concrete foreman for the city of San Jose and regular patron at High Five, told of his experience at another San Jose sports bar.

“I went to a bar in downtown San Jose, and after the Giants won, the owner bought a round of drinks for all his customers in the bar at the time,” Kai said.

Others were just relieved that the Giants won at least one title in their lifetime, and they are confident many more are on the way.

“I’m so happy they did it while I’m young,” said Katerina Nowack, a cashier and cook at the restaurant. “I am excited that everyone on the team is so young, and there’s a good chance it (a Giants World Series title) might happen again.”

Even fans of opposing teams, including the Giants’ arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers, could not help but feel happy for Giants fans. Greg Scaglione, another High Five bartender, has been a Dodger fan since birth, but showed an understanding of what the World Series victory meant to Giants fans.

“I’ve known a lot of people who were Giants fans, and it’s really good for them,” Scaglione said.

In years past, every last game of the season for San Francisco has ended in defeat, but this year, it was the San Francisco Giants who had the last victorious word in Major League Baseball.

This article is also featured on Talking Giants Baseball.

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