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2012 in review Record: 94-68 (88-74 Pythagorean) 718 runs scored (6th in NL) 649 runs allowed (6th in NL) Big Offseason Moves Re-signed Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Jeremy Affeldt. Signed OF Andres Torres. Lost OF Melky Cabrera. GM Brian ...

One of the fun aspects of what I do is the ongoing dialogue we can engage in. When I posted my top-10 power rankings on Sunday, and then a follow-up on why I didn't include the Giants, I heard it loud and clear from Giants fans on Twitter and in the ...

How could I leave the defending World Series champions out of my top 10 offseason power rankings? Giants fans weren't happy. One of my editors wasn't happy. So here you go. Ten reasons I didn't have the Giants in my top 10: 1. The Giants in 2012 s...

Five years and $75 million for a player coming off a .298 on-base percentage (B.J. Upton), and everyone is already referring to the deal as a bargain. Four years and $40 million for a 31-year-old center fielder (Angel Pagan), and nobody blinks an ...

Assuming the Giants weren't interested in the big-dollar free-agent outfielders -- Josh Hamilton, Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher -- re-signing Angel Pagan to a four-year, $40 million deal appears to be a solid deal, even if the Giants ended up going ...

Keith Law unveiled his list of the top 50 free agents and, as you can see, it filters out pretty quickly. Truth is teams are doing a good job these days of locking up their young stars to long-term contracts, so you just don't see the number of premi...

The offseason is already in full swing, but I wanted to put a bow of sorts on the 2012 season. Let's take one final look at the 2012 postseason and see what we learned ... if anything. 1. Starting rotation depth is vital. The Giants' rotation dept...

DETROIT -- A year ago, Gregor Blanco was playing winter ball. He was looking for a job after spending all of 2011 in Triple-A and became a minor league free agent after the Washington Nationals let him go. A year later, he stood next to a large bi...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have played textbook baseball in their past five games, baseball so beautiful that John McGraw is probably up in baseball heaven telling Ty Cobb, "That's Giants baseball. That's how you play the game." Tha...

They call him Kung Fu Panda. Now they can call him a World Series legend. Pablo Sandoval, a batter who rarely sees a pitch he doesn't like, found three pitches he loved in the World Series opener and entered his name alongside three of the biggest...

You never want a series to turn on the health of a team's ace, but here we are: The Cincinnati Reds, up 2 games to 0 and going home for three games, will need a Game 5 victory to advance to the NLCS. With Johnny Cueto unavailable after his first-i...

That was one of the more entertaining games of the postseason, a classic pitching duel of sorts, with some interesting strategic decisions and some missed opportunities. The Cincinnati Reds will be kicking themselves for not taking advantage of one o...

First base: Carl Crawford out, Red Sox on a roll. On a day where sources indicated the Red Sox left fielder will miss another three months (a timetable Crawford denied), Boston pounded out 12 hits and 10 runs in roughing up Philip Humber for its four...

First base: Matt the bat. Yes, that's right, the Baltimore Orioles are back in first place and Matt Wieters is a big reason why. The Orioles scored once in the eighth against the White Sox (Wieters homered), twice in the ninth (Nolan Reimold homered ...

A few days before the season began I was out running with Matt, one of my editors. Matt is a Mets fan and I was having a good time threatening to write a "Why the Mets could be the worst team in the National League" post. I never got around to wri...

I have a feeling the NL East is going to be one rollicking division. The 2011 NL East preseason All-Stars: Catcher -- Brian McCann, Braves. A solid, dependable player who has made the All-Star team all five of his full seasons. And he's still only...