The San Francisco Giants have this division in the bag.
Or at least they should.
The Giants won the World Series on the strength of their pitching and timely hitting. With the players still on roster and some other additions, San Francisco should be able to reproduce most of its success from 2010.
Tim Lincecum is ready and healthy. So is Buster Posey. San Francisco has a slew of versatile players (Mark DeRosa, Travis Ishikawa, Aubrey Huff, etc.) that allow manager Bruce Bochy to mix and match the lineup.
The additions they made were not blockbuster deals but filled needs.
Miguel Tejada will produce as much as Juan Uribe and be more consistent. DeRosa is healthy, and this could be a huge bounce-back year for Pablo Sandoval.
For any other team to have a chance, some of these things need to happen:
1. Giants sustain a significant injury
A significant injury would be someone like Huff, Posey, Lincecum or the ever-entertaining Brian Wilson.
Wilson is an obvious concern right now due to his lingering oblique injury. If it extends well into the regular season, it could spell bad news for the Giants. His replacement would be either Sergio Romo, Guillermo Mota or Ramon Ramirez.
None of these guys exude confidence from fans in the ninth inning.
Staying healthy is key.
2. Ubaldo Jimenez wins 20-plus games
The Colorado Rockies made a run toward the end of last season but could not get over the hump.
Jimenez was a big part of that success.
He is the only pitcher in franchise history to have two seasons of 15 or more wins. Because of that, it is a tall order to think a pitcher in Colorado could have the success he had in a third straight year.
The rest of the Rockies’ rotation is inconsistent and they must also rely on the health of key players (Troy Tulowitzki and Huston Street).
3. Matt Kemp plays to his potential
The Dodgers were in disarray last season but now have a new focus.
The Boys in Blue will hope that focus has reached Kemp.
He can affect the game in so many ways, and some of that vanished last season. His stolen base numbers in 2010 were atrocious compared to his 2009 numbers.
The stability of their rotation is huge, but Kemp is a bigger deal.
The Giants will have the target on their backs, and at the start of a long season, there are many factors that could make or break the team’s chance to repeat as NL West champions.
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