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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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There has been grumbling in some quarters regarding the lack of trades or free agent signings by the Giants in this offseason—but people are missing the point.  And we’re not talking about “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” because despite winning it all, the Giants can certainly stand to improve in anything and everything that doesn’t relate to pitching up and down their lineup.

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, the team is following the tried-and-true approach of building a strong farm system and depending on it in lieu of trades or free agent signings.  When Brian Sabean arrived in 1997, he immediately returned the team to contention by bringing in a number of new players through trades or free agent signings—most notably the Matt Williams for Jeff Kent trade, which at the time was highly controversial.  

Sabean followed that philosophy for the better part of ten years, possibly due to the fact that the Giants’ farm system wasn’t really that strong.  In particular, he focused on drafting and signing pitchers, whom he would later use as prospect trade bait when dealing for established players to make a run for the roses during the years the team was in contention.

But after years of making sound moves, suddenly the wheels came off.  We all know the names by now: Marvin Benard, A.J. Pierzynski—and more recently, Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria and Barry Zito.  (Yes, I know Edgar came through big time in the Series, but he never really delivered with any kind of consistency that was deserving of his hefty and overpriced two-year contract.)  Sabean’s efforts to surround an aging Barry Bonds with the right pieces during the middle years of the last decade were particularly futile.

But while all this was going on, the organization was slowly but surely building a strong farm system. The stellar starting pitching quartet of Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner—as well as closer Brian Wilson—all came up through the Giants’ system.  As did rookie sensation Buster Posey.  As has Brandon Belt, who many think is due to make himself a permanent fixture in the lineup.

While there don’t seem to be any other names besides Belt ready to make an immediate impact, there are a number of players who, with a bit more seasoning, may be able to help in 2012 and beyond.  Look through all levels of the Giants’ system, and you see an organization that now has one of the strongest farm systems in all of baseball.

Why does this matter so much?  First of all, it creates bargaining chips that can be traded for established players when the need arises.  But of greater importance is the fact that the team can let established players go when they become expensive free agents, and plug in younger players who can be retained for mere pennies early in their careers.

Or to put it another way, you can virtually fund and field an entire roster of young players for the same amount of money that it costs to sign one established star for a year.  Growing your own on the farm still remains the best—and certainly the least expensive—way to build a perennial contender and ensure success for many years to come.  More than anything else, Giant fans should celebrate this fact and look forward to at least the next few years.  Keep those blue-chip prospects coming

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Spring training may still be two months away, but the cold winter months have had little success subduing MLB’s offseason hot stove.

The fall of 2010 has been an eventful one in the baseball world, even with the free agent class being as thin as it is.

As always, there are some teams that have added tremendously to their chances of World Series title contention in 2011, and plenty more that have been set back further, whether by their own missteps or by the unexpected choices of those they pursued (cough…Cliff Lee…cough).

With the likes of Adrian Beltre and Vladimir Guerrero still on the market, the hot stove might very well stay that way right up until Opening Day at the end of March 2011.

With that in mind, here’s a mid-December look at the offseason’s biggest winners and losers thus far.

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Cliff Lee has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies one year after they traded him to the Seattle Mariners. The Phillies are the favorite to win the National League and World Series, right?

Wrong.

After the 2009 World Series, the Phillies set their sights on fixing their holes and begin prepared for the 2010 World Series. Philadelphia fell short, dropping the NLCS in six games to the San Francisco Giants, despite adding Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt.

The earlier-than-expected exit from the postseason had many Phillies fans questioning where they would go from there.

Jimmy Rollins was entering his option year. It was also a foregone conclusion Jayson Werth set to make big time money elsewhere.

Then, on Monday night, they net the biggest pitching fish on the market in Lee.

It seemed the Phillies push all their chips in last year and, now, the Lee deal looks more out of desperation. Come the winter of 2011, Oswalt, Hamels, Rollins, Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson are all free agents.

Keep this in mind: The defending World Series champion Giants defeated Lee twice in the Fall Classic. Not to mention, they defeated Hamels, Halladay and Oswalt in the NLCS.

Their biggest concern going into this season should have been replacing Jayson Werth. As of right now, his replacement is Dominic Brown.

The predominantly left-handed lineup of the Phillies will have a much more difficult time balancing the scorecard. This could spell bad news when they play teams with strong left-handed pitching (i.e.: Braves, Giants, Cardinals).

The Phillies lineup will look like this: Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, Rollins, Brown, Carlos Ruiz. The bench is also very thin. If the injuries of last year recur, it could be a long season for the Philadelphia offense.

Their biggest challenge will, once again, be the Giants.

San Francisco still has the best young staff in baseball and they should only get better. Tim Lincecum (26), Matt Cain (26), Jonathan Sanchez (28) and Madison Bumgarner (21) all return for 2011.

As this group proved, no lineup is a match for this fearsome foursome. They carried a 2.47 ERA while limiting opponents to a .196 batting average in the postseason.

The Giants key loss of the offseason was Juan Uribe, whom the Giants replaced with Miguel Tejada. Tejada has always been a better overall hitter than Uribe.

Pablo Sandoval’s weight concerns are being hashed out this winter.

San Francisco won it all with their pitching and timely hitting. Most of the said hitters return and their defense looks to have improved from a year ago.

The Giants are also awaiting the Major League arrival of top prospect Brandon Belt. He is a more polished hitter and defender at this point than reigning NL Rookie of the Year Buster Posey was.

Belt, 22, has given Giants management much confidence for the future.

The health of versatile Mark DeRosa will give the Giants more options with their lineup.

To hand the National League Championship trophy to the Phillies would be premature. I mean, didn’t everyone do that last season?

Yankees and Phillies in the World Series, remember? Oh, wait, never mind.

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A season of torturous happiness and excitement was capped off when Aubrey Huff Zoolandered his famed rally thong in front of thousands of overjoyed Giants fans on the steps of City Hall.

As the realization set in, and the splurging on championship gear began for fans, the organization was quickly back to work. At hand was a task completely foreign to San Francisco — how to defend a championship. 

The Giants wasted little time, and for the most part stuck to their word that they would aim to retain most of their World Series-winning roster. Aubrey Huff and his famous red thong will be around through the 2012 season, Pat Burrell will remain a Giant for at least one more season at the bargain bin price of $1 million; utility infielder Mike Fontenot is sticking around, as well as promising relief pitcher Dan Runzler. 

Causing the biggest splash so far is the departure of Juan Uribe to the despised Los Angeles Dodgers. While his presence in the locker room will be missed, it is he who will miss the Giants, as he follows the money to an organization whose ownership troubles warrants its own season of Real Housewives of Orange County. 

Brought in to cover shortstop for the newly-despised Uribe, one-time Oakland Athletic and perennial All-Star Miguel Tejada signed a one-year, $6.5 million contract. Is Tejada enough for another run at the World Series? Many out there say no. He’s just too old, he’s past his prime and the Giants need to go young.

A murmur has begun to rumble throughout San Francisco since it was released to the media that the Giants and Mets have held some talks regarding the Mets’ popular shortstop Jose Reyes, and the Giants are showing some interest.

While sounding reluctant to trade away Reyes, the Mets’ top brass has not counted it out entirely, stating that for the right price anything can happen. Right now, that price seems to include three to four players in return for the star shortstop.  

All I have to say is DON”T DO IT! Here’s why:

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At the beginning of the 2010 season, there were very few people in this world who could have predicted that the Giants would beat the Rangers in the World Series.

But it happened.

Now we have the opportunity to look back with the most glorious of hindsight and laugh at all the predictions we made.

There’s no more what-ifs to think about, and no regrets on any decisions, because every trigger Brian Sabean pulled, every double-switch Bruce Bochy made, and every sign that Buster Posey threw down brought us to where we are right now. 

World Series Champions.

Anyways, it’s time to look back on all the ridiculous ideas I had rattling around my head on March 1, 2010.

And there were some crazy ones.

Again, for those not familiar with the term, SWOT stands for Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Let’s take a gander.

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This year has been a special one for San Francisco Giant fans.

It started out on a crisp day way back in Houston, with the Giants taking all three games from the Astros to start the season.

The Giants jumped out to an early division lead in April and for the first week or so, it looked like the Giants would be flirting with a top Power Ranking spot during the season. 

As we all know, success is short-lived…or is it?

The Giants were not able to keep their division lead and at the All-Star break they were in fourth place, six games behind San Diego who was in first.

No one would have predicted that San Diego would perform like they did this season either, but it was obvious to many that the Padres success was built on a shaky foundation and required too many fine pieces to stay successful.

The team’s schedule was easy anyways, which meant even if they got to the playoffs, they would have faltered. 

The Giants season was the definition of a roller coaster, if ever there was one. San Francisco finally caught up to the Padres after they hit a dry spell and lost ten games in a row.

The Padres success may have been built on shaky ground, but the Giants lived off their incredibly strong pitching staff. This was especially evident during the Postseason. 

But without the offensive force of Buster Posey, the Giants would have been on the couch drinking beer and watching the World Series instead of pouring it over one another. 

Posey finished the year batting .305 with 18 big flies and 67 RBI’s. His stats do look appealing, but they don’t account for the leadership he showed on and off the field as well.

After Bengie Molina was traded midway through the season, Posey was thrust into the fire. He became the full-time catcher after playing mostly first base during his call-up. His personality is impossible not to like unless you are a Dodger fan, and even then it must be hard. He is always humble and puts the team over his personal achievements. 

Posey not only handled a hot bat that resulted in a 21 game hitting streak, but he also had to handle a pitching staff that was the best in the league. It’s not easy catching a freak, an erratic yet affective lefty, a 21-year-old rookie BUM, and a deep-voiced, curly haired Matt Cain who is hardened by the minimal run support he has received over the years. 

Buster Posey was only one of the many pieces that brought the city of San Francisco their first championship, but he accounted for many wins both offensively and defensively.

It feels almost as good to finally have a home-grown offensive threat as it does to be World Champions.

Doesn’t it just make you wanna rage? Like, RIGHT NOW?

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World Champion San Francisco Giant’s shortstop Edgar Renteria had a great World Series, with seven hits in 18 at bats with two home runs and six runs scored and a .412 batting average. The five time all star delivered a three run go ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning of game five and was named World Series Most Valuable Player. Good work, but it seems that Renteria save his best work for the off season, where his contributions to his home country of Columbia are becoming  second nature.

When Renteria returns to his hometown of Barranquilla, Columbia on Thursday he is asking that the planned parade and parties in his honor be canceled and all the funds be donated to the thousands of his fellow country men and woman that are the victims of recent flooding. The port city in northern Columbia has been ravaged by floods recently, with an estimated 900, 000 people being left homeless. Renteria said that “there are more important things back home” other than parades and parties.

Some may argue that parade and parties would help people take their minds off of their troubles, and in some cases it does, but it seems that Renteria chose to use his great World Series as a platform to raise awareness rather than celebrate. It is a tough judgement call but sometime people need monetary help more than moral victory.

In 2003 Renteria and his brother Edison created the Colombian Professional Baseball League, it is owned by the Renteria Foundation, and other major league players such as Orlando Cabrera have owned teams.

In baseball the saying goes”hitting is contagious”  and with people like Edgar Renteria doing his part in a small Colombian community hopefully someday we can say that “generosity and common courtesy for our fellow man is contagious.” Sometime it is little gestures of good will and common sense that make a big difference in peoples lives. Although a parade would have been a great diversion for a few hours, the food and everyday necessities that these people might get with monetary help will last a lot longer. Lets hope that others follow Edgar Renteria’s lead and make stories like this the rule and not the exception.

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The dust has settled, the champagne has gone the way of our livers and free agency has started. Yeah, that quickly. We now look to how the Giants are going to retool as the defending World Series Champions.

That’s still pretty cool to say.

The team’s strength is obvious: pitching. But that isn’t to say there are not tweaks to be made.

For instance, the likes of Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Chris Ray and Santiago Casilla are arbitration eligible. Guillermo Mota is a free agent. Whom do you bring back?

The obvious one is Javier Lopez after his great months of September and October. After that, it’s all up in the air.

Mota was used sparingly down the stretch and in October. Ramon Ramirez was inconsistent at best in the postseason. Chris Ray was hurt for the stretch run and—when healthy—was not used much.

Santiago Casilla is a key to the bullpen. Throwing 95-98 MPH puts him on another level, and with him it’s all about locating his pitches. If he can continue to improve his control, he could be the set-up man for Brian Wilson.

The next part of the equation is the starting staff. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Madison Bumgarner are all under contract. Jonathan Sanchez is arbitration eligible.

This is an easy call: bring Sanchez back.

The more difficult situation is Zito’s contract. His contract is not something other teams have an interest in picking up—at least not the entire thing. There is a possibility in convincing a team to split the remainder of his contract, but options are limited.

Although, having Zito as a fifth starter (if it wasn’t for the contract) makes the rotation look really good.

Giants GM Brian Sabean has said he would like to keep all the arbitration eligible players on the roster.

The Giants are keying in on one aspect of the team: offense.

San Francisco was a much better team this year than in 2009. They ranked in the middle of the pack in home runs, RBIs and batting average this season.

The free agents are Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell and Juan Uribe. Mike Fontenot, Andres Torres and Cody Ross are arbitration eligible.

The no-brainers are Torres, Ross, Huff and Uribe. It’s a matter of how much and how long for Huff and Uribe. Huff has made it a point to say he wants to be in San Francisco, which is obviously a good sign.

Where do the Giants go from here with the offense? It’s easier to say when you think about what you already have. Catcher, second base, centerfield and right field are taken care of. Assuming Uribe and Huff re-sign, that takes care of shortstop/third base and first base/left field.

Keep in mind, Pablo Sandoval will be in the mix, as well as Mark DeRosa.

There is speculation the Giants may not need to go through free agency to fill one of these spots. First baseman Brandon Belt was at AA-Richmond and A-San Jose this season and absolutely lit them up.

He hit .364 between the two minor league affiliates, with 19 home runs, 102 RBIs and an OPS of 1.088. Many in the Giants organization feel he is close to ready.

If so, this fills the first base position, leaving shortstop and third base. There are not a lot of big name free agents, so the big, sexy move may not come this offseason. They will have to rely on the production of Pablo Sandoval, Mark DeRosa or another small free agent pick up. Jorge Cantu, perhaps?

The most productive move this offseason could be dumping the Aaron Rowand contract. Because it is a smaller contract, the Giants may be able to unload it if they bite the bullet and pay half of the $12 million he is owed annually.

There is also another young infielder lighting up the Arizona Fall League wearing Giants colors. Charlie Culberson is batting .424, which ranks second in the AFL. Culberson also batted .290 with 16 home runs, 75 RBIs and 25 steals for A-San Jose.

The Giants minor league system may soon provide all the offense this pitching needs.

San Francisco proved the old formula to winning baseball still works: pitching and defense. They sprinkled in some offense and it worked. The cast of characters should be back and for a full season this time.

Maturation and patience has worked for the Giants. Let it continue.

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The 2010 season is likely to go down as the “Year of the Pitcher,” but it could also be adequately labeled the “Year of the Rookie.”

Two rookies, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, led the San Francisco Giants to an unlikely championship. The much-hyped Jason Heyward made good on his reputation as a five-tool stud, and Stephen Strasburg was brilliant in his brief MLB stint.

Don’t forget Ike Davis, Jaime Garcia, Gaby Sanchez, and Starlin Castro—and that’s just in the National League.

Yesterday, Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists continued our 16-part series previewing Major League Baseball’s end-of-season awards with the results of our AL Rookie of the Year vote. Today, we look at the best newbies in the Senior Circuit.

So read on, see how we did and be sure to let us know what we got wrong!

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