San Francisco Giants

With Bonds and Schmidt firing on all cylinders in '04 the Giants won 91 games. Last year Schmidt was off form and Bonds was injured for much of the year and they posted a 75-87 record. Its easy to see where Giants fans hopes lie.

Pitching

Last year Jason Schmidt was well off par for whatever reasons and as a result the team struggled to be consistent all season. It is so important that Schmidt gets back to his best if the Giants are going to go anywhere as he is the second most important part of the team behind Bonds.

As important as Schmidt is, don’t be fooled into thinking that the Giants lack depth in the rotation with Matt Morris being brought in to give some stability and youngsters Noah Lowry and Matt Cain figuring to play strong roles this year.

The bullpen also looks strong with Steve Kline among the best lefty relievers around and the return of Tim Worrell and emergency closer Tyler Walker in support of flame throwing closer Armando Benitez. Jeff Fassero will also be a key player in a swingman role.

Defence

I said it last year and I’ll say it again, if all these guys were in their prime then this group would be awesome in the field. Omar Vizquel is still one of the better shortstops around and it’s a shame he’ll likely be paired with the sporadic Ray Durham at second. Steve Finley is another who is still very good defensively but just not what he was and his range in centre will help greatly in support of Bonds and Moises Alou.

Mike Matheny is still an outstanding catcher who just does it all and is a joy to watch in the armour. He has the strong arm but its all the other things that mark him out that often get ignored. He calls as good a game as any catcher and he is just so nimble that you have to be extremely wild to get one to the backstop. His footwork is the best in baseball. Truly a special player.

The bench has good depth with Randy Wynn and Jose Vizacaino able to cover practically every position between the pair of them to a good standard.

Offence

You may have heard of Barry Bonds. He’s going after some record and is just the most terrifying hitter in baseball. Its simple, make quality pitches to him or he’ll take you over the fence, he just doesn’t miss. Watching him at times makes you think what it must have been like to watch Babe Ruth.

Ray Durham is a good lead-off hitter (not great but good) with speed and Vizquel has tremendous bat control hitting second that enables the team to run a lot of situational stuff. Vizquel is as good as it gets at hit and run.

Moises Alou, Lance Niekro and Pedro Feliz give good depth to the line-up and if Finley can regain his stroke then the Bonds support should be in good hands.

Rookie Watch

Matt Cain came up for his cup of coffee and looked like he owned Starbucks. He has a great fastball and good curveball and could be a dominant pitcher this year. As good as he is now and as good as the natural development of his body and experience will make him, he still works hard to be better and has already impressed with his attention to detail and his overall approach to each and every game.

Management

Felipe Alou has a reputation of working well with veterans and knowing what buttons to push but that’s easy when you have guys like Schmidt and Bonds on top of their games. Since leaving the confines of Montreal he hasn’t really had to do much in the years the Giants have been good and hasn’t done much in the years the Giants have been bad.

Brian Sabean has done a lot of good over the years but he has been stuck in a quandary recently as he knows he’s only got so many more years with Bonds around and he has been trying to patch together a World Series winner around him when he knows he should be rebuilding the side.

Outlook

Any team with Barry Bonds on board always has a chance to win and if Schmidt is back on form and the likes of Morris and Cain can play like they’re capable then this is a team that could coast into the post-season.