San Francisco Giants: With 2011 (Unofficially) Over, a Look Ahead to 2012

The Giants' 4-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday afternoon all but sealed the fate of the defending world champs, as they fell a season-high seven games back of the Snakes with just 22 games remaining in the regular season.

The pseudo-truth that everyone around this club has been doing their best to ignore for the past week is that it's all over: the quest to repeat as world champions, the quest to make the postseason and the quest to overcome an unconquerable wave of injuries.

When asked before the first pitch whether Sunday's series finale between the Giants and D'Backs was a must-win for San Francisco, Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper answered "no," but only because answering "yes" would make Monday's game in San Diego no fun at all, as the season would have been declared lost.

Until now the Giants have had an outside chance at catching the Diamondbacks for one reason: They came into the series with Arizona six games back with six head-to-head contests remaining.

Now San Francisco has just three head-to-head games with the Diamondbacks left, in Arizona in the second-to-last series of the regular season and the Giants are one game further behind than when the series opened Friday night.

So unless the Diamondbacks collapse on a historic level, it's over even though it's not...even though it is.

If the D'Backs were to go .500 the rest of the way, the Giants would have to go 18-4 to tie Arizona for first place at the end of the regular season. Rest assured, you're not a bad fan if you start thinking about next season.

So here, with the unofficial eulogy to the 2011 season, it's time to bury a frustrating campaign in which much more really couldn't have been expected with an injury-decimated roster and time to look ahead to what the Giants can expect in 2011.

1. The Return of Buster Posey

Perhaps the biggest reason San Francisco will miss the playoffs in 2011 is because of the devastating season-ending injury sustained by Giants catcher and cleanup hitter Buster Posey on May 25.

He was injured in a home-plate collision against the Florida Marlins.

Posey, the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year, hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 108 games.

Defensively, he was fantastic, gaining the confidence and trust of one of the game's elite pitching staffs.

Perhaps even more important than his amazing natural talent for the game, Posey was the unofficial captain of the Giants, whose youthful energy and quiet leadership sparked San Francisco to its first World Series title in 56 years.

The loss of Posey was catastrophic for this team, and his return in spring training will be a welcome site for anyone affiliated with the San Francisco Giants.

Posey reportedly plans to catch a bullpen session next month, and hopes to be ready when pitchers and catchers report next February.

There will, of course, be questions about how he will perform following the serious injury to his leg, in which he broke his ankle and tore several tendons around it.

But having seen the type of drive and natural gifts that this guy has, there's no reason to think he won't come back strong next season and his presence will surely change things dramatically in the clubhouse in 2012.

2. The Return of Freddy Sanchez

When Freddy Sanchez suffered a separated shoulder while making a dive for a ball on June 10 against the Cincinnati Reds, an offense already reeling from the loss of its cleanup hitter was now on the verge of becoming utterly unproductive.

And that's exactly what happened.

At the time of Sanchez's season-ending injury, he led the Giants with a .289 batting average.

Sanchez was an invaluable part of San Francisco's postseason run in 2010, and will be a welcome re-addition in 2012.

3. A Full Season of Brandon Belt

Brandon Belt had a rough 2011.

The highly touted prospect began the regular season with the big league club after performing well in spring training, and was then demoted to Triple-A Fresno after going into a slump.

After making a mechanical adjustment to his swing, Belt was recalled from Fresno in late May, but suffered a fractured wrist after being hit by a pitch on May 31 in St. Louis.

After rehabbing in Fresno, Belt was again promoted in July.

While he had flashes of brilliance, including a two-homer game in Florida on August 14, it was an up-and-down season, both between the minors and the majors and at the plate for the young phenom.

Now that Belt has gone through this type of adversity, and will have an offseason and spring to fine-tune his mechanics, he should be ready to produce the way the Giants hoped he would in 2011.

4. A New Fifth Starter

Eric Surkamp was very good in his major league debut for the Giants on August 27 against the Houston Astros.

The Giants' top pitching prospect following the trade of Zack Wheeler to the New York Mets for Carlos Beltran, Surkamp has a great curveball that helped him strike out 165 hitters in 142.1 innings pitched for Double-A Richmond.

He posted a 10-4 record and a 2.02 ERA.

With the poor performances of Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez in 2011, they will likely have to compete with Surkamp for the fifth spot in the 2012 starting rotation for the Giants.

With Zito still owed $46 million over the next two seasons, if the Giants don't buy out his contract, he should be back in 2012.

Sanchez may be a trade candidate for Giants management this offseason, especially if Surkamp continues to impress the front office with a couple of more solid starts this month.

5. A Healthy Pitching Staff

While four of San Francisco's starters avoided injury following a very long 2010 campaign in which they pitched into November, the same couldn't be said for relievers Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson.

Both Romo and Wilson missed significant time this season on the disabled list.

Wilson is still out of action due to elbow inflammation, and hasn't been on the mound since blowing a save in Atlanta on August 15.

With a full offseason of rest and rehab, San Francisco's weary arms, including those in the starting rotation (while Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner haven't gone on the DL, they have pitched more innings than ever before between 2010 and 2011), will be rested and rejuvenated come 2012.

6. Departures

Cody Ross will forever be remembered for his clutch performance for the Giants in the 2010 postseason, culminating in his being named NLCS MVP.

But as clutch as Ross was in October 2010, he hasn't produced as much as the Giants hoped he would in 2011 (.232, 12 HR, 45 RBI).

Ross is a free agent this offseason, and the Giants will probably not re-sign him.

Others that may be departing include Orlando Cabrera, Pat Burrell and Mark DeRosa, the last two of whom may face the question of retirement at season's end.

Carlos Beltran, whom the Giants acquired to bolster the lineup just prior to the July trade deadline, will likely not remain a Giant once the season ends and he becomes a free agent.

7. Acquisition of a Bat

Giants management has good reason to be concerned that the anchors of San Francisco's pitching staff, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, may seriously consider leaving for large pay days and better run support elsewhere (most likely Boston or New York) come free agency (2013 for Cain, 2014 for Lincecum).

This issue, coupled with the fact that the Giants are currently last in all of baseball in runs scored, should push the front office to consider acquiring a big bat this offseason, even with the anticipated returns of Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez in 2012.

A couple of possible targets for the Giants would be Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder (.295, 31 HR, 97 RBI) and Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer (.284, 18 HR, 64 RBI).

2012 Looks Promising

With all of the frustration over what transpired in 2011, the Giants did well to tread water as long as they did after all of the injuries that the roster endured.

With 2011 drawing near an end, 2012 looks hopeful for the 2010 World Series champions.