The San Francisco Giants defense of their 2010 World Series championship is officially underway as their pitchers and catchers reported to Scottsdale, Arizona today. Additionally, some veteran position players reported today to get an early jump on their workouts. These include Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Freddy Sanchez.
It’s safe to say fans are pretty high on this team. How can you not love the first question in a Giants mailbag being whether the team can win 100 games in 2011. The Giants will be favored in the National League West, but they won’t be sneaking up on anybody this time around. Even as they rolled through last season’s playoffs, they seemingly came out of nowhere (at least to the rest of America) to stun the Phillies and Rangers en route to the first San Francisco-based Giants world championship.
This year’s team returns almost the entire lineup, minus infielders Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe. Last year the roster came together late in the season as well as could possibly be expected. The question now is whether that carried through the offseason.