The Giants = Family Healing

I've been a fan of the Giants going as far back as I can remember. It's in my blood. Despite this, I came to my current rabid fandom only within the last ten years or so. I was living out of state during the horrors of the 2002 World Series, keeping up with it, but thankful that I did not have cable at the time. Everyone in my family is a Giants fan except one of my two brothers. He was never a sports guy, and if he enjoyed any sport at all, it was hockey. Certainly not baseball.

My feelings about the Giants aren't necessarily unique, but proof that sports can be healing. Championships can make the unbearable seem survivable, if only for a few weeks. My brother, the non-Giants/sports fan, died in 2009 from metastatic melanoma at 34. I was living in Los Angeles at the time of his diagnosis, and spent a lot of time driving back and forth between there and home to be with him. At that time I didn't have cable and other than the internet (I wasn't on Twitter at that point), my main source of baseball information was the sports section of the Sunday edition of the LA Times. Suffice to say, at that point, baseball was the furthest thing from my mind. The seven months between my brother's diagnosis and this death were the worst seven months of my life.  I was certain for at least an entire year that I could never feel any kind of joy again. For anything. 

While the first half of the 2010 Giants season was a bit of a blur (my life was a blur at that point), I remember the second half pretty well. If the Giants had won their first World Series title in San Francisco during 2009, I wouldn't have been able to really enjoy or appreciate it. It would've been too soon. But this was 2010, when we all needed something positive to hold onto. I can't properly explain what the Giants meant to my family in 2010, even if most of us couldn't verbalize it. When the Giants won the NL West division in September, it was the first time I'd felt alive in a long time, which had to do both with my brother's death and other things from the last few years. 

What's odd about 2010 is that what I remember most, besides the last out of the NLCS (which I got to experience with a fellow Giant fan) and the World Series, is Thanksgiving a few weeks after the World Series was over. My family had something positive to talk about, something great bringing us together. If my brother had been a Giants fan, I would've perhaps felt guilty that he wasn't there to see it. It would've been bittersweet somehow. But he wasn't a Giants fan, and yet I felt in some small way that he had something to do with the Giants finally winning a World Series in San Francisco that year. Like he was looking out for us in some weird way. I know that makes sense to no one but me, but it's the things you tell yourself when you go through something like that. It's the only way to make sense of the absurd.

We were no less confounded by the two World Series titles the Giants have won since 2010 when we got together for those Thanksgivings. We might be baffled by different players, but the song is the same. The Giants are in some way responsible for my family being able to survive the worst experience of our lives and I will be forever grateful to them for that. And flat-out bewildered. 

I Have No Idea What The Giants Should Do This Offseason (And Neither Do You)

It takes a team like the San Francisco Giants to remind you that you don't know much about a particular sport. At least you don't as far as acquisitions and trades are concerned. I have read countless articles since the World Series ended (I still can't comprehend that the Giants won it AGAIN) about what kind of offseason moves the Giants should make, will make, etc. and I can see any one of the possibilities mentioned happening; I can also need none of the possibilities happening. Writers with experience covering the Giants should know better than anyone that you simply cannot anticipate what Brian Sabean and company will do. And last year's World Series title further proves that there is no formula or pattern that works for this team.

Here are some obvious holes the Giants need to address (or have in weird ways):

Third Base: I can't even talk about Pablo Sandoval going to Boston because it's too soon. I can't even decide what to do with the garden gnome made in his likeness that's still sitting in our sunroom. Sigh. But the Giants have traded for Casey McGehee for some reason, so that's taken care of. How well it will actually work remains to be seen, but it's better than Matt Duffy/Juaqin Arias/whoever. And McGehee is a free agent after 2015, so not much harm is done. It's an even year this season though, so our new third basemen could play out in any number of ways. *shrugs*

Starting Pitching: Now that the Giants have re-signed Jake Peavy (yay!) I would think re-signing Ryan Vogelsong would be just down the road. Maybe they try to get a James Shields too? After being snubbed by Jon Lester, I don't know how good the Giants chances are of getting a decent free agent pitcher. If Matt Cain is healthy this season (that's a BIG if, obviously) and even if the Giants don't sign any other starting pitcher, the idea of a rotation with Bumgarner, Cain, Peavy, Hudson and Lincecum isn't the worst ever. But which Tim Lincecum are we going to get? That big question mark should motivate the Giants to sign at least one of other reliable starter but only Larry Baer and Brian Sabean know who that will be. Also, no one knows how well Tim Hudson will hold up in the final year of his contract (and most likely, his last year in baseball) so an added starter would help alleviate any potential problems he might have.

Left Field: Not surprisingly (though I'm still a bit bummed) Michael Morse did not re-sign with the Giants and instead went to the Marlins. I wasn't really expecting the Giants to re-sign him, but he sure made an impact in 2014, despite his injuries during most of the second half of the season. I'll miss the big fella, but the Giants do need someone to platoon with Gregor Blanco who is not just Juan Perez/Gary Brown/whoever. Yes, 2015 is an even year, so if you're going to try that silly idea out, it might as well be now…but do you NEED to? I'm still holding out hope for Ben Zobrist, though honestly I'm more into his cool name than him as a player. And much like the starting rotation being unsettled with Matt Cain coming back from injury, we won't know how the outfield will look until Angel Pagan is really back in action. Mr. Zobrist looks like the most viable candidate right now and his name has been linked to the Giants for awhile, so who knows. Just leave Andrew Susac out of it, Mr. Sabean. Please.

All that having been said, January is a dark time for fans of any baseball team. You've gotten through December, but Spring Training still feels a long way off. And, if you're like me, you feel clobbered by college sports. Sigh.