29-year old righty swinging outfielder Hunter Pence tied for 32nd in the voting for the N.L. MVP vote in 2012. Pence was tied with Angel Pagan, Miguel Montero and Chipper Jones. Pence played in 160 games for the Giants and Phillies in 2012 and he was 156 of 617 (.253 avg, .743 OPS) with 87 runs scored, 24 homers, 104 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Pence has now played in 894 games in his first six years in the majors and he is 991 of 3,473 (.285 avg, .813 OPS) with 475 runs scored, 138 homers, 516 RBIs and 67 stolen bases. The Giants need Pence to get his hitting shoes on for 2013.

31-year old switch-hitting outfielder Angel Pagan tied for 32nd for the N.L. MVP Award voting in 2012. He was tied with Chipper Jones, Miguel Montero and Hunter Pence. Pagan played in 154 games for the Giants last year and he was 174 of 605 (.288 avg, .778 OPS) with 95 runs scored, 8 homers, 56 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. He has now played in 695 games in his first seven years in the majors and he is 678 of 2,414 (.281 avg, .757 OPS) with 358 runs scored, 41 homers, 265 RBIs and 124 stolen bases. Pagan is a free agent and the Giants would be smart to bring him back for 2013 and beyond.

28-year old righty starting pitcher Matt Cain finished in 6th place in the N.L. Cy Young Award vote. He pitched in 32 games (all starts) for the Giants last year and he was 16-5 with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He worked 219 1/3 innings for the Giants last year and he only gave up 177 hits and 51 walks while whiffing 193 batters, which are pretty darn impressive numbers. Cain has now pitched in 236 games (235 starts) in his first 8 years with the Giants and he is 85-78 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Cain just keeps getting better with age and I think he’s eventually going to win at least 1 Cy Young before he hangs up the cleats.

57-year old manager Bruce Bochy finished in 3rd place in the N.L. Manager of the Year voting. The Giants were 94-68 (58%) during the regular season in 2012 and they were 11-5 (68.8%) in the post-season as they won their second World Series’ championship in their last three years. Bochy is now 503-469 (51.7%) during the regular season in his first six years in charge for the Giants. He is also 22-9 (71%) in the post-season for the Giants. Bochy probably doesn’t care about winning awards as long as he keeps winning rings instead.

26-year old switch-hitting 3B Pablo Sandoval has been named the MVP of the World Series. Sandoval played in all four games for the Giants in the World Series and he was 8 for 16 (.500 avg, 1.654 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 3 homers and 4 RBIs. He walked only 1 time and whiffed only 2 times in the World Series as he was hitting everything! His Game #1 will go down in World Series’ history as one of the best performances of all time as he whacked 3 homers in his first three at bats (2 of off Justin Verlander and 1 off of Al Alburquerque). That is tied for the most homers ever in a World Series Game (Babe Ruth twice, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols are the others). Sandoval ripped the ball the whole post-season for the Giants. He played in 16 games in the post-season for the Giants this year and he was 24 of 66 (.364 avg, 1.098 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 6 homers and 13 RBIs. The Ku Fu Panda flexed his muscles in the post-season, leading the Giants to their second World Series’ in the last three years.

36-year old righty swinging 2B Marco Scutaro has been named the MVP of the 2012 N.L.C.S. Scutaro was on fire with the bat in this series. He played in all 7 games and he was 14 of 28 (.500 avg, 1.140 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 0 homers and 4 RBIs. He also whacked 3 doubles, walked 2 times and he only whiffed 1 time. Scutaro really carried the Giants at the top of the lineup (he batted second), setting the table for the big guys. The Giants made a master stroke when they dealt for Scutaro at the trade deadline, as he is still playing while the Dodgers’ haul of big time players did not help them make the playoffs.

25-year old righty swinging C/1B Buster Posey has been named the National League Comeback Player of the Year for the 2012 season. Posey only played in 45 games for the Giants in 2011 due to a gruesome knee injury in which he was 46 for 162 (.284 avg, .756 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers, 21 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. But, Posey returned strongly in 2012 for the Giants and he is a main reason why they won the N.L. West in 2012. Posey played in 148 games for the Giants in 2012 and he was 178 of 530 (.336 avg, .957 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 24 homers, 103 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Posey has now played in 308 games in his first four years with the Giants and he is 350 of 1,115 (.314 avg, .883 OPS) with 154 runs scored, 46 homers, 191 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Posey is also firmly in the running for the N.L. MVP Award, which will be announced in the very near future.

UPDATE: Buster Posey has been named the MVP of the National League.

25-year old switch-hitting 3B Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval finished tied for 17th in the voting for the 2011 N.L. MVP Award with closer John Axford of the Brewers. Sandoval played in 117 games for the Giants in 2011 and he was 134 of 426 (.315 avg, .909 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 23 homers, 70 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 463 games in his first four years with the Giants and he is 524 of 1,706 (.307 avg, .857 OPS) with 219 runs scored, 64 homers, 247 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Hopefully Sandoval will come to spring training in shape like he did in 2011.

34-year old switch-hitting RF Carlos Beltran finished 20th in the voting for the 2011 N.L. MVP Award. Beltran played in 142 games for the Mets & Giants last year and he was 156 of 520 (.300 avg, .910 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 22 homers, 84 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He has now played in 1,768 games in his first 14 years in the majors and he is 1,917 of 6,767 (.283 avg, .857 OPS) with 1,184 runs scored, 302 homers, 1,146 RBIs and 293 stolen bases. The Giants should really try to bring Beltran back as they need his bat.

27-year old starting pitcher Tim Lincecum finished 6th in the voting for the N.L. Cy Young Award in 2011. He pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the Giants last year and he was 13-14 with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Lincecum has now pitched in 156 games (155 starts) in his first five years in the majors and he is 69-41 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Lincecum has already won 2 N.L. Cy Young Awards and there is no reason to think that he won’t win one or more the rest of his career.