"With a league-best 3.36 ERA, pitching was the backbone of a 2010 Giants squad that won 92 regular-season games en route to a World Series title. But that championship squad also was at least serviceable with the stick, ranking right near the middle of the pack in runs scored and OPS. The Giants actually improved to a 3.20 ERA last season, but offense became the obvious fly in the ointment, as the team produced 127 fewer runs than the World Series group.

With staff anchors Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and closer Brian Wilson, the Giants should once again be more than adequate in the pitching department. But after an offseason that saw the team fail to re-sign '11 rental Carlos Beltran, offense remains a huge question mark. And (Pressing) Questions is what we're all about here …

The Giants scored the fewest runs in the NL in '11. Is there hope for rebound?

Other than Pablo Sandoval, most of the other bats that the Giants hung high hopes on in '11 either suffered from injury (Buster Posey), inexperience (Brandon Belt), ineptness (I'm looking at you, Aubrey Huff), or some combination of the three. If the G-Men are to get back into the realm of respectability at the plate, several things will have to occur in addition to Panda Sandoval delivering another .900-plus OPS season."