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.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Matt Cain finished in 8th place in the voting for the 2011 N.L. Cy Young Award. Cain pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the Giants last year and he was 12-11 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He has now pitched in 204 games (203 starts) in his first 7 years with the Giants and he is 69-73 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. It’s stunning to me that Cain has a losing record so far in his major league career, as he has been an outstanding pitcher. If the Giants start scoring more runs, Matt Cain has the potential to win a Cy Young or two.

22-year old lefty starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner finished tied for 10th in the 2011 Cy Young Award voting in the N.L. with fellow Giants’ pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. Bumgarger pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the Giants last year and he was 13-13 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. He has now pitched in 55 games (52 starts) in his first three years with the Giants and he is 20-19 with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. Bumgarner is going to be a fixture in the Giants’ rotation for a long time as he is still just scratching the surface of his potential.

34-year old righty starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong came out of nowhere to finish tied for 10th in the voting for the N.L. Cy Young Award with fellow Giants’ pitcher Madision Bumgarger. Vogelsong pitched in 30 games (28 starts) for the Giants last year and he was 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He has now pitched in 150 games (61 starts) in his first 7 years in the majors and he is 23-29 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if Vogelsong’s 2011 season was a fluke or a vision of things to come out of him, and we will find that out in 2012.

56-year old Bruce Bochy finished tied for 6th (with Clint Hurdle of the Pirates) for the N.L. Manager of the Year Award. Bochy led the Giants to a 87-76 (53.1%) record last season despite having an offense that was pathetic. Bochy is now 1,360-1,376 (49.7%) in his first 17 years as a manager in the major leagues. He was the Manager of the Year back in 1996, and he could win this award in the near future for the Giants….if they start hitting the ball better.