The San Francisco Giants have had a rather quiet winter. Sure they made two trades in efforts to improve their weak offense, but acquiring outfielder Melky Cabrera for starter Jonathan Sanchez, and Angel Pagan for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez was hardly the moves fans were expecting. The Giants essentially said that they would be frugal this offseason and thus far, they’ve kept their word.

But nobody expected the club to struggle re-signing one of its coveted pitchers, especially the ace of the staff.

According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, there is still a “sizable gap” in long-term contract talks between the Giants and Tim Lincecum. The club is believed to have improved upon its initial four-year offer from this summer, but Lincecum is thought to be seeking an eight-year deal.

Those close to the negotiations tell Heyman that both sides are weighing one-and-two-year contracts in case a long-term deal cannot be reached. Considering Lincecum already owns two Cy Young awards, helped the Giants win their first World Series title in San Francisco, and is coming off a season in which he posted a 2.74 ERA with 220 strikeouts, one would think San Francisco would jump at the chance to re-sign one of its prized pitching possessions. But apparently frugal is winning out at the moment.

The Giants also have a decision to make about No. 2 starter Matt Cain, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Cain posted career-highs in ERA (2.88) and WHIP (1.083), even though he only won 12 games last season. He’s been repeatedly burned by lack of run support over the years and if the Giants don’t want to pony up to keep him happy, maybe he’ll think about moving on after the 2012 season. He could potentially win 20 games with a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, who are constantly looking for good pitching.

If Buster Posey (leg) makes a full recovery, Pablo Sandoval keeps up on his offseason conditioning, and youngster Brandon Belt takes a major step in his development, the Giants’ offense won’t be as bad as it was in 2011. (Then again, how could be any worse?) But this club is built on its pitching so GM Brian Sabean has a lot of work to do in order to keep guys like Lincecum and Cain around long enough for the offense to finally blossom.

When Buster Posey was lost for the season following a collision at home plate with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins back in May, one could have pointed to that moment as a low point in the San Francisco Giants’ 2011 season. But oh how things have gotten much worse.

On Monday night, the Cubs’ Randy Wells threw his first career shutout while limiting San Fran’s hopeless offense to just two hits in a 7-0 victory. (For those wondering, yes, that’s 5.00-plus ERA Randy Wells I’m referring to.) The losing pitcher for the Giants was none other than ace Tim Lincecum, who received zero run support for the 10th time in his last 28 starts.

The economy has looked more efficient in the past two weeks than the Giants’ offense has, which is frustrating when you consider how GM Brian Sabean gave away the organization’s best prospect to acquire Carlos Beltran from the Mets. Beltran was supposed to provide the team with just enough offense to get them to the postseason where their pitching could (hopefully) dominate like it did in 2010. Instead, Beltran has been sucked into the same black hole as the rest of the Giants’ hitters (save for Pablo Sandoval) and once again Sabean has been had in a trade (which is nothing new).

Of course, as infuriating as Sabean can be in his decision-making at times (Miguel Tejada or Orlando Cabrera anyone?), it’s not his fault that seemingly every night the Giants send a new player to the infirmary. Posey and second baseman Freddy Sanchez (one of Sabean’s better trade acquisitions) are out for the season while Beltran, Sandoval, Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito, Mark DeRosa, Cody Ross, Andres Torres, Pat Burrell, and Nate Schierholtz are either on the disabled list now or have at least spent some time on it this season. It appears as though the baseball gods have returned to wreak havoc on the Giants following their magical run in 2010.

Now if you’re among the many people who felt that last year’s World Series title was a fluke, then you’re certainty entitled to your opinion. I think your opinion is pure horse dung, but you’re entitled to your opinion nonetheless.

No, I don’t think last season was a fluke. I think the Giants got hot at the right time and their outstanding pitching staff did what it had done for much of the season: Stifle its opponents. I think it’s hard to repeat in baseball and history supports that claim. I think the Giants were fortunate not to suffer too many costly injuries and that the Padres choked. I think the insertion of Buster Posey into that lineup last year lifted this team to new heights. I think it was the Giants year, plain and simple.

But now that below average offense is even worse and has decided to eat the Giants’ spectacular pitching staff, taking one bite each night. Not one of the Giants’ top four starters (Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong) have an ERA over 3.60 and three of them (Lincecum, Cain and Vogelsong) don’t have an ERA north of 2.90. But because the offense is a complete and utter disaster, the Giants now sit five games back of the red-hot Diamondbacks in the NL West.

The ironic thing is that the Giants were exactly five games back of San Diego at this time last year and they wound up winning the World Series. But that was last year. The Padres were already in the midst of a five-game losing streak and quite frankly, this is a different Giants team than it was a year ago. They had confidence, swagger and cohesion last season, which are three things they haven’t had in over a month now. While another September miracle is certainly within their reach, this team seemingly doesn’t have the same fight in it as it did in 2010.

There’s no magical answer here: Either guys like Beltran, Torres, Ross, Aubrey Huff and Brandon Belt help Sandoval and the pitching staff or the Giants won’t be defending their World Series title for much longer. That’s it – that’s as simple as it’s going to get. Forget lineup changes or the idea that a minor league player (ah, Gary Brown) is going to save this team…they just have to play better baseball over this next month.

It’s do or die time for the defending champs.

Do you know that guy that purposely tries to stand out in a debate by stating how he would have done something differently? Mr. Hindsight I like to call him. He’s this guy: “Well, I don’t know why he did it that way – that’s not the way I would have done it. I would have done it correctly…pure, 100% correct is how I would have done it.”

Well meet Twins’ broadcaster Dan Gladden…that guy.

Gladden played for the Giants in the mid-80s before winning a pair of World Series rings with the Twins. With the Twinkies in San Francisco facing the Giants for a three-game series, Gladden went on KNBR 680 radio on Tuesday and flat out blamed catcher Buster Posey for the way he was injured during a collision at the plate with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins.

From CSN BayArea.com:

“Don’t, don’t don’t change any of the rules,” Gladden said when asked about Posey’s collision with Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins. “We’ve been playing this brand of baseball for long time.

“What people don’t talk about — I haven’t heard one person — talk about the bad position that Posey was in when he tried to put that tag down. You don’t put your leg in a position like that to try to block the plate. It was Posey’s fault for getting in a position where he did where he laid that left leg down like that and went about just trying to just kind of block the plate. When I came around third base I looked for contact on every play with the catcher. And I’d keep an eye on his eyes. His eyes would tell me where the ball is. I had run-ins with (Mike) Scioscia, I had run-ins with Dave Valle, all the catchers.”

Can you see me? You can’t see me. I’m rolling my eyes. I’m rolling my eyes at these ridiculous comments.

I wasn’t inside the radio studio when Gladden was on-air but I can picture him sitting there with a puffed-out chest talking about his days as a player. He apparently wanted to remind everyone what a tough-nosed athlete he was back in the day but in doing so, he didn’t bother to get his facts right while describing Posey’s injury.

Posey wasn’t blocking the plate, period – end of story. You can make the argument that he was moving in that direction to seal off Scott Cousins’ lane, but if you actually watched the play then you cannot definitively say that Posey was blocking the plate. So for Gladden to say, “You don’t put your leg in a position like that to try to block the plate,” is ridiculous and it shows how little the broadcaster was paying attention when ESPN showed the replays 72,000 times following the injury.

I love how Gladden says that he hasn’t “heard one person” talk about Posey being in bad position. Is he serious? Has he heard of the internet? Somebody get my man a computer and show him how to Google, because there have been plenty of people who have blamed Posey for the incident – and just like Gladden, they obviously didn’t watch the play. It’s a shame everyone just can’t admit that it was an unfortunate, legal play and move on. Instead, we’re subject to foolish claims by guys like Gladden, who apparently think that just because they played the position they can make up things that didn’t happen in order to talk about themselves.

Who can blame Giants general manager Brian Sabean for being a little sensitive these days when it comes to the topic of Buster Posey? A little over a week ago he lost his star catcher for the season when Scott Cousins blew him up during a collision at the plate. From the GM down to the fans, many folks are a little touchy right now in ‘Frisco.

But Sabean seems hell bent on making the situation worse. His club is coming off a successful road trip – one that saw the Giants take three of four from the first-place Cardinals – and yet all anyone can talk about today are the comments Sabean made on KNBR radio.

On Thursday, Sabean said that he didn’t blame Posey for not wanting to hear from Cousins following the play. Then he got personal.

“I don’t blame the kid,” Sabean said of Posey on his weekly KNBR radio program. “Why not be hard-nosed? If I never hear from Cousins again, or he doesn’t play another day in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy.”

Ouch. At first, you almost can’t blame Sabean for protecting his young player. But suggesting that “we’ll all be happy” if Cousins doesn’t play another day in the big leagues is a bit much. When asked if he was being harsh with his comments, Sabean didn’t back down.

“No,” Sabean said. “He chose to be a hero, in my mind. If that’s his flash of fame, that’s as good as it’s going to get, pal. We’ll have a long memory. We talked to (former Giants catcher) Mike Matheny about how this game works. You can’t be that out-and-out overly aggressive. There’s no love lost and there shouldn’t be.”

Cousins’ agent Matt Sosnick was quick to respond to Sabean’s criticism of his client.

“What Cousins did was not malicious,” Sosnick said. “A statement that anyone makes implying that he did something on purpose to be hurtful or malicious to Posey is untrue. Those people are misinformed. You can’t determine on a replay if there was a sliding lane for him to get into. It’s impossible.”

Something that always happens in situations like these is that fans choose sides. There are many people who believe Posey was trying to block the plate and therefore was fair game. Furthermore, it wasn’t Cousins’ hit that caused the injury, but Posey’s improper footing. (There are also many people who feel as though this wouldn’t be a story if it didn’t involve Buster Posey and they’re probably right. But it did involve Buster Posey, so discussing whether or not it’s a story is a waste of time.)

On the other side, people note how Cousins had a lane to slide into and didn’t have to take Posey out like a linebacker hunting down a receiver going across the middle. They say Posey wasn’t blocking the plate and therefore the play could have easily been avoided.

But here’s the thing that some seem to be missing: The play was totally legal. If Sabean or anyone wants to be mad at the situation, know where to direct your anger. Be mad at the rule, not at Cousins for deciding to take the catcher out. You think Cousins is the only player in baseball who would have decided in a split second that he was going to use force to try and jar the ball loose? Like he’s some evil monster that emerges from the baseball underworld to take out young catchers once every couple of years? Come on.

Cousins didn’t break any rules. And after people have gone ‘round and ‘round on the topic, everything still boils down to that fact. Was the end result unfortunate? Unequivocally yes. Was the play avoidable? Probably. Did Cousins intentionally set out to hurt Posey? No. Did it still happen? Yes, and as tough as it may be, the best thing the Giants can do is move on. Sabean is only making the situation worse with his comments. Do you think the Marlins’ ears didn’t perk up after reading what the GM said? Sabean just made his own players fair game with this “us vs. them” mentality and it was completely unnecessary. The Giants don’t need any negative attention right now, nor do they need their focus to be off baseball. Some players may laud Sabean for his comments, but at the end of the day they’re still going to have to put Posey’s injury in the rear view mirror. Constantly bringing it up only throws more salt in the wounds and it’s sad that Sabean has turned the attention off his club and onto himself. That’s never a wise move for a general manager.

I hate that Buster Posey is out for the year. No offense to Eli Whiteside but as a lifelong Giants fan, I’m disappointed every day when I check the lineup and Posey’s name isn’t listed. Sorry for the cliche, but it is what it is. On that dreadful night, had the Giants not staged a great comeback in the ninth, Posey would still be playing. Had Guillermo Mota not allowed any runners in the 12th, Posey would still be playing. Had Cousins decided not to test Nate Schierholtz’s arm, Posey would still be playing. Had Schierholtz’s throw been on the fly, Posey would still be playing.

Or maybe the same exact thing would have happened the next night and Posey still would have missed the rest of the season. Who’s to say? It was a freak play and injuries happen in sports. Declaring war on Scott Cousins isn’t going to erase that.

But even though Giant fans would clearly rather see Posey play everyday than Whiteside, they must have a little more respect and admiration for the backup catcher after what transpired Friday night in Milwaukee.

With two outs and the Giants nursing a 5-3 lead against the Brewers in the 8th, Jonathan Lucroy drove in Ryan Braun with a single to left to cut San Fran’s lead to one run. Trying to score from second on the play was Prince Fielder, who came barreling down the third base line at Whiteside as Cody Ross threw a perfect one-hopper to the plate.

Giant fans watching as the 275-pound built-like-a-Mac-truck Fielder came rushing full-bore at Whiteside immediately felt their hearts jump into the their throats after witnessing what was done to Posey two nights prior. But Ross’ throw was early, so Whiteside had enough time to catch it, set his feet and take Fielder head-on. Not only did he absorb the blow from the Milwaukee linebacker first baseman, but he also held onto the ball to end the inning and the Brewers’ scoring threat. The Giants eventually held on by that same 5-4 score.

After the game, Whiteside told reporters: “If he’s coming at you, you can go at him. No rule in the book says you can’t take it to him.”

How do you not love that if you’re a Giants fan? It certainly doesn’t ease the pain of losing Posey for the entire season, but you have to love how Whiteside (who isn’t a jockey at 6-2, 220 pounds) wouldn’t back down. I don’t know how long this video will be up before the powers at be take it down, but here’s the play:

I love Fielder’s expression at the end of the play. “Seriously, dude hung on? And did he just toss the ball over my head?”

If ever there were a time to root for a broken bone, it would be in the case of Giants catcher Buster Posey.

After his leg collapsed awkwardly under his body during a collision at the plate with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins on Wednesday night, Posey underwent three MRIs on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury. The early reports were that he was diagnosed with a broken leg and torn ligaments, the latter of which being the freighting part to Posey and the Giants.

Broken bones heal, but damaged ligaments are something that can puts athletes’ careers in jeopardy. Thankfully, he “only” has a broken left fibula and severely strained ankle ligaments. In some respects, it’s the first sign of good news since Posey suffered the injury on Wednesday night. It’s still a terrible situation and your heart goes out to a young player who has meant the world to the Giants’ organization, but at least his knee was unaffected.

The Giants placed their young catcher on the 15-day DL on Thursday and have stated that he will have surgery within the week. They won’t say whether or not he’s out for the season because quite frankly, they don’t know. They won’t have a timetable for his recovery until they get the details of his surgery ironed out.

I’m no doctor but if I were to make an educated guess on how long Posey will be out for based on athletes who have suffered a similar injury, the player that instantly comes to mind is Michael Vick. Different sports, I know, but the quarterback suffered a fractured right fibula on August 16, 2003 and returned to action on November 30 of that same year, which would have put his recovery time at roughly 15 weeks.

Again, I’m not a doctor. If any reader in the medical field would like to set me straight and educate me on the severity of both injuries: by all means, please leave me a comment. But from a simpleton’s point of view, it looks like Vick and Posey suffered similar injuries. Vick was also in his early 20s at the time of his injury and being 24, Posey has age on his side as well. Either way, it’s obviously important that the Giants don’t rush him back. If he needs a full year to recover, so be it. But based on the injury Vick suffered, I wouldn’t be surprised if Posey’s recovery timetable is right around 4-5 months (which would sadly wipe out his 2011 campaign).

As a lifelong Giants fan, I’ll admit that this topic only became relevant for me when I watched Buster Posey lie on the ground Wednesday night withering in pain. I’ve always felt for catchers who’ve been hurt when a runner smashes into them at home plate. But it honestly has never dawned on me that baseball should actually do something about it until last night.

That’s because not only am I salty Giants fan right now, but I’m also baseball purist. I’ve played the game my entire life on multiple levels and I love it exactly the way it is. Quite frankly, running full-steam into the catcher in efforts to jar the ball loose has always been part of the game.

But while I can’t stand change when it comes to the sports I love, this one seems obvious. I’m sure by now there’s a reader who can’t wait to skip through the rest of this piece just to tell me in the comments section that a) catchers have equipment on, b) professional sports are for men or c) injuries are just part of the game. And while I get all of that, I’ll have to respectfully disagree in this instance.

Even if you have never played the position, if you’ve been around the game long enough you’ll know that catchers’ equipment doesn’t protect much. Don’t confuse a catcher’s chest protector with shoulderpads or their shinguards with ironclad steel. We’re talking about just enough padding and plastic to protect them from foul tips or balls in the dirt. That equipment isn’t meant to protect these players from head-on collisions at home plate.

Let’s also keep in mind that running into the catcher is the only contact allowed in a non-contact sport. Sure, runners slide into middle infielders all the time. But there’s almost an art to it and we’re still not talking about a player getting a 90-foot running head start and throwing his shoulder into a catcher who not only has to catch the ball, but also brace himself for the contact and hang onto it in order to complete the play. It’s rather ridiculous to allow a runner that advantage when you think about it.

And by the way, this has nothing to do with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins – the man who ended Posey’s season on Wednesday night. That play was completely legal and he was just doing what most runners in that situation would: Try to jar the ball loose in order to score a run. He did have a path to the plate and it appears from replays that the play was completely avoidable. But my problem isn’t with the player: it’s with the play.

How about we put an end to the madness already? Njyer Morgan hurt two catchers in less than a week last year and we’ve all seen the images or video of Ray Fosse getting bowled over by Pete Rose. The NCAA is able to enforce a rule that you can’t run over catchers, so why can’t Major League Baseball?

Again, listen: I love physicality in sports. Nothing gets me out of my seat faster then when there’s a big collision in football. But that’s football. Taking this play out of baseball isn’t going to lessen the action or detract from the game itself. So instead of spending time trying to figure out a way to expand its postseason, how about Major League Baseball look into a way to keep its catchers safer? Their job is tough enough as it is without them having to worry about breaking their leg trying to protect the plate.