At the end of April last year, the division looked all Diamondbacks. Their pitching was amazing, the hitting was on a tear and nothing could stop them…except a gigantic slide thru the rest of the season which allowed the Dodgers to get a renaissance and get to the playoffs as the NL West champs. The Dodgers only made it there because of the hitter they acquired in the middle of the season, Manny. As the offseason has dragged on, it has seemed more and more likely that the Dodgers will get Manny again, and probably become favorites in their division because of Manny. It has also seemed that Manny will not be getting a 4 year deal, and maybe not as much money he originally wanted.
Then the Giants woke up and realized that not only do they have a good pitcher, maybe they can drop some money and make their position in a mediocre division much, much better. They already signed Randy Johnson and Edgar Renteria, which means they need to win now, otherwise those signings will be a waste. They are starting make a play at Manny and make a play at Crede. That would mean that their batting lineup will look completely different because it would be headlined by Renteria, Crede, Rowand and Manny. Their rotation has Lincecum, a veteran Randy Johnson, and Matt Cain with Lowry, who I feel both will start to come into his own soon.
I am not making the arguement though that these signings will make them into Division champions, because that is only a handful of players, and all of the batting players named were siginings by the team and didn't come up through the ranks of the Giants organization. Its a good thing for West Coast Baseball though for this competition because this offseason has been all about the East Coast getting the big names.
