Q&A: Bochy on expectations for 2017 Giants

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The longer Bruce Bochy sticks around as manager of the Giants, the more composed he seems to be.
Bochy potentially had multiple reasons to stay preoccupied throughout Spring Training: Injuries to left-hander Will Smith (elbow) and third baseman Eduardo Núñez (shoulder), the pressure of evaluating candidates for bench roles, the fifth starter's spot and the left field vacancy, and the prolonged absences of catcher Buster Posey and shortstop Brandon Crawford, who participated on the victorious U.S. squad in the World Baseball Classic.
None of this bothered Bochy, who's in his 23rd season as a Major League manager, including 11 with San Francisco. For instance, when Bochy addressed roster issues, he repeated, "We have some tough decisions to make." Yet his voice never registered anxiety or stress.
MLB.com's Chris Haft recently caught up with Bochy to discuss the spring's developments and the coming season's promise:
MLB.com: The feeling of optimism, I sense at least, seems real and genuine, not forced at all. How do you see it?
Bochy: It is. I think you look at our history here in just the last five, six years; with the success that we've had. We expect more out of ourselves. And we come in here full of optimism. We come in here with a lot of the same club that's won three championships. When you have the (Buster) Poseys, and (Brandon) Belts, (Brandon) Crawfords, (Madison) Bumgarners, all of these players that we've built within our system. So you come in here and get ready for the season expecting to do good things.
MLB.com: There are several openings on the roster; I would think you'e satisfied that guys seem to be winning jobs and you're not having to pick the lesser of two or three evils. The competition has developed.
Bochy: Competition's a good thing. It is. I think it brings out the best in players. They have to play under pressure, I guess you could say, trying to win a job. That's not a bad thing, either. The tough part is when you have a lot of great guys in camp and you get toward the end of the camp, where we are at this stage, and you have to make some very difficult decisions. That's the part that's tough for all of us, because we do care about these guys. But we have to get down to 25 guys, the 25 we think makes us the best club and gives us the best chance to get to where we want to go.
MLB.com: On paper, at least, the starting rotation looks like it shapes up to be one of the best you've had here. How do you see that?
Bochy: Well, they're the reason we had success last year. I know we had struggles in the bullpen, but you look at the first half, when we were one of the best clubs in baseball, and signing (Mark) Melancon, I thought, was huge for us. ... I couldn't be happier. You have two No. 1 guys in Bum and (Johnny) Cueto; the way (Matt) Moore threw the ball; (Jeff) Samardzija, I think, is coming off a good year; he gave us everything we had hoped, quality innings and a large body of work that saved the bullpen. Of course, that fifth spot; we're staying open-minded there with Matt Cain and (Ty) Blach. And down the road, you're going to have candidates like (Albert) Suarez and (Tyler) Beede.

MLB.com: The two position players you had in the World Baseball Classic, Posey and Crawford, established themselves long ago. At the risk of using a cliche, can that experience bring them to another level?
Bochy: I don't know how you go to another level after where they've been, to be honest. With that said, you never arrive in this game. You're always trying to get better, and I think what happened in that WBC for Crawford gave him a chance to show, on a global stage, how good he is. Sometimes you're on the West Coast and you don't get as noticed. But they saw how talented Craw is. Of course, everybody knows about Buster. So that's what I'm happy for, that a guy like Brandon Crawford is getting his due.
MLB.com: A long time ago, it was accepted that scoring four runs per game was part of the formula of winning here. Where do you envision those four runs coming from?
Bochy: We think we have the lineup to do it. When you look at the experience we have in this lineup, I don't know what the order's going to be, but when you have (Denard) Span, (Joe) Panik, Posey, (Hunter) Pence, Belt, Crawford, (Jarrett) Parker -- who we're counting on for a little power -- and Noonie [Nunez], it's a team that should score an average of at least four runs a game. And we're not a power-hitting club. So we have to execute offensively and do some little things. But there's no doubt in my mind that we're better than we were the second half of last year. We might not be as good as we were the first half, but there's a happy medium where you want to be consistent. And if we do that, we will have a good year.
MLB.com: What are your lingering concerns at this point?
Bochy: We still have a couple of spots to pick in that bullpen, but I'd like to get those roles a bit defined. Obviously when you have a Will Smith -- who was going to be a critical part of the bullpen, a big piece who was going to help in that seventh-eighth inning, who's going to be down for a while -- that's going to be tough to overcome. Setup guys aren't falling out of trees. Somebody is going to have to pick it up, whether it's a (Josh) Osich, a (George) Kontos, a (Steven) Okert, a (Cory) Gearrin, a (Derek) Law; we've got (Neil) Ramirez here, so we have some experienced guys; we have some young guys with good arms, they're all in the mix. The thing I like about where we're at right now in this bullpen, we feel like we have depth. So I'm excited about that.
MLB.com: Do you feel like you have some qualified reinforcements in Triple-A?
Bochy: I like what I saw this spring. I thought we had some of the best arms that we've had in a long time here in camp. When we have a young guy like Tyler Beede, who's really been on a fast pace with his progress, he can do anything. He could start, we could use him out of the bullpen. There are a couple of intriguing arms that we had in big league camp who will be in Sacramento, José Domínguez and Roberto Gomez -- two big arms, power arms. Andrew Suarez, the lefty -- he's not far away.
MLB.com: I think I ask you this every year, and I can guess the answer: How do you see the division playing out? Usually you say it's pretty balanced.
Bochy: Probably even more so this year. You look at the Rockies, with their good, young arms, they're definitely going to pitch better. Then they go out and get a (Ian) Desmond. I think they're one of the better offensive clubs in this division. The Dodgers have been perennial winners of this division. We have to look at them as the team to beat. Arizona, they're coming off a disappointing season, but I expect them to be much better. And San Diego (8-11 against Giants in 2016) wreaked havoc with us.