Giants Expected To Add Players to the Roster

It's the time of year when teams can expand their rosters to 40 from 25. The Giants aren't expected to use all of the surplus roster spots, but you can expect them to make a few moves to bolster the depth of their current rosters.

So far, the notables appear to be Aubrey Huff, Xavier Nady, and Brad Penny. Others will also be promoted, but as for Gary Brown's status, a call-up seems unlikely. In fact, he injured his should last night (Thursday), and manager Bruce Bochy has stated multiple times before that he doesn't seem him getting a September call-up.

-Barring a move to acquire an extra outfield bat tonight (unlikely), Nady would presumably receive a good amount of starts in left field for the Giants, as the combination of Gregor Blanco, Justin Christian, and Carlos Peguero have failed to provide any consistency from that spot.

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Why the Giants Need to Call Up Gary Brown

Hope can be a funny thing, as of right now the Giants have a two game lead in the NL West. But with the Dodgers spending, hope is hard to find. 

With the Melk-Man done for the year because of PED's many see the Giants waving a Blanco flag in left, and unlike the Dodgers, no star player is just going to fall to San Francisco from another team. 

Over the past couple of days the three names that seem to be getting the most ink to counter the Dodgers moves are Jeff Francoeur, Steve Pearce, and old friend Andres Torres. While I like Francoeur and Torres, they are barely upgrades over Blanco and inspire no hope. 

However, what if I were to tell you the Giants could today add an outfielder who is hitting .281 with 33 steals and he wouldn't cost the team a thing. Seems to good to be true, well in a way it is because those numbers are against Double A pitching - but for a second, you were intrigued. 

The player I'm talking about is of course top pospect Gary Brown, the man the Giants brass felt so highly about last season that they traded Zach Wheeler instead of him when they needed to add a bat. 

The truth of the matter is Brown might not really be much better than Gregor Blanco for the rest of this season but his future value would mask that and give the Giants fans the hope they need. 

It would be the perfect counter from a PR point of view to the wild and reckless Dodger spending that the Giants are going to lean on their core players and not mercenaries. For the rest of the baseball world PED's could be a back burner topic while they watch Los Angeles field a lineup with only two players they drafted (Matt Kemp, AJ Ellis) versus a Giants starting nine that is overflowing with players who have only known black and orange (Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Gary Brown). 

Giants fans are reeling from all the bad news that has hit this team in the month of August. Right now, despite the team playing great, it feels like wearing the colors will bring attention for all the wrong reasons. On paper the Dodgers have the better team, eventually losing their best overall hitter will start hurting the Giants, and if the Dodgers can take a lead in the division things will start to look very grim indeed. 

These are the reasons the Giants need to bring up Gary Brown, not because he's a huge improvement over Blanco, but because fans can dream of how amazing it would it be if he is. To steal a line from the Dark Knight, "Because sometimes...the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded."

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San Francisco Giants: Why They Won't Miss Melky Cabrera

Ever since the Giants won the 2010 World Series, being a Giants fan has been pretty fun.

Fans got to celebrate a World Series title they craved so much. A band of misfits celebrated something they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. A whole city was brought together, thanks to 25 guys hitting and throwing baseballs.

Then, after a somewhat disappointing season in 2011, the city was brought back together in 2012. A savior by the name of Melky Cabrera appeared out of nowhere, hitting .346 and smacking 11 homers for a team in desperate need of offense.

Giants fans loved Cabrera from the start, and they started calling him the "Melk Man." He stayed hot for the first four months of the season, and a group of lifelong Giants fans showed up at every home game dressed as Melk Men.

However, things have gone downhill. Cabrera was suspended 50 games for using performance-enhanding drugs. Then, according to ESPN.com, he was accused of creating a fake website to avoid a suspension. Now, a lot of Giants fans are mad at him for letting the team down.

His contract expires this year, and his chances of staying with the Giants have dramatically decreased. Teams will take a chance on him and see if Cabrera can still perform well without the influence of drugs, but I doubt the Giants will be one of those teams.

San Francisco has Hunter Pence, Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco in its outfield right now. Top prospect Gary Brown played left field for the first time in his career Saturday, which could be a sign that Cabrera's days as a Giant are numbered. Right now, Justin Christian is the only reserve outfielder for San Francisco.

In 21 games with the Giants, Scutaro has two homers and 18 RBI. Pence struggled when he first arrived in a trade, but he's been hitting well in San Diego. Posey raised his batting average from .289 at the All-Star break to .333, and he now has 19 homers and 77 RBI. Sandoval's batting average has been hovering around .300 for the duration of the year.

Even though Cabrera's offense and outfield play will be missed, the Giants' offense will be fine. In the three games since his suspension, San Francisco has averaged more than seven runs per game. Marco Scutaro, Pence, Pagan, Buster Posey, Joaquin Arias and Pablo Sandoval have picked up the slack in Cabrera's absence.

San Francisco's offense has been on fire lately.. San Francisco is 2-1 without Cabrera, and even though that's a very small sample size, the Giants don't seem to miss him.

They have Posey, who's a sure MVP candidate. They have Pence and Sandoval, power hitters who play good defense. They have Pagan and Scutaro, who are good defensively and know how to get on base.

Add that to a superb pitching staff and a good bullpen, and you have a great baseball team.

Sure, they could've been a little better with Cabrera. However, the Giants will get him back if they go deep in the playoffs, and they're already a great team.

So, as long as every Giant continues to play like they're playing, the Giants will be fine without Cabrera. 

This article was originally published on Bleacher Report.

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