Emmanuel Burriss

It seems like every year the San Francisco Giants enter spring training desperately looking for pieces to add on, not subtract. Guys who have nagging injuries stemming back to the previous season and a good number of non-roster invitees end up making the team.

Uncertainty came with those players (a lot of it) and the Giants' plans often went awry.

The San Francisco Giants appear to be making a serious run at the playoffs, especially in the NL Wild Card race.

With Sept. 1 just a few days away, here are five September call-ups who could push the Giants over the edge, securing them a spot in the postseason.  

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The San Francisco Giants really need another left-hander out of the bullpen now that Jeremy Affeldt's sidelined with a torn oblique muscle.

The club also needs minor league talent to attract a proven big league run-producer in trade.

Todd Wellemeyer's pitching well for the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League, but that doesn't mean that fans calling for the club to trade Jonathan Sanchez for a hitter have any idea how difficult it would be to fill the No. 4 spot in the rotation.

I just realized this fact after I saw Emmanuel Burriss get transferred to the 60-day Disabled List on May 22 to make room for Santiago Casilla:

The Giants haven't had one African-American player take the field for them this year.

The San Francisco Giants were never expected to tear the cover off the ball coming into the 2009 season. There were reasons to be optimistic, but they were never expected to be a team that would improve a little bit.

Well, that hasn't really happened.

The Giants are currently the lowest-scoring team in Major League Baseball by a pretty good amount. Even a trip to Coors Field saw the Giants struggle to score runs on two of three occasions.

Big Money has been money

In the weeks following the conclusion of the 2008 Arizona Fall League, people weren’t really sure what to expect from San Francisco Giants infielder Emmanuel Burriss.

While he hit .318 in 24 games with the Scottsdale Scorpions, his defense was absolutely abysmal. It seemed as though he was recording an error out in the field every day at shortstop, and the sight of him being the Giants’ start there to open the 2009 season looked slim to none.