San Francisco Giants

If the Giants absolutely, live or die, had to win just one game (say in a wild-card situation) wouldn't manager Bruce Bochy have to put Ryan Vogelsong on the mound?

He's the obvious choice to me.  

The San Francisco Giants went into the trading deadline needing to fill three obvious areas of deficiency: a lack of power in the lineup, a lack of depth on the bench and in the bullpen due to the loss of closer Brian Wilson earlier this season.

For Giants' general manager Brian Sabean, two out of three wasn't bad.

Last Sunday, the unthinkable happened. 

Seated at AT&T Park, I watched as Tim Lincecum turned-in his latest disaster on the mound. More worrisome than the hits were how erratically he allowed them.

In the first inning it was three walks, the second three strikeouts.

By the time a booming Josh Hamilton double made the score 5-0 in favor of not the Giants, I turned to my friend and said the impossible:

Pablo Sandoval may be back at third base for the San Francisco Giants, but after his dismal performance on Sunday, there is cause for concern.

Yes, the Panda has only been back two games, but with his latest string off-the-field issues, how good will Sandoval be?

As the summer continues to heat up, so will talk of trade potentials and teams looking to make adjustments for a late-season push.

Although it is still fairly early, injury, slumps and poor records have already began to plague major league clubs.

Some teams like the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and, perpetually, the Oakland Athletics will enter rebuilding mode and begin to sell off contracts for prospects.

Bruce Bochy, general manager of the San Francisco Giants, is clearly one of the most underrated coaches in all of baseball.  Ranking third in wins among active managers, Bochy has flown under the radar for most of his managerial career, which is absolutely by design.

The San Francisco Giants have started the season well, as they are in second place in the NL West at 34-27.

However, they still have one gaping hole: shortstop.

While you could argue that they have a hole in the rotation because of Tim Lincecum's slow start, Brandon Crawford's inconsistent play at shortstop has hurt the Giants. He has a .219 batting average and a 24.5 percent strikeout rate.

Oh, and his defense hasn't been too great either (as you may have noticed from the picture above). 

Prior to Saturday’s afternoon game vs. the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park, Giants manager Bruce Bochy was asked numerous questions about Pablo Sandoval.   Affectionately known as the “Panda,” Sandoval was activated from the 15-day disabled list today after missing 35 games while rehabbing from surgery on a fractured hamate bone in his left wrist. 

On a day after scoring eight runs on 15 hits, and 19 runs over the last three games, the Giants surging offense was brought to a screeching halt Friday evening. Scattering just five hits over eight innings, Matt Harrison (8-3) pitched a complete-game shutout for the Rangers while Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton homered to beat the Giants 5-0.    

Well, it looks like that day has finally come, and after going 0-for-3 in Friday night's shutout, long-time minor league first baseman Brett Pill finally returns from whence he came, Triple-A Fresno.

According to the Giants Twitter, the G-men have activated All-Star third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who missed several weeks with surgery, and demoted Brett Pill back to the minors.