The Giants sit seven and a half games out of first place and hold the lead of the wild card.
They have 44 wins with seven games left before the All-Star Break.
Did anybody expect them to be here? If anybody says yes, they are lying to you and themselves.
Pablo Sandoval has been more than advertised and Tim Lincecum has been his Cy Young-self again. Not to mention Matt Cain has started to show the potential we all knew he had.
Still, there is this constant notion in baseball that believes the Giants need another hitter. This may be true but there is a problem; where are you getting this hitter and for who?
Let's start with who is available.
Adam Dunn
The Nationals' outfielder has tremendous power but not much else. He strikes out a lot and is not a good defender.
If the Giants are in need of a player to help them with a playoff run, why choose somebody who failed to help the Diamondbacks last year with that task? In other words, Dunn is done.
Nelson Cruz
Not only is he a good defender, but he is a good hitter when it comes to both average and power.
The Rangers have an injury problem with Josh Hamilton and a pet-project with Andruw Jones. They need to rip Nelson Cruz away from the Rangers and are going to want a hitter and a pitcher for their rotation to help now.
Matt Holiday
We all know the upside to Holliday but is he for real outside of Coors Field?
His numbers this year with Oakland include eight home runs, 43 RBIs and a batting average of .273. He has Scott Boras as an agent and is in a contract year, which could mean too much baggage.
Nick Johnson
The Nationals will be having a fire sale eventually. However, will an injury-prone first baseman with not much power help?
Now, for the price...
Most Giants fans and management are very much under the impression of anybody by the name Bumgardner, Alderson, Villalona, and Posey. This impression is extended to most any player in the Giants organization under the age of 27.
The players who need to be traded by the Giants do not have as much trade value. Fred Lewis has been an absolute disaster in leftfield. Sanchez can't even last five full innings anymore. Barry Zito's contract will not allow him to be moved. Randy Winn is starting to show some of his age, which doesn't help his $9 million price tag.
In my mind, the Giants do not need to give up a prospect for a hitter this year. There is not a game-changing hitter on the market that is not in a contract year.
However, there could be one on the market during the winter. The Giants will unload the contracts of Winn, Rich Aurilia, Bengie Molina, Dave Roberts, and Randy Johnson.
On top of that, the offense has been coming around, as Travis Ishikawa, Nate Schierholtz, and Sandoval have all started to hit after a slow start. Juan Uribe has been a solid addition and Aaron Rowand has steadied the pace with clutch hitting.
Nobody is expecting this team to win a World Series this year, which is why the organization should keep this team together for this year and let them develop.
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