The Midsummer Classic is in the books, and the second half on the MLB season is right around the corner, meaning that the July 31st trade deadline is rapidly approaching. The San Francisco Giants have been besieged by their lackluster offense and numerous injuries, leaving them as an obvious buyer before the deadline.
The question is, where do they need to improve the most?
The obvious place to start would be at the catcher position after they lost Buster Posey for the entire season. Bengie Molina was an option, but has since opted out of playing again, while Ivan Rodriguez, Ramon Hernandez and former Giants Yorvit Torrealba are all players likely to be on the Giants radar.
The middle infield is another problem area for the G-Men with the loss of Freddy Sanchez to injury, Miguel Tejada aging by the day, and minor league call-ups Brandon Crawford and Emmanuel Burriss not producing much at the plate. They have veterans Bill Hall and Mike Fontentot, but would like to upgrade to a player who could add more offensively than they do. The Mets Jose Reyes has been recognized as an option.
The outfield is already crowded, but could possible use some of their players as trade bait as they try to land some new talent. Aaron Rowand is the first Giants to come to mind, but might be hard to move with his big time salary. The pitching staff is the Giants best asset, while have blossoming prospects waiting in the wings, but could have to dip into both of them if they want to make a big deal.
The biggest deal of all is of course Carlos Beltran, who has been rumored as a prize piece for the Giants for some time now. Beltran travelling to the All-Star Game with the Giants as well as closer Brian Wilson's invite during the broadcast of the All-Star Game certainly seems like San Francisco is actively trying to woo Beltran into joining the leaders in the NL West, but you never quite know. It should be quite the wild ride over the next few weeks as general manager Brian Sabean will undoubtedly be on the horn a lot trying to make a deal.
Remember, the Giants added Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, and Jose Guillen during last season's run, going all the way to winning the World Series with all of them making contributions along the way. Maybe they can repeat the process this season.
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