Earlier on Tuesday, we pointed out that the Giants (reportedly) are looking around at relievers, hoping to strengthen their bullpen.
But that's not all they're trying to do: Bruce Bochy told Jim Bowden of Sirius XM on Tuesday that the Giants are also want to go after some offense.
"Bruce Bochy just told us that their priority at the trade deadline is to acquire a bat or maybe 2," Bowden tweeted on Tuesday.
This news jives pretty well with what Brian Sabean said before the All-Star Break: the Giants don't feel completely comfortable with their offense (especially the infield) and would like to beef things up a bit.
It makes total sense, too, because the Giants can't feel comfortable with their offense. What they can find comfort in is making a trade for a lesser-known bat (or a lesser-valued bat as it were) to try and improve the infield.
Few teams have had as much success with garbage pickups in the past few years as the Giants, so it makes sense that they'll go that route and avoid giving up too much in a deal.
Of course, that's not totally guaranteed, either. Dan Szymborski of Baseball Think Factory has an interesting little trade that he put out there (Insider), in which the Giants give up prospect/shortstop Joe Panik for Blue Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson.
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"Yes, Panik was last year's first-round pick, but he was supposed to be a low-ceiling, high-floor guy, and hitting .258/.331/.368 isn't all that exciting when you're in the California League at age 21, and not 19," Szymborski writes. "San Francisco has a veritable Axis of Awful at second in Ryan Theriot, Emmanuel Burriss and Joaquin Arias, leaving the team without any offensive production from the middle infield."
This would make some sense, in terms of beefing up the infield. But at the same time, it's hard to see the Giants peddling off a(nother) top prospect at the trade deadline, especially for a guy who would just be a rental for the remainder of the year. They did that last year with Carlos Beltran and got burnt.
Still, it's hard to imagine that Giants not doing something to address their infield over the next two weeks. Making a move to beef up the team's bats could go a long way towards improving their odds of winning the National League West.
