San Francisco Giants: Why They Will Be Even Better In The Season’s Second Half


The first half of the San Francisco Giants 2016 season has been amazing, and the team currently sits on top of the NL West with a record of 57-33, the best winning percentage in the whole of the MLB. If you think things have gotten as good as they can get for the Giants, though, think again. They have been dominating even with several liabilities working against them, and, if those liabilities can be remedied, the San Francisco Giants could easily elevate their 2016 season from very good to one of the best campaigns in MLB history.

To be a bit more specific, notes Fansided, there are three major elements that the Giants can and should remedy in order to make themselves an even more formidable force.

The first of those elements is a big bat. Buster Posey is San Francisco’s home run leader with only 11 dingers, and only one other player on the team (Brandon Belt) has home run numbers in the double digits. Belt is the only player on the team with a slugging percentage over.500. Not so good. To put it into perspective, the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks have a player with 20 homers (Jake Lamb), as well as four players with double digit HR numbers and two players with slugging percentages over.500.

Sure, the Giants players do have a knack for making a little hitting go a long way by dropping offensive zingers at just the right time, but can you imagine how huge a difference it would make if San Francisco had a major power hitter stepping to the plate every nine batters? We’re talking someone like Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, or Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce, all names that have been looked at by Giants trade scouts and all of whom would inject some much-needed pop into the Giants lineup.

A second element San Francisco could use is a talented reliever. True, they have Santiago Casilla, a closer with a very respectable 21 saves and 2.86 ERA in his 35 innings of pitching. Other than Casilla, though, the Giants relief staff is close to helpless, with no other relievers boasting more than two saves. If Casilla gets injured or is just having an off night, the team is basically out of good relief options.

This would not be the first time the Giants went for relief help for the season’s final stretch, according to the San Francisco Giants official site. In 2010, a year the Giants ended up winning the World series, they made moves to obtain both Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez during August, and the acquisitions helped them greatly during September and October.

The site also says that the most likely relief acquisition the Giants might make is New York Yankees lefty Andrew Miller, for whom San Francisco would probably trade a low to mid-level minor league prospect.

Santiago Casilla high fiving Buster Posey after a successful save. [Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images]
The third element is players returning from injuries. This is huge, as it is something the San Francisco squad will, and not just might, be benefiting from. Hunter Pence, Joe Panik, Matt Cain… they’re all phenomenal players, and many San Francisco fans thought the Giants 2016 season would take a big hit with each of their respective losses. The Giants always managed to compensate, though, and only doubled their efforts whenever their roster took a hit.

Now that all that talent is set to return soon – they should all be back within July or August – imagine how much more dominant the Giants can become.

No one can say they weren’t warned about the unstoppable force that is the 2016 San Francisco Giants. After all, it is an even-numbered year, which many recognized even going into the season meant that the Giants would win it all. No one could have predicted just how monstrously dominant the Giants would be, though.

Even now, the manner in which the second half of San Francisco’s season will play out is anyone’s guess. The chances seem overwhelmingly high, though, that it will be at least as successful as the first half, especially if the Giants address some of their weaker points.

[Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images]

Share this article: San Francisco Giants: Why They Will Be Even Better In The Season’s Second Half
More from Inquisitr