Is Marco Scutaro Enough?

The Giants made a move I'd been anticipating all month, adding some infield depth and another right-handed bat, sending Charlie Culberson to Colorado for veteran Marco Scutaro.

Giants add Scutaro

No, it's not a blockbuster move, but it will help. Scutaro is a solid infielder and has a clutch bat and should be a welcome addition to a thin San Francisco infield. With Pablo Sandoval and Hector Sanchez each on the DL, it has cut into the Giants infield rotation heavily and the addition of Scutaro should help out on that end. One thing I do like about this deal is the Giants didn't have to part with too much in order to add the middle infielder. I've always liked Charlie Culberson and he's still pretty young, but I don't think the Giants really saw him as a potential future starting second basemen. I'm just kind of curious to see how Bochy will work Scutaro into the lineup? We could see him move into third base, sending Pablo across the diamond to first when he returns. Or if Brandon Crawford goes into a funk again, he could take over at shortstop, though benching Crawford for a veteran didn't work out too well last time around. With everything considered, I like this move, but I don't think it's enough to put the Giants over the top. The Dodgers just added a star in Hanley Ramirez, and we all saw how that paid off in game one. Hanley would have been nice, but Scutaro certainly fills a need.

Belt fighting for his job

So, with the Giants pulling the trigger on journeymen infielder, I don't really see them making another significant move for a positional player before the 31st. A lot has been made of Brandon Belt's slump and whether or not the Giants would search for a big hitting first basemen, but I think they saw Scutaro as a possible fall back (at 3B) if Belt doesn't turn it around. The young first basemen had a big showing in Friday night's series opener with the Dodgers, going 3-5 and tying the game in the 8th with a 2-run single, but he has to start showing some consistency day in and day out. Sabean is still going to be searching for relief help though. The Giants bullpen has been getting taxed lately, and they're starting to cough up more leads or ties late in ballgames, which is not a good trend. I appreciate the way Santiago Casilla stepped up in the first half and took command of the closing role, but as I've said here many times, I really don't see him being the guy down the stretch. We've all heard the Chris Perez rumors, and their have even been rumblings of the Giants looking into Seattle's Brandon League. Whether it's one of those two, or another late reliever/closer, I don't think this team is quite finished dealing yet.

With the Giants are down a game already in this series, Bochy is wasting no time getting the newest Giant into the starting lineup. Scutaro gets the nod at third base Saturday, and will hit 7th as the Giants attempt to gain back the game they lost in the standings Friday night.