Last night, general manager Brian Sabean said that the Giants’ roster was “in a state of flux.” Boy, was he ever serious? In a span of just 14 hours, Marco Scutaro was acquired from the Colorado Rockies and inserted into the starting lineup at third base, a position he has yet to field this season. Aubrey Huff was activated from the disabled list, though is not starting. Pablo Sandoval was placed on the DL–he was walking with a bit of a limp on the field this morning. Emmanuel Burriss was designated for assignment–Bochy was confident that Burriss, who is out of options, would get picked up by another team.

To top it all off, Sabean said (last night, at least) that the team was hoping to make a few more deals.

“We do need depth,” said Sabean last night. “Hopefully this is the first of a couple moves. We’ll see.”

With the deadline just over three days way, Sabean intimated that he thought the last 48-hours would be the most hectic. “I’m not sure what the deadline activity is going to be,” Sabean noted. “If I were to guess, I would say the last 48 hours will be busy. I think teams, perhaps, that don’t have clarity will use the weekend to decide if they are going to be sellers and buyers. And then, quite frankly, there may be some possibilities after the deadline, as we’ve seen the past years, guys get through waivers.”

So stay tuned. The Giants have been linked to a number of players, which we have been keep track of HERE.

Today’s Game

The Giants will look to bounce back from last night’s extra-inning heartbreaker with Barry Zito on the mound. Zito, in his career, has faired well against Dodgers not named Matt Kemp. Should be an interesting match-up.

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Matt Kemp 57 49 22 1 1 2 7 8 9 .449 .526 .633 1.159
Andre Ethier 46 35 6 1 0 0 2 7 7 .171 .348 .200 .548
Juan Rivera 33 31 7 2 0 1 5 2 5 .226 .273 .387 .660
Jerry Hairston 32 25 9 3 0 1 1 6 3 .360 .500 .600 1.100
Hanley Ramirez 20 18 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 .111 .200 .167 .367
Mark Ellis 16 14 3 1 0 0 1 2 2 .214 .313 .286 .598
Chad Billingsley 12 11 3 0 0 0 2 1 6 .273 .333 .273 .606
A.J. Ellis 8 6 2 1 0 0 1 2 2 .333 .500 .500 1.000
Luis Cruz 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000
Total 312 272 65 11 1 4 21 32 56 .239 .326 .331 .657
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/28/2012.

Giants hitters have faired well against Chad Billingsly, who’s on the mound for the Dodgers today.

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Buster Posey 27 23 11 2 0 0 5 3 1 .478 .556 .565 1.121
Ryan Theriot 27 26 9 1 0 0 1 1 4 .346 .370 .385 .755
Nate Schierholtz 23 20 9 3 1 0 1 2 5 .450 .522 .700 1.222
Melky Cabrera 9 9 2 1 1 0 1 0 2 .222 .222 .556 .778
Barry Zito 9 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000
Brandon Belt 7 7 2 0 0 1 3 0 2 .286 .286 .714 1.000
Brandon Crawford 7 6 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 .667 .714 1.000 1.714
Angel Pagan 4 3 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 .333 .500 .333 .833
Total 207 179 55 10 3 2 19 15 44 .307 .371 .430 .801
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/28/2012.

A little bit about Hanley

The Giants have to be hoping that Hanley Ramirez’s recent success is only hiccup in his otherwise declining career. Though if we’re to believe Ramirez, then the Ramirez of old is born again.

Ramirez told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times that he was feeling reinvigorated in his new surroundings. ”I’m happy, I’m relaxed,” Ramirez said. “My mind is completely clean. … We got a chance. It’s a different feeling.”

 If Ramirez is back, good luck. As David Schoenfield of ESPN.com found:
A search on Baseball-Reference.com indicates Ramirez’s Wins Above Replacement from ages 22 through 25 ranks 36th since 1901. Twenty-eight of the 35 are in the Hall of Fame or will be (Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds,Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter) The others: Dick Allen, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Evan Longoria, Andruw Jones, Grady Sizemore, Jim Fregosi and Cesar Cedeno.

If Ramirez returns to form–or even close to it–the Dodgers will have formidable, young heart of the order, which means it will be a long, long decade, Giants’ fans.