SF Giants roster set to receive boost with expanded September rosters

The SF Giants roster is inching toward full strength at the right time of the year. However, they will receive another boost as rosters expand to 28 players at the start of September.

SF Giants roster set to receive boost with expanded September rosters

For years, September represented a sigh of relief for teams as rosters could expand from 25 players to 40 players. If a pitching staff had worked heavily in August, the reinforcements would help assume some of the remaining workload in the final month of the year. Usually, a high percentage of those players added were relievers.

Teams were eligible to expand rosters to 40 players, but they did not often expand to the limit. When Bruce Bochy managed the Giants, he indicated that having 40 players was too much to oversee, so the Giants would usually only add a handful of players to the roster.

Of course, the expanded rosters rule has been revised to limit rosters to just 28 players now. Previously, the pace of some September games would slow to a halt as many teams, including the Giants, would manage matchups to an extreme late in games. Managers could burn a reliever on just one batter if it was a favorable matchup. This would lead to a lot of mound visits and pitching changes.

Of course, this was before the new rule requiring pitchers to throw to at least three hitters. Both of these initiatives were made to improve the pace. I will say that when rosters were allowed to expand to 40 players, there was usually a good story or two that came with it. For example, veteran minor leaguer Scott McClain blasted his first two home runs during a September audition for the Giants in 2008. That ended up being his only major league home runs after spending years in the minors.

Anyways, the Giants can expand rosters to 28 players starting today. They can go in a few different directions. Brandon Crawford is set to come off of the injured list soon, whereas John Brebbia has begun a rehab assignment.

A.J. Pollock and Ross Stripling are still in the mix as well. Keaton Winn and Joey Bart have been mentioned as potential call-ups, too. Bart, in particular, makes plenty of sense as the Giants likely want another reliable defensive catcher.

I would guess that Crawford is one of the names added today. Perhaps, Winn is the second name. He was scheduled to start for the Sacramento River Cats on Thursday, but was a late scratch. There was no explanation as to why, so I am just reading between the lines here.

Brebbia could certainly help the Giants out. He was in the midst of a solid year as had a 3.14 ERA in 29 appearances before landing on the injured list with a lat strain. It might be a little more complicated adding him back because he is currently on the 60-day injured list, so I would guess that they want to take a day or two to settle that out.