Can Devers return to All-Star form in second half? Plus more SF Giants second-half questions

The Giants are - coming out of the All-Star break and have positioned themselves to at least be in the mix for one of three NL wild-card spots The next two-and-a-half months will determine whether Buster Posey s first season at the helm ends in with a return to the playoffs We ve put ourselves in a position where starting in the second half our objective and where we want to go is still attainable disclosed manager Bob Melvin The Giants return to action Friday in Toronto They trail the Dodgers by games in the NL West and are a half-game behind the second-place Padres Here are five questions that lie ahead with games remaining in the regular season Does Rafael Devers turn it on There are scant Giants more deserving of a break mentally and physically than Rafael Devers Following numerous constituents back-and-forths with the Boston Red Sox the Giants acquired the three-time All-Star in one of the the greater part shocking trades in current memory The crew addressed its biggest need offense But Devers has yet to look like one of baseball s best hitters In games with the Giants Devers is hitting with two homers and two homers and RBIs Devers owns a career slash line The slow start has been due in part to back and groin ailments Those injuries have also prevented Devers from playing first base a position he declared he s willing to play in San Francisco after very publicly balking at the idea in Boston When healthy Devers will likely see chosen time at first in the second half On the subject of first base there was also a very odd beef that emerged earlier this month Will Flemming the brother of Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming declared Devers no-showed a workout with Will Clark during the Giants series against the Red Sox just days following the bargain Clark though clarified that he understood why Devers didn t show up noting how Devers didn t want to practice in front of his old company at a position he didn t want to play for them Clark later had an expletive-laden response to Flemming on his Deuces Wild podcast for blowing this thing out of expletive proportion Do the Giants add to their pitching staff To acquire Devers the Giants had to part techniques with pitchers Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks along with prospects James Tibbs III and Jose Bello San Francisco s rotation depth is considerably weaker with Harrison and Hicks gone and it s very unlikely the Giants get through the rest of the season with Logan Webb Robbie Ray Landen Roupp Justin Verlander and Hayden Birdsong as their only five starters Outside of those five the Giants don t have several starters in their system with major-league starting experience Keaton Winn has starts in the majors and is as of now rehabbing from a right shoulder injury Mason Black has a career ERA in appearances eight starts in the majors Trevor McDonald and Carson Seymour have pitched in the majors but have yet to start Carson Whisenhunt is still waiting to make his major league debut Ray Webb and Verlander all know how to deal with full seasons but Birdsong and Roupp are in the midst of their first full seasons in the majors Birdsong took Hicks place in the rotation in the rotation in late May Roupp has thrown innings and will likely eclipse the innings he threw in the minors in by the end of July Birdsong is sitting at innings and could top innings he threw in the minors in Can the Giants rely on both to throw volume innings down the stretch Can Willy Adames continue his strong end to the first half Before Devers Willy Adames held the title of the Giants splashy new addition Like Devers Adames got off to a slow start as a Giant Over his first games Adames was hit with five homers RBIs and a OPS Then Melvin gave Adames a double off-day keeping him out of the lineup for the first time on June th followed by the squad s off-day on June th Since June th Adames has looked the part of a million-dollar man hitting with seven homers and RBIs Adames defense has improved as well Following his two-error tournament on May against the Chicago Cubs Adames was worth - outs above average At the break Adames was worth outs above average Does Jung Hoo Lee regain his April form Jung Hoo Lee s season has been the reverse of Adames Lee began the season looking like an All-Star By the end of April Lee had a slash line with three homers and RBIs He shined in the Bronx hitting three homers in three games against the New York Yankees Since May Lee has been below league average Over his last games Lee is hitting with three homers and has fallen to the bottom half of San Francisco s lineup By wRC he s been percent worse than a league average hitter during this span Lee is susceptible to these hot and cold steaks because of his profile as a high-contact low-walk low-strikeout hitter Through April Lee had a BABIP or batting average on balls in play Since May Lee s BABIP is down to Can Bryce Eldridge make his way to the majors The probability of Eldridge making his debut this year has changed a couple times During last year s MLB Winter Meetings Posey threw a few cold water on the possibility When the Giants promoted Eldridge from Double-A Sacramento to Triple-A Richmond Posey seemed more open to the idea of Eldridge playing for the Giants in Then Eldridge sustained a right hamstring strain in late June that kept him out of action for several weeks Related Articles Robot umpire reverses of challenged calls in first All-Star use of system SF Giants Logan Webb throws scoreless inning Steven Kwan extends MLB All-Star Match to historic tiebreaking HR derby MLB boss not ruling out return of second Bay Area organization if expansion happens How Logan Webb s three-fastball mix helped land SF Giants ace at second All-Star Match Robot umpires to make All-Star Encounter debut paving way for doable regular-season use in Eldridge began a rehab assignment with the ACL Giants on July and has played two games The Giants haven t provided any specific updates on Eldridge but a return to Sacramento this month seems realizable for the -year-old The Giants top prospect had a slow start with Sacramento before the injury hitting with three homers and RBIs in games San Francisco doesn t want to rush Eldridge whose defense at first base remains a work in progress That commented if Eldridge catches fire after the break and the Giants offense is still pedestrian would the crew entertain the idea of bringing him up Even if it s in the middle of a playoff race And if that happens who would play first base Devers or Eldridge If Eldridge doesn t mash with the River Cats the Giants won t have to truly entertain this question If he does It could make for a tough call