Brandon Crawford and Keaton Winn are joining the Giants in San Diego, with rosters growing from 26 to 28 league-wide.
Crawford, 36, is coming off his third injured list stint of the season. Although the Giants added Paul DeJong off waivers, the club hopes that Crawford can stay healthy for the rest of the season and help guide the team to the postseason.
On the season, Crawford has hit .194 with a .264 on-base percentage — both career-lows for the 13-year pro.
Winn, meanwhile, missed about a month with a sore throwing elbow, but has pitched twice for Sacramento since getting cleared. The rookie should give the flexible Giants pitching staff an extra depth option for the time being.
Winn might not be with the team for long, though, with right-handed reliever John Brebbia nearing a return from his lat strain. Ross Stripling (back strain) is also scheduled to make a rehab start on Friday night, so unless another pitcher on the Giants’ roster gets injured, Winn would likely be the first to get optioned back down eventually.
Winn has appeared in five games as a Giant this year, posting a 4.09 ERA with his splitter-heavy arsenal.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on KNBR Thursday that the Giants were looking at Winn and possibly Joey Bart as additions once rosters expanded. Luis Matos and Heliot Ramos are also expected to factor in during September, but since they got optioned in the last week of August, they need to spend at least 10 days with the River Cats before being recalled again.
Any player on the Giants’ 40-man roster or 60-day IL as of Aug. 31 will be eligible for the postseason roster. Entering Friday, the Giants had a 67.4% chance at making the playoffs, per Fangraphs.
