Programming note: For complete wrap-around coverage of Game 1, tune in to Giants October Quest, today at 4pm right up until first pitch and again after the final out, only on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area!SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants considered a roster tweak for the World Series, perhaps scaling back to 11 pitchers to allow them to widen their options at designated hitter when the series moves to Detroit for Game 3.
But Giants manager Bruce Bochy just informed me that there will be no changes. The Giants will carry the same 25 players from the NLDS and NLCS.
The club could have subtracted a pitcher such as right-hander Guillermo Mota for backup catcher Eli Whiteside, which would allow them to use Hector Sanchez's switch-hitting bat more freely off the bench. But the club doesn't want to burn Tim Lincecum in any kind of mop-up duty, which has been Mota's role.RELATED: San Francisco Giants 2012 World Series page
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Bochy hasn't decided on a DH yet, but it won't be Melky Cabrera.
Giants CEO Larry Baer said there has been no discussion about reconsidering the club's stance on Cabrera, who satisfied terms of his 50-game suspension for a failed PED test at the conclusion of the NL Division Series with Cincinnati.
"This was a group decision and everybody believed it was the right thing given all the information at hand," Baer said. "The way the team was playing, the way we thought the team could keep going -- it was the entire set of issues."
Yes, but now the Giants are in need of a DH -- and Cabrera was leading the major leagues in hits and runs scored on the day he was suspended. So it's a suspect contention, at best, that the Giants truly believe their team is better off without him.RELATED: Bochy tells his team the journey is not yet over
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There are other issues, though, including the fact that many teammates, players and coaches felt betrayed when Cabrera lied to all of them about the positive test when rumors of it began to leak. He still has not spoken to teammates and his sudden appearance no doubt would disrupt a chemistry and unity that has allowed the Giants to win six consecutive elimination games this postseason.
Then there is the fact that one of Cabrera's associates tried to dupe MLB investigators by creating a phony Web site selling a phony product to explain the positive test.
"This was not a split decision," Baer said. "This was everybody on the same page -- Bruce Bochy, Brian Sabean, our scouts, all our ownership, the CEO -- it was right for us when we made the decision."
RATTO: 'Rust' factor for Tigers? It's a mythThere is a sense around the team that Cabrera could be brought back as a free agent after the season, especially after his olive branch to convince Major League Baseball to disqualify him from the batting title, which passed to Buster Posey.
"But we can't wrap our brains around any of that now," Baer said. "Nobody's taken out the 2013 calendar yet."
As for their current situation, the Giants could use Aubrey Huff or Sanchez at designated hitter -- although with Sanchez in that spot, they'd have to give up the DH if Posey were to get hurt behind the plate.RELATED: Giants, Tigers World Series capsules
It might be less advantageous to have a right-handed DH against the Tigers' all-righty playoff rotation, but Xavier Nady and Ryan Theriot are two options and Joaquin Arias is another, perhaps starting at third base with Pablo Sandoval at DH.
Hey, it beats Tsuyoshi Shinjo.