Brian Sabean, in his 16th season as general manager of the San Francisco Giants, is quick to heed his inner voice when it tells him, "Go for it."

Last July, with the Giants hurting for offense and desperate to defend a world championship, he traded top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler to the New York Mets for a two-month flier on Carlos Beltran. When the deal was done, Sabean looked at his top lieutenant, Dick Tidrow, and they acknowledged the long-term risks.

"It was an old-time baseball trade," Sabean says in hindsight. "When Dick and I finally crossed the bridge with Wheeler, you know what we said? 'We'll find another Wheeler. But right now we need Beltran.' "

Melky Cabrera, who entered the season a career .275 hitter, has the second-highest batting average in the majors at .363. Tony Medina/Getty Images

Time will tell how much the Giants regret dealing Wheeler, who is 6-2 with a 1.92 ERA and averaging better than a strikeout per inning for the Double-A Binghamton Mets. But they've done an admirable job moving on from Beltran, who signed with St. Louis as a free agent in the offseason.

The Giants rank 29th in the majors with 43 home runs and have committed 59 errors (one fewer than the major-league leading Orioles), but they're still 38-32 and have been able to maintain contact with the first-place Dodgers at 4½ games back in the National League West. A reconstituted outfield has played a major role in keeping the team afloat.

• Left fielder Melky Cabrera, acquired from Kansas City in November for left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez, leads the majors with 101 hits and seven triples, and is ranked second to Joey Votto in batting at .363.

• Center fielder Angel Pagan, acquired from the Mets in December for outfielder Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez, has hit safely in 53 of his past 59 games and leads the team with 12 stolen bases. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Pagan is tied with Ian Kinsler for third in the majors with 39 line-drive hits. Votto and Michael Bourn are first and second in that department.

• The Giants also have gotten lots of mileage out of the unheralded Gregor Blanco, who signed a minor league deal in January that pays him a base salary of $516,000 in the big leagues. Blanco is hitting a worrisome .200 (15-for-75) in June. But he still ranks second on the team in walks (27) and pitches seen per plate appearance (4.06). The Giants are 25-19 when he starts in the leadoff spot.

San Francisco's outfield is a veritable WAR Machine. Cabrera ranks fifth among big league outfielders and ninth overall among position players with a Wins Above Replacement of 3.0, according to FanGraphs. Blanco is the 13th-ranked outfielder at 2.3, and Pagan is tied for 21st at 1.9. That aggregate WAR of 7.2 places San Francisco's outfield second to the Atlanta trio of Bourn, Martin Prado and Jason Heyward among the 30 major league teams.

The revamped outfield has helped the Giants survive a series of setbacks that could have brought a team to its knees. Closer Brian Wilson underwent Tommy John surgery in April, but Santiago Casilla quickly filled the void. Pablo Sandoval missed a month with a hand injury, Freddy Sanchez has yet to play this season, Aubrey Huff has been a non-factor and Tim Lincecum is an uncharacteristic 2-8 with a 6.19 ERA. But the Giants keep plugging away.

Calling all discards

Oakland is frequently billed as the Land of Misfit Toys -- a perception that was drummed home again when journeyman Brandon Moss won the latest American League Player of the Week award. But the Giants have a lengthy track record for assimilating veteran hitters who have either underachieved in their careers or appeared to be in decline.

Two years ago, Huff, Cody Ross and Pat Burrell made significant contributions to a World Series team that billed itself as a collection of "castoffs and misfits." In previous years, the Giants had success bringing in the likes of Ellis Burks, Marquis Grissom and Moises Alou for limited runs late in their careers. Manager Bruce Bochy gets criticized for his hesitancy to play kids and some debatable batting order decisions. But like Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou before him, he's provided a nice, comfortable landing spot for veterans in need of a second wind.

Gregor Blanco's amazing catch on June 13 helped preserve Matt Cain's perfect game. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Sabean, while not averse to using Sabermetrics as a tool, is an unapologetic advocate of good old-fashioned scouting judgments as the main driver in player transactions. The Giants became sold on Blanco while scouting him in the Venezuelan Winter League, and they signed infielder Joaquin Arias after blanketing him in the Dominican League. San Francisco's scouts return home with positive reports, everyone sits around a table and expresses an opinion, and the guy in charge never waffles once he makes the call to proceed.

In the case of Cabrera and Pagan, Sabean saw two multidimensional outfielders who might thrive in new environs. They've bounced around, in his estimation, because baseball has gotten "too picky" in dismissing players who might have some flaws in their game or haven't progressed according to a predetermined timetable.

"With all the analysis and statistical profiling, people don't always notice that there are baseball players all over this game," Sabean says. "You watch a lot of baseball -- and that's what I do for a living -- and kids who fill the bill like these guys do are hard to come by.

"Are they going to 20-plus home runs? Probably not. Are they going to steal 40 bases? Probably not. Are they going to hit .320 every year? Probably not. But beyond that, you've got a pretty damn good all-around baseball player in both cases. We're talking about switch-hitters who can hit almost anywhere in the lineup, play all three outfield positions and help you on both sides of the ball. There's a lot to like."

Hail "The Melkman"

Since his big league debut with the Yankees in 2005, Cabrera has always been regarded as a bit of a tweener. He's not a lithe, rangy, speedy center fielder in the Adam Jones or Jacoby Ellsbury mold, and he lacks prototypical corner outfield power. In four seasons as a semi-regular with the Yankees, he slugged .391, .391, .341 and .416.