No, I am not about to discuss the insanity of the United States largest lottery jackpot in history. I bought a few tickets and dreamed the good dream, but it's not something worthy of discussion just 5 days prior to The Real opening day of major league baseball. I'd like to discuss the contract that Matt Cain signed with the San Francisco Giants today. 6 years $127 million and the language can be found at your favorite sports website, but I won't dissect each year and the actual money being paid. I will say that his agent is an extremely smart cat, getting San Francisco to sign off on a deal this large that includes the ever important no trade clause.
The Giants are in the stretch run of the Barry Zito contract disaster and most Giants fans likely would have assumed that never again would the Giants offer a pitcher than much guaranteed cash and lock them off for that long. Yes, this is a different beast. Matt Cain is a professional in every sense of the word. If you didn't watch him every fifth day and you only knew his name from watching his highlights on ESPN, you would assume that a guy with a career record of 69-73 and an era of 3.35 is not worthy of a contract that large. But, if you live in the Bay Area and are a Giants fan (or if you are a guy like me who just watches a lot of their games) you know what he means to this club. His career record should be expunged from the record books forever because the Giants have provided 3.73 runs for him, lowest in all of baseball. That doesn't do justice because I can't begin to explain how many times I'ver seen him lose 2-1, 3-2; 4-3.
This contract is a microcosm of who the San Francisco Giants are and clearly who they will be in the future. At this stage in the game, the San Francisco Giants have $57 million of their payroll locked up in 3 guys, all starting pitchers. Barry Zito makes $22 million, Matt Cain $15 million and Tim Lincecum $20.25 million. In recent years, the 2010 World Series championship included, offense has been an issue for the team and has prevented them from taking full advantage of their all star caliber pitchers. San Francisco avoided Albert Pujols, for good reason. They turned their heads when Prince Fielder was on the market for them to enjoy and this has been the pattern ever since they signed Barry Bonds way back in the stone age. For the next 7-10 years this team has decided to grow their own players on the farm, avoid huge contracts for sluggers and that's terribly disheartening news for Giants fans across the country. I understand that pitching wins championships and the blueprint for success in San Francisco is crystal clear. This team will win or lose based on how their pitching performs. Unless this team is willing to spend more of the money they claim they don't have and spend it on guys who can hit and drive in runs, they will continue to fall short of the gold ring.
I thought for sure the Giants would allow Matt Cain to reach free agency and let him walk next winter. I practically guaranteed that he would wear a Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox or even Dodgers jersey in 2013, but I admit I was wrong. I will continue to believe that San Francisco doesn't have enough offense to compete at the highest level and until they break down and start spending some of their "rainy day" fund, the fans will continue to be frustrated and angered by the lack of offense put forth by this club.
I disagree. I think the Giants are in a relatively good place. Lincecum's talents and stature will demand a massive salary (the Cain contract likely provides a hard floor for Lincecum's next deal), but Zito, Rowand, and Huff come off the books in the next two years. That provides more than enough room to re-up Lincecum AND add other pieces. They have a nice young core of hitters who, if they continue to develop, can be the cornerstone of an average-to-above average offense. (Admittedly, that's still a significant if).
ReplyDeleteIf they let Cainer go, his production would have to be replaced. With no young cheap studs coming from up from the farm system, I think this was the best option. All elite pitchers demand big long contracts, and out of all of them, he has to be near or at the top of the "least scary to sign long-term" list. Either that or grab a couple of cheaper, less awesome pitchers, and I don't think anyone would go for that. Alternatively, they could try and make up the production on the offensive end, but the Giant's don't exactly have a great track record doing that.
They're terrible at evaluating hitters. They're great at evaluating pitchers. If nothing else, this moves plays to their strengths. Not to mention the PR disaster that would slide into slide into the roster spot vacated by Cain if they let him walk.
"Unless this team is willing to spend more of the money they claim they don't have and spend it on guys who can hit and drive in runs, they will continue to fall short of the gold ring." You kiddin me? We won it! We have the ring! We don't have to talk like that anymore. We got our ring while paying Rowand and Zito $40M not to play, with guys like Ross Burrell & Uribe providing just enough offense. That should pretty much sum it up: If you have the pitching staff, you can win it all
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