Sunday, February 21, 2010

M.C. love

I mentioned recently in a post that Matt Cain was the longest-tenured Giant. Seems like that tidbit finally got noticed by Giants MLB-flak Chris Haft, who penned "Young Cain is Giants' elder statesman" for the website this weekend. (I note that RMC was not credited as a source. "No Respect!") Nonetheless the piece talked about Cain's contract status--signed through this season and with a $6.25M team option for 2011, which the Giants, according to Mr. Haft, "will almost surely exercise." That seems a pretty safe bet, and good news for fans. Maybe by 2011 we can have a real offense.

Couple of nice Cain-quotes worth posting, one on being a Giant and the other on living in San Francisco (with his wife Chelsea):

I've gone through the system, I came up in the black and orange and I love it.

We love it. We feel very, very comfortable being in the city now. We really love the San Francisco area and all that it has to offer.

Even a crusty old cynic like me needs a puff piece now and then. Matt Cain is my favorite Giant and it makes me happy that he (for now) wants to stay a Giant. The best thing about the club (besides Pablo Sandoval) is obviously the young pitchers, and Matt has given us a lot of quality starts these last 4+ seasons. I expect he'll give us many more in the next two years. I'm a hard-bitten skeptic these days, I don't believe in our Front Office, I think our lineup is a joke, and "regression to the mean" and "lurking crash potential" stream endlessly through my forebrain. But when Matt & Tim & Jonathan and perhaps even Madison take the hill, all will be right with the world for a few hours!

Other notes: we've haven't heard from GiantFan9 and Giants Jottings yet this Spring. Anyone out there know anything? I love that site--nothing is better for Spring Fever than close-up shots of the guys working out and playing, and the eye-witness commentary is always thoughtful and entertaining. Let's hope he's back on track soon. Also, take a look below the Matt pin (above the "subscribe" boxes) for some new links to pages I've added to the site. One includes tips on how to make links in the comments--you need HTML, but it is quite easy. The links make the comments look better and will likely get more readers to follow them.
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3 comments:

Ron said...

Here's something that is bugging me:

Juan Uribe is considered the back-up to both Freddy Sanchez & Edgar Renteria. Isn't he actually better than both of them? I don't care whether you base it on recent past performance or projections or whatever - our 'back-up' is better than the players he is backing up. If Sanchez or Renteria were glove wizards, it might be different. But, they aren't. Why don't we elevate the pressure on both of them to get their jobs back? We should say, "Freddy, rehab yourself, but you don't having a starting job here, unless you earn it." "Edgar, you can start at SS, but if Freddy comes back strong, you lose your starting job to Uribe." Uribe = cheaper, better.

M.C. O'Connor said...

That's a tough question. Certainly Uribe had a great year (.824 OPS), but his career numbers suggest that was an outlier (.257/.298/.430). He has more pop than the other guys, which is a plus, but he's a world-class hack-meister in the Bengie tradition. I think he's ideal as a super-sub. That being said, both Renteria and FSanchez have a lot to prove, like "can they still play?" I'm not sure any of them are particularly good with the glove at this point--adequate, I expect, but not world-beating.

We can re-arrange the Titanic's deck chairs, but the damn thing will still sink. Middle infield is a serious problem on this club, and I've no loyalty to any one player over another. Give the job(s) to the healthiest guy(s).

For the record, the career wOBA numbers are JU .311, FS .326, and ER .330; JU is 31 in March, FS is 33 in December, and ER is 35 in August. "Youth" vs. "career stats" is the choice, I suppose.

JPT said...

Cain is a terrific Giant. He's been a great one to cheer for.