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Giants CEO: Team Isn’t “Lowballing” Matt Cain

By Mark Polishuk | March 29, 2012 at 6:03pm CDT

Giants CEO Larry Baer said both his club and Matt Cain's representatives are "both working very hard" to reach agreement on a contract extension for the star right-hander.  Cain's future in San Francisco was a hot topic during Baer's web chat with fans on MLB.com (quotes passed along by Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com) and Baer stressed that the team is making every effort to lock Cain up to a multiyear deal.

"Our desire is for [Cain] to remain a Giant. There’s nothing we’ve seen from him that shows his desire is not to be. We just keep plugging along," Baer said.  "There’s been a lot of mischaracterizations with hard-and-fast deadline or we’re lowballing him. Those are uneducated. I can’t promise it will or won’t happen — that’s going to ultimately be the process of negotiation and Matt’s decision."

"We’d like to keep the homegrown players that are performing and Matt Cain is at the top of the list."

We heard last week that negotiations between Cain and the Giants hadn't yielded much progress, though the two sides had recently started talking again.  Baggarly noted that the MLBPA was keeping an eye on Cain's contract given that he has already signed two extensions considered to be below-market, which is perhaps a reason why Baer made a point of saying the Giants weren't "lowballing" Cain. 

Still, Baggarly reports the Giants are again looking to pay Cain less than the estimated six-year, $120MM deal he'd find on the open market due to the additional risk the team would be taking on should the right-hander be injured before his extension begins in 2013.  It's also possible the Giants could be waiting to see if the Phillies extend Cole Hamels, with that deal becoming the blueprint for a new Cain contract.

The Giants potentially face a looming threat in the NL West now that the Dodgers have been sold and will once again have money to spend, but Baer didn't think the Dodgers' new ownership group would immediately impact next winter's free agent market.  In any case, San Francisco's focus is not on free agents, but rather locking up their own players.

"Fans would like certain free agents like Albert Pujols …  but the first priority is homegrown players that we still think have a lot of productivity left," Baer said. "(But) we can’t control the overall economics of player and agent. It’s got to be something that allows us to field a team that will win.”

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San Francisco Giants Matt Cain

Phillies Notes: Hamels, Pierre, Podsednik
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Minor Moves: Bard, Sullivan, Pearce, Michaels
View Comments (27)
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27 Comments

  1. Jorts_ebooks

    13 years ago

    If Matt Cain wants to be a Giant so bad, why does he play half his games in other stadiums, hmmmm?

    Reply
    • HummBaby

      13 years ago

      Nice one. Made me laugh.

      Reply
    • Encarnacion's Parrot

      13 years ago

      This comment just won the internet.

      Reply
  2. djgraeber

    13 years ago

    They need to pony at least 110 million for 6 or equivalent, i think he has earned that much

    Reply
    • SFrush90

      13 years ago

      That’s too low. He’ll be getting 20M/year most likely. 

      Reply
      • Havok9120

        13 years ago

         Too low by 1.7 mil/year is part of the benefit of getting to him before he hits Free Agency. Especially since he doesn’t seem the type to keep a scorecard of his salary.

        That said, I’d LOVE to see the Union’s reaction if he signed for less than 20M/year. He definitely deserves at least that.

        Reply
        • SFrush90

          13 years ago

          The problem is though he isn’t willing to give the Giants a hometown discount. They’ll have to pay market value unfortunately.

          I would love to see Cain sign a contract below 20M/year too.

          Reply
  3. Scott Jeglum

    13 years ago

    Lets back into the playoffs one time and then think were baseball juggernauts.

    Reply
    • gmenfan 2

      13 years ago

       Better than serving as a farm team for the rest of the Majors, I suppose.

      Reply
    • SFrush90

      13 years ago

      Here we go again, the little brothers thinking they’re better than the big brother.

      Reply
  4. vtadave

    13 years ago

    Don’t sign Matt!

    – Magic

    Reply
  5. chico65

    13 years ago

    So…sounds like he’s lowballing him

    Reply
    • SFrush90

      13 years ago

      My thoughts exactly. 

      Reply
    • notsureifsrs

      13 years ago

      awesome. i didn’t even read the post. read the title and said to myself aaaand that’s how you know they’re definitely lowballing him

      Reply
  6. Lefty

    13 years ago

    Honestly, I think the Giants are trying to stiff Cain or at the very least shake him down! :p

    Reply
    • SFrush90

      13 years ago

      Agreed.

      Reply
    • FrnchDp

      13 years ago

      why?

      Reply
  7. CircusFresh

    13 years ago

    With the Dodgers getting new owners, this little tiff potentially could turn ugly.  Ya know, Magic is gonna be on Matt Cain and give him the full court press.

    Reply
    • Havok9120

      13 years ago

       Its one thing for the beat writers to work in all the basketball terms, but can we laymen please stop it? Its cheesy enough when they do it without us kicking in too.

      Reply
  8. monkeydung

    13 years ago

    the last time the Dodgers bought high on a RH FA pitcher from the Giants it didn’t work out so well.

    i’d rather shoot for Hamels and if there was actually a budget go for Greinke as well.

    that being said, anything Kasten/Colleti can do to drive up the price for Cain and either get Sabean to overpay or have Cain end up away from SF is appreciated.

    Reply
  9. Matt Armstrong

    13 years ago

    he’s disappointed they didn’t use the club option because the team found floating bodies in his elbow. now he wants market value or more.  give it to him.  he’s worth it in innings and leadership alone.

    Reply
  10. Ethan Hahn

    13 years ago

    Sorry giants fans Cains gonna be wearing blue this winter HAHAHA GO DODGERS

    Reply

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