It appeared earlier this week that the Giants and Matt Cain had built momentum toward an extension. One person in the know even said there's no chance the 2013 free agent signs for less than $100MM. Here are today's updates on talks between Cain, the Giants and teammate Madison Bumgarner:
- The Giants agreed to a one-year deal with Bumgarner, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The pre-arbitration eligible starter will earn $575K or so in 2012.
- There's no hard deadline for talks with Cain, Schulman adds. Cain would like negotiations to be done with by Opening Day.
- Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com suggests the Giants could work out extensions for Cain and Bumgarner within the week. The sides have been working late and the Giants like package announcements, Baggarly tweets. MLBTR has previewed possible extensions for Cain and Bumgarner this past offseason.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out that Kevin Brown, the only right-handed pitcher in history to obtain a $100MM deal, signed his contract 13 years ago and suggests the market is ready for a correction by a present-day right-hander such as Cain. The Giants are privately optimistic that they'll lock Cain up, Rosenthal writes.
Locked up our ace (for as much as he wants to be locked up – 2yrs), locking up our workhorse (Cain), and locking up our future ace (Bumgarner). THIS is why our FO didn’t get on the “big bat” FA joyride this o/s.
Cain’s definitely got some mustard on his fastball. If I were him, I would certainly be relishing the thought of more than 100MM.
I like your use of condiments in your comment about that hot dog pitcher Cain. I’m not a Giants fan but I hope they find a way to keep him. I say give him 6yrs $110. If being the highest paid right handed pitcher ever isn’t enough for him to stay and he wants more, than the Giants may have to go in an another direction.
6 yrs is too long.. we still have the bad taste of Zito to deal with
If it’s 5 years and you’ll only pay more money per year. 6 years is pretty ideal as Cain has become pretty consistent and he’s durable.
I don’t disagree, and if Zito’s deal hadn’t been such a bad one, this would likely be a non-issue. It’s not that I believe that Cain won’t last 6 yrs.. it’s just the mental aspect of knowing we have 19M locked up in a pitcher that may get us 5 wins this season..
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Giants fans wanted Cain out of their team or was it Zito?
Sorry.. you’re wrong. Maybe you’re thinking of Barry Zito
Not that Cain is not worth the huge contract, but the track history of pitchers and huge contracts is not great, Hampton, Brown, Zito, even Johan on the 100 mil side cannot inspire confidence.
I’d rather see a 4+1 deal, but I think he likely is asking for more. He does want to stay a Giant, but he’s given us two separate hometown discounts in the past, and now feels that he deserves to be compensated for what he’s done for the team. And rightly so.
But yeah.. long term contracts make many a Giants fans a little queasy
Matt Cain for Ryan Sweeney Straight up.
So is Cain Bumgarner’s agent or is Bumgarner Cain’s? That was that last sentence looks lile.
If they’re privately optimistic they’ll sign Cain, then how does Rosenthal know? It’s not really private if it’s public knowledge..
Speculation journalism at its best. I suppose you can deduce its optimistic since they’re still negotiating. that’s about as much as you can take from it.
The great thing about Bumgarner is that he is destined to be even better than Lincecum and Cain. Learning to attack the strike zone like he does plus his straight faced southern attitude will bring him far in this league. World Series Game 4 is evidence of what he is capable of.
“The great thing about Bumgarner is that he is destined to be even better than Lincecum and Cain.”
Pitchers literally don’t get much better than Lincecum
I agree. Certainly none are higher in my mind 😉
The playoffs are evidence of what Bumgarner can do. When Bumgarner wins 2 Cy Youngs, then we will talk about Bumgarner and Lincecum in the same breath.
KEEP THE PITCHING INTACT! Last year the Giants were 52-11 in games when they scored four or more runs. That would prorate to a 140-win season over a 162 game schedule. Now we all know that won’t happen, but how many times have we seen Giants pitching hold other teams to 3 or fewer runs? If they get consistent hitting they will win 100 games. But this is cocntingent upon: (1) Posey making it all the way back; (2) Huff bouncing back to 2010 form; (3) Cabrera hits with MOB; and (4) they get something out of the 2B position. If the Giants keep their piutching consistent for the rest of the decade…well, can you spell D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y?
Stay with the plan. Keep the pitching intact. Spend the money on pitching. Fill the position players with the Farm System. Hopefully the Giants can resign Lincecum and Cain. Impact starting pitchers are hard to replace. Good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs.