7:16pm: Shea hears that the sixth year option will not vest if Cain finishes the fifth year of the contract on the disabled list with an elbow or shoulder injury (Twitter link).
2:04pm: The Giants announced that they have agreed to a five-year extension with Matt Cain. Cain's deal guarantees him $112.5MM in new money through 2017, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The deal, which establishes a record for right-handed pitchers, includes a club/vesting player option for 2018. Landon Williams, Rick Landrum and Jeff Berry of CAA Sports represent Cain, who had been scheduled to hit free agency following the 2012 season.
“Ensuring that Matt remained a Giant beyond this season was a top priority for the organization," Giants GM Brian Sabean said via press release. "Matt is an integral part of the team whose performance on the mound will be one of the keys to our success for years to come.”
Cain has emerged as a frontline starter in recent years. The 27-year-old has completed 200 innings in five consecutive seasons, and has impressive career rate stats. He consistently outperforms his strong peripheral stats to post low ERAs. Most recently, he posted a 2.88 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 41.7% ground ball rate in 221 2/3 innings last year.
The deal figures to affect at least two other ace pitchers: Tim Lincecum and Cole Hamels. Lincecum is on track for free agency following the 2013 season and Hamels will be eligible for free agency this winter. Should Hamels reach a deal with the Phillies, it will presumably mirror Cain's contract. Zack Greinke could also use Cain's deal as a reference point in talks with the Brewers.
If Cain had tested the market next offseason, teams such as the Dodgers and Yankees could have entered the bidding. Instead teams seeking pitching in free agency will turn their attention to the likes of Hamels, Greinke and Anibal Sanchez.
Today's deal breaks Kevin Brown's long-standing record for right-handed pitchers. Brown signed a seven-year, $105MM contract following the 1998 season.
Cain obtains a signing bonus of $5MM and his 2012 salary of $15MM remains unchanged, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). The right-hander will earn $20MM annually from 2013-17 and the deal includes a $21MM option with a $7.5MM buyout for 2018, according to Rosenthal. The 2018 option will vest if Cain is healthy in 2017, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Otherwise it becomes a club option. Cain has full no-trade protection, according to Jim Bowden of ESPN.com and MLB Network Radio (Twitter link).
Luke Adams of MLBTR anticipated the terms of the upcoming extension with considerable accuracy in December. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported that the sides would agree to terms.
Now I’m just waiting for the Votto extension to become official. I wonder how Magic is feeling about this.
Even worse when Cole re-signs lol
Can PHI afford much more than what Cain got? I’d pay Hamels more, but even if they did, think how much would be invested in the front 3 of their rotation. Great 3, but they can’t hit. Halladay is only getting older, blah blah blah.
alot of risk/reward with 3 20mill pitchers….
Rumored to be 5 years/$110 million
Great news…fair deal for both sides.
April Fools!!
Oh wait that was yesterday…
Does this means that Lincecum is going into the open market? Awesome!
you can hope he does i guess?
If he does, the Cubs will be waiting with a blank check.
Just CHC? I’d think LAD would love to add to that rivalry by having Kershaw and Lincecum. Wow. What a 1-2 punch.
Gross, dude.
AAV on this is a whopping “$22.5 million, biggest multiyear deal ever for a right-handed pitcher.” as per Henry Schulman
That’ll buy a lot of relish
its 5MM signing bonus, 20MM per year for 5 years with a 22.5 6th year option or 7.5 buyout.
Yeah buddy!!
Coincidence you see Cain and potentially Votto both locked up right after the Dodgers got a new owner?
Coincidence?
Most likely. There’s 28 other teams that would go apenut to sign those guys, not excluding those teams who have tight budgets.
Since he was already scheduled to make $15m this year, it comes out to $22.5m AAV over 5 years, including the buyout if there is one.
20m+ was a hometown discount. He could have/would have gotten Sabathia type money on the open market. Now as for Lincecum? Have a feeling his hometown discount will equal Sabathia type money.
Lincecum will set a new bar for SP. Question is.. Will SF be able to meet those demands?
For real. Hitting the open market with a ring and 2 Cy Youngs. Ridiculous!
Today is not a very good day for Dodger fans…
No day is good to be a Dodger Fan. Hope they are ready to pay $40 a game for bleacher seats to cover the 2+ billion dollar purchase 🙂
I just bought my ticket. The tickets weren’t $40 for bleacher seats. Your right it wasnt fun being a Dodger fan for the last couple season. With our new ownership full of magic we now have the brightest future than any other team out there. Now every day is great day to be a Dodgers fan.
No, it’s a great day to be a Dodger fan. You’re paying $22.5 million per year for Cain??? He’s a good pitcher, but $22.5 million?? Giants obviously haven’t learned anything from Zito contract. What is Lincecum going to get if Cain is getting $22.5 million? And if you do sign Lincecum at what he’ll get, then how can you afford to keep Sandoval and Posey when their salaries climb? The Giants just ensured that either they stay with mediocre offense while their pitchers get older, or that in the end they will have chosen Cain over Lincecum. So from that standpoint, it is a great day to be a Dodger fan!
True, Zito was was a huge BUST and a waste of A LOT of cash the Giants could have spent for some offensive players, but Cain is younger than Zito, and the fact that Barry couldn’t pitch his way out of a wet paper sack with instructions inside, but Cain’s a 2-time All-Star in recent years, with a great ERA. The only thing that would make Cain one of the biggest ACES in MLB behind Lincecum, is the lack of run support.
True that the Zito contract was a HUUUUUUUGE waste of good cash(and that might be the biggest understatement of this decade), when all that money could have gone to some offensive player(s). But Cain is younger than Zito, Cain is a 2-time All-Star over the last 3 years, Cain helped the Giants get to and capture the World Series while Zito was put on a 2-month “time out” by Bochy. The only thing that has kept Cain from being one of the ELITE pitchers in Baseball (although I would say he IS anyways) is the lack of run support behind him. So I’d say he’s worth EVERY PENNY of his contract, unlike that other guy.
Zito was, what, 28, when he signed his contract, and Cain is 27? Zito was a 3 time All Star with the A’s. I’m not comparing Cain to Zito right now, but the Zito before the Giants blew money on him. Cain is a good pitcher, but he is not deserving to be the highest paid right handed pitcher in the game. Like I said, I love the deal, because it either means the Giants offense continues to stink and fail to score runs for him, or they effectively choose Cain over Lincecum.
*looks at calendar* One day too late, this must be real. Yikes
Good news for Padres fans!! 5 – 11 lifetime against the Pads. Nice!
Anyways…
Look at his ERA against them…3.43 ERA is pretty solid
Padres opening day starter is Edison Volquez
Edinson
That may be the ONLY good thing the Padres can cling to.
Sorry Dodger fans…too bad so sad…bye bye!!
Sorry for what? We have a new owner that can get us all other free agents. Besides its not like getting Cain made your offense better. Cain lost a lot of games last year because the Giants couldnt score runs for him, and that hasnt chaged at all. Dodgers fans have been sad for to long so this doesnt really faze us at all. I just think its kinda funny how your team sings Matt Cain and you bring up Dodgers fan. Its good to know we are always on your mind.
Congrats on the sign Giants fans.
Of course the Dodgers are on Giants’ mind all the time. Historic rivalry. Not really a threat (right now and for awhile at least). Now the Dodgers have to lock up Kershaw for 30 million/year and the Giants’ fans will applaud the Dodgers.
I’ll be happy if Hamels signs for this much. This is less than the Cliff Lee deal.
Philly (and some other) fans may disagree, but I would have preferred Cain over Hamels as a FA. Granted, the outliers seem to point to Hamels.. Home park, lefty, control, even workload thus far in their respective careers points a tad in Hamels favor.. Just have this odd feeling that Cain will be one of those people who pitches forever, or years and years.
Cain has a large frame and body, where Hamels is much more slight in stature. Sometimes it makes a difference and for 2 of the top people (SP) who could have been available, both in the 20-25mAAV range it may have been worth factoring in.
Hamels and Cain are the same height but Cain has about 30 pounds of fat on him.
Cain has lost velocity over the years though and is right handed. Lefties don’t typically peak until later in their careers unless their last name is Zito.
Cain still throws 90’s and that “fat” is not exactly true as you know.. Thin railed power pitchers don’t have as long of a history of durability. I guess CC Sabathia needs to go on a diet also..
I have to wonder what Jon Lester would be worth should he be on the market as a 95mph+ throwing power lefty, with one of the nastiest cutters in the game at age 28 and 200IP each of the last 4 seasons after coming back from cancer.
6’3 and 240.. Nobody accuses him of being fat either, just like Cain…
Uneducated hater much ?
I’d take Hamels over Cain every time at even money.
I always value your opinion on this board (and another place as well) is it because he is a lefty, or is it another reason(s)?
More strike outs, less walks, more ground balls, same FIP, better xFIP, better SIERA, better FIP- and has pitched in a tougher division and smaller ballpark.
But more than all of that stuff, the real reason I would take him over Cain is that he has his success due to his change up (arguably the best in the game) while Cain’s success is due in large part to his fastball. Guys don’t really lose their change up as they age, so Hamels is likely going to be very good for a very long time where Cain is going to lose velocity on his FB as he ages and will either have to find a new way to pitch or fade out young(er than Hamels). Change ups also have no real platoon split unlike sliders (which Cain tends to throw). In fact, everything Hamels throws is platoon neutral (aside from his normal fastball – which is the same for everyone); Cutter, Curveball, and Changeup are all platoon neutral.
Cain has developed a change up. It’s one of the reason his #s are getting better.
There’s a huge difference between having a changeup and having the best changeup in the game and throwing it 25-30% of the time. Cain throws either his fastball or slider more than 70% of the time and both of those pitches have massive platoon splits, which isn’t as bad for a right handed pitcher because 75ish% of hitters are also right handed, but it’s still not the same as having your success with platoon neutral pitches.
has anyone pitched more than cain’s 1271 innings over the last 6 years?
6 people, including Broson Arroyo! Halladay is #1 and has pitched 1414 innings in that time period.
ha, never would have found arroyo. i saw halladay, verlander, sabathia, haren, felix..good company
If i had to chose between Cain or Lineculm for a long term contract it be Cain. Linceculm’s physique scares me for the future, dont know if he can hold up. But you look at Guidry and held up all right, gave the Yankees 200 innings from age 27- 35. So idk i guess you roll the dice if your the Giants. But do you really want to have two guys in your rotation making 20+ mill a year?
Agree 100% about keeping Cain > keeping Timmy, but it’s not about health. Timmy has the Cy’s, but Cain is like the ringleader of the rotation. MadBum and him are practically joined at the hip, and everyone refers to Cain as the leader, elder-statesman (whatever you want to call it). He’s like a 2nd pitching coach, plus he’s been a model of consistency and dependability his whole career
i obviously dont follow the giants, i’ve never knew that, but thats great to here. an even better reason to sign him over Linceculm. Hopefully you can give the big man the run support he deserves! haha
Yeah, the offense has a chance to be dismal again this year if some guys don’t step up. A lot of people have been ripping this deal but I like it (for the reasons I gave above), and now they gotta try to score a few runs for the guy. Here’s hoping they muster together even a passable offense haha
Now if only they can find some hitters…
Meanwhile, the A’s posted an OPS last season a mere 0.009 points higher than the Giants with a DH in place of the pitcher. Those in glass houses…
Now if only Oakland can find some fans…
I’ll take 10,000 real fans than 35,000 bandwagon fans any day
HA! All you need to do is look at playoff games: The Giants sold out game 3 of the 97′ NLDS at Candlestick (57k). The A’s, in a deciding game 5 vs. the Twins in 02′, drew 28k. Fail.
So where do you get the number 35,000 for bandwagon fans? I think you forget there are so many loyal fans in the Bay Area. Of course if you are from Oakland, you should know that.
bandwagon fans buy tickets too. Even if they aren’t real teams they help the team keep higher payroll and would help keep them in oakland. Every team has real fans and ones that bandwagon.
Off topic….I hope you’re safe and not near that school shooting!
Giants lock up Cain. A’s lock up another killer bulk deal on tarps.
Sounds like you really thought about that, try harder next time
Tsk, tsk. Such a bad look when the troll gets upset. See that gem that you started out with above? Try harder next time.
Good deal in that it’s only 5 years.
It is 6 years.
5 years and a club option. 2012 contract is unchanged.
It’s only a club option if Cain is not healthy in 2017, otherwise it becomes guaranteed. Not a bad way of insuring the 6th year though, Yankees did virtually the same thing with C.C.’s new contract.
yes, but the biggest reason that you wouldn’t want to keep him around for that age 34? season is if he is injured. It protects the team from risk somewhat. As long as he doesn’t pull a zito, which i doubt because he has more talent. zito never had a real fb?
I understand the reason behind it, I was just pointing out that it isn’t a straight up club option.
Yea, it works out for both sides, he gets to be a free agent when he is 33, so he could still lock up a decent deal for 4-5 years if still healthy. The giants dont have to lock themselves up for a long time and be stuck with a player that could be unhealthy.
Learned their lesson on Zito, I guess.
Zitto was losing his “zippo” on his FB even before he signed the contract with the SFG, not the case here. Cain IMO hasn’t even fully reached his potential.
Not to compare Zito and Cain, because I don’t think Cain will fall off a cliff anytime soon, but Cain has technically lost almost 2 MPH off his fastball since ’07 and 2009 was the only year in which his velocity was not down from the year before.
That is kind of normal for many pitchers who once threw over 95. Not all of course and realize am bringing up Lester again, but Lester (after he finally got over the effects of cancer) was up to 97mph in 09-10, but was back to 95 and *maybe* 96 tops last year. As some of these innings people, who throw a lot age, they do lose 1-2mph, though yes.. Zitto lost 3-4mph as recall at Oakland and was think barely hitting 90.
The larger framed SP (to me) seem to be able to just “hang on” to their maximum speed and able to throw their best arsenal for a longer period. True, it’s not all and their are exceptions. Bobby Veale hurt his arm and was a “man”ster for the Pirates way back, he was said to throw up towards the 100mph range with regularity, but didn’t last but 7 years. Carlton was not that bulked up, but lasted seemingly forever, same with Jimmy Kaat.
Right, a couple of MPH isn’t that big of a deal, the only thing is that he averaged 91.2 last year on his FB, and if (and I think it’s a big if) the trend of losing velocity continues, he doesn’t have that much more wiggle room, so to speak. Again, I don’t think Cain will become ineffective anytime soon, and I like this deal a lot for the Giants.
Way different than zito, cain has a much better fastball. Zito’s last 3 years in oakland he had a 3.80 era in every season or higher. That is decent, but was not deserving of ace-like money.
Comparing Zito to Cain with respect to their performance leading up to their respective contracts in disingenuous. Either that, or you don’t really know how to properly value their stats and age leading up to the contracts.
Cain asked if he thought about pitching for Dodgers: “I did not seriously think so. The truth is, I don’t have to. I’m excited about it.”
Always like watching Cain pitch, glad to see he’s gonna be around the division for a long time. Would be nice to see the Padres get after him if he wipes the logo off the mound, too.
22.5M/yr for a pitcher that has a career losing record….
I’m sorry, but this is crazy. 6 years for a guy with more losses than wins. And many people compared the deal to CCs- this guy’s got some good numbers that last coupla years, but he is NO CC Sabathia.
Oh really? No CC? he is the definition of a horse, look at his actual numbers not W-L
sure, cause all sabre-heads will tell you that wins are overrated. He played on very good 2010 team and only won 11 games. And CC, he managed to win 19 games on a pretty crappy Indians team. AND, Lincecum pitched on the same teams and wins 50% more games than he losses. For pitchers, wins are everything.
If only you watched the games that year and saw how many 1-0 and 2-1 losses Cain took that year. Win-loss record isn’t that big of a deal.
A loss is a loss. I don’t care if my team loses 15-1 or 1-0, all it means my team just isn’t getting it done.
but its not a reflection on the pitcher
That’s a naive way to look at baseball. Felix Hernandez destroyed that notion when he won the cy young. Wise up.
So let me get this straight…let’s say, hypothetically, said pitcher loses each game by that 1-0 score, and has an 0-10 record, but an era of 1.00, he wouldn’t deserve an extension worth a boatload of money? Braden Looper had the most wins for the Brewers a few years ago, but ended up signing a minor league deal the following year. He also had at least two more runs per game by the offense than Gallardo. Now…where do you think those wins came from? Surely not his lights out pitching.
” For Pitchers , wins are everything.”
You are going to get eaten alive for this Lol…
Not only that, but the earth is flat too!
Better be careful, you could fall off the edge!
Yeah, let’s all look at W-L records for pitchers, because clearly the stat, even though a pitcher can get a win while giving up 6 runs and a loss while giving up 2, is all powerful.
Call Felix Hernandez, tell him to give back one of the rare Cy’s that actually was awarded properly.
Posted this example for another comment, but this just shows how terribly flawed your last sentence is. Braden Looper had the most wins for the Brewers a few years ago, but
ended up signing a minor league deal the following year. He also had at
least two more runs per game by the offense than Gallardo. Now…where
do you think those wins came from? Surely not his lights out pitching. Wins are quite probably the WORST stat to gauge their quality off of.
Lincecum pitched on the same teams and won 50% more than he lost. Goog God, they’ll have to pay him $30 million a year.
If you think Lincecum is that much better than Cain, you either don’t watch many Giants games or know much baseball. Cain’s run support has pretty much been one of the 5 worst in all of baseball every season. He’s an elite starter and our park is built perfectly for his strengths, it’s a match made in heaven
2 Cy Youngs for Lincecum, 0 for Cain. 2.98 ERA for Lincecum, 3.35 ERA for Cain. 9.9 K/9 for Lincecum, 7.4 K/9 for Cain. 138 ERA+ for Lincecum, 125 ERA+ for Cain. .627 Winning Percentage for Lincecum, .486 Winning Percentage for Cain.
Lincecum has been that much better than Cain. Cain is a really good pitcher, but Lincecum has been clearly better.
I never said Cain was a better pitcher, just that the difference in value between them is not staggering, because it isn’t. Cain is technically a few months younger (not a big deal), has been established in the bigs longer, is much more consistent than Timmy, and is also a mentor to younger guys on the staff like Bumgarner. Cain is like having a 2nd pitching coach, and all that has to be taken into account. Look up any interview with Giants pitchers where they’re asked not who’s most talented, but who’s the leader of the staff- you’ll hear one name- Matt Cain. That’s why he’s getting locked up first, because he’s more valuable to the Giants success.
Oh, I hate crap like this- it’s the Bert Blyleven argument. He has a crappy won-lost record, got maybe three Cy Young votes, and everybody’s got a hatful of excuses for them. Lincecum and Cain played on the same team. One is a .500 pitcher and one is a .667. The difference between the two is all fluff, fairy-dust and excuses. I’m a huge Tigers fan. How about this analogy: Lincecum is a Verlander and Cain Edwin Jackson. Great, great stuff, different results.
hhahahahaahhahaahahaha.
i needed a good laugh. cain, edwin jackson lol
you’re easily the funniest guy on these boards, keep up the good work!
One day, you will realize the error of your ways.
You’re right. He’s better than Sabathia.
Cain is an ace and I’m not taking anything away from him, but he isn’t better than C.C.
I’m a huge Giants fan and I wouldn’t say Cain is better than CC, but there is not a big difference. Gotta give CC props for being a stud in a stacked division and a band box park, but their stats are eerily similar. Sure, the W-L record is the exception to that, but K/9, BB/9, ERA… not a lot of difference there
Stats are pretty similar, but like you said, C.C. plays in the tougher offensive division and in a much more hitter-friendly park. Still enjoy watching Cain pitch and he’s on my fantasy team this year, so I’m definitely rooting for him big time.
Nope.
How does this affect the Hamels/Phillies deal? Does it help one or the other to get the type of deal they want in the end?
I’d assume it would help Hamels although he was probably looking at something slightly less than the Cliff Lee deal.
$22.5M per year is a lot for Cain. I think the Giants overpaid a little bit on this one.
Lots of freakin money, Matt Cain is good, but I never envisioned him getting 6 years and 127 million. Guess that’s what baseball has came to these days.
Danks got 5 yrs/$65M. Cain gets 5 yrs/$112.5M. Wow, and people think Kenny Williams is bad?
Congrats to Matt Cain, a Dothan, AL-native.
Wow, only in baseball is 100mm considered a hometown discount lol! I mean just think what you could do with that much money!
Giant fans your ticket price has now gone up another $5.
They over paid in aav to reduce the amount of years.
its a good strategy to not have expensive aging pitchers locked up, if it means a few extra a year, its a good decision.
wait, I figured it out! Zito’s contract comes off the books nextyear, and the Giants are anxious to retain their title as “worst judge of pitching in all of MLB”. Verlander and Weaver signed for for 25-30% less, and they are both FAR superior pitchers- pitchers with winning records.
Yeah. Giants are “worst judge of pitching in all of MLB.” The team that drafted and developed Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Sergio Romo, Brian Wilson….you’re sharp, bro!!!
straight trolling
I don’t think Cain’s losses will be taken into account, as everyone knows it was because of the offense that Cain got most of his losses. As a pitcher though, Cain is just as good as Hamels.
…
Glad to have this done before opening day…don’t need this hanging over everyone’s heads for the season.