The Giants and third baseman Pablo Sandoval have tabled extension talks after reaching an impasse, GM Brian Sabean told CSN Bay Area's Jim Kozimor on Yahoo Sportstalk Live, as Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area reports. Sandoval, 27, is represented by Gustavo Vasquez of SPS Sports Group.
We heard last night that the sides remained far apart in negotiations, though another recent report suggested that both sides were optimistic (albeit not close). Sandoval is said to be asking for a five-year deal along the lines of teammate Hunter Pence's $90MM contract. Looking ahead at the list of 2015 free agents, Sandoval is one of just a few players likely to hit the open market who may have a legitimate claim to that kind of contract. Though he has not matched his big 2011 campaign in the last two years, Sandoval has remained productive and is quite young for a player on the cusp of 6 years of MLB service.
Sabean indicated that he is "probably at the end of the rope" with regard to a new deal, with talks so "far apart … it makes no sense" to continue at the present. "We've given our best shot with good faith intended to try to get him signed and they've drawn a line in the sand that we're not going to beat nor should we meet," said Sabean. "Things have been tabled and we'll see what happens up the line, but we're not going to have ongoing talks from this time forward."
Though Sabean did not rule out the possibility of reopening thematter in the future, he did not indicate optimism. "Anything's possible," he said, "I just don't know how probable it is because right now Pablo is pretty much going to have to play to get to the [salary] number that they think he's going to be able to command on the open market. We disagree that he's going to get that number, per se, from the Giants on the open market."
Sabean added that he believed the lingering matter had been impacting Sandoval's performance in the early going, and that the club preferred to keep the focus on the present:
"At this point the organization has put its best foot forward and (Sandoval’s agents) have decided it’s not to their liking, and we understand that and that’s the reason it needs to be tabled. He needs to concentrate on baseball right now. I think he might be pressing a little bit because it’s in his head one way or the other. But now it’s definitely been shut down at least for the time being. I think he needs to get on with baseball."
