SATURDAY, 7:08pm: Sandoval’s contract includes 2018-19 club options for the major league minimum, but he’ll become a free agent at the end of this season if he isn’t on the Giants’ roster, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links).
1:43pm: The deal is now official, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Sandoval will head to Class A+ San Jose, then on to Triple-A Sacramento.
Here’s a statement from Sandoval about his return to the Giants in which he apologies for disparaging comments he made about the organization as he was in the process of leaving.
“I have always loved and appreciated the Giants organization, my Giants teammates and the fans of San Francisco. I have so many great memories and I want to thank the organization for giving me another chance to come back here. When I left the Giants in 2014, my comments were emotional, insensitive and misguided and I truly regret and apologize for my actions. I am committed to working hard to contributing to the success of the Giants.”
8:07am: Sandoval will, in fact, sign with the Giants, Heyman writes (Twitter links). The Royals and others were in fact in consideration, but Sandoval ultimately opted to head back to San Francisco.
FRIDAY: The Royals are another team with interest in Sandoval, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link), though the third baseman is still expected to land with the Giants.
WEDNESDAY, 8:38pm: Sandoval says he’s “waiting for Friday to make a decision,” with the Giants being “one of [the] options,” per ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera.
7:17pm: The Giants have agreed to a minors deal with third baseman Pablo Sandoval, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). Sandoval was released earlier today by the Red Sox, though the deal will not be formally entered until his contract has passed through waivers — which (all but certainly) will occur on Friday, Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com tweets.
While the match had been rumored, and is rather unsurprising on paper, it’s still quite a notable reunion for a player who was once one of San Francisco’s most visible stars. Both Sandoval and the Giants have had seasons to forget thus far. The former was released by his most recent organization after a third-straight season marred by injury and underperformance. And the latter currently sits five games back of the Padres in the NL West cellar.
Sandoval, now thirty years of age, was a popular and productive player for seven seasons with the Giants. Over his 3,533 plate appearances, Sandoval slashed a robust .294/.346/.465 and compiled about twenty wins above replacement. That performance earned him a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox, who’ll pay the vast majority of the nearly $50MM remaining (less any prorated portion of the league minimum for time Sandoval spends in the majors from now through 2019).
The Giants tried to keep the affectionately nicknamed Panda, but extension talks never materialized and he spurned the organization in free agency — suggesting in comments at the time that he was happy to be moving on. But Sandoval never found his footing in Boston. His longstanding battle with weight was again an issue, and Sandoval missed all of 2016 with a shoulder injury. He got into shape and showed well this spring, but endured a DL stint for a knee problem and struggled both at the bat (.212/.269/.354) and with the glove (-6 DRS; -8.6 UZR/150 innings) over his 32 games in 2017.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Sandoval can jump start his career in the place he once thrived. First, though, he’ll have to earn his way back to the big leagues. It’s important to bear in mind that the sides won’t be committed to one another for very long even if things go well. Unless the deal provides the club with an option of some kind — and it is fair to note that Jose Reyes agreed to such terms with the Mets while the Rockies were paying his contract — then Sandoval will return to the open market at season’s end. That said, it’s possible to imagine an extended reunion if things go well, as the Giants don’t yet have a clear plan for the 2018 season at third base.
Why?
To fill in for the third baseman they are about to trade.
He’s virtually free.
teams always do this…bring back obvious hall of famers for a final curtain call :I
They have a Hall of Fane for Competitive Eating contests? Him and Bartolo will be 1st ballot entries soon.
Pando no HOF
House of Flapjacks.
What has he done be a hof player?
Giants hof? Yes
Copperstown? No
Cooperstown? Maybe.
Copperstown*
Classic case of subtraction by addition.
He’ll pull them out of the cellar! Hahahahaha
That was quick
Lol
This is why they’re in last place.
Ughh you’re right. This team seems lost.
I don’t think he’s actually done anything to get them into last place, but he will definitely help keep them there.
+ 1
their in last place I believe because they let all these guys go in the first place.
Booby Evans is why they are in last place
Hopefully it gets his career back on track
This is exactly what will put them over the top.
I was thinking the same thing. Next trade for Tebow.
or over the maximum weight limit on team hotel elevator.
Wow. Is this a marketing thing? Would he sell merchandise? Jerseys? In San Francisco?
In short, yes.
Wouldn’t anybody that liked him enough from before already have one?
He’s one of the most popular players in SF history so it’s a way to keep fans coming to the park during this terrible season. Also it doesn’t cost the Giants very much since Boston still owes him for the contract.
you obviously have no idea how popular of a player he was there
Nope. I live in Boston and I know how extremely unpopular he was here. Almost from day 1.
If he was extremely unpopular almost from day 1, to me that just says something about Boston.
He left on bad terms… who would buy anything with his name.
the people who remember his previously stated 7 wonderful years with the team
Who would buy anything with his name? The same people that loved a scumbag like Barry Bonds when everyone else hated him.
Exactly. He blew off the fans and walked away for a contract that was like only 5% more. Then said he did it as he was insulted by the previous offers. Basically said screw the fan base then said he only misses Bochy and Pence and no one else.
So I do not care how popular he was once upon a time …. any Giant fan should boo hos fat sorry loser ass out of the park! Not buy a Panda Jersey
absolutely they made enough money off the panda
He blows
I never thought you’d be back so soon Panda
vine video to remember Panda’s Red Sox days
vine.co/v/iTZPrgt5rmZ/embed/simple
W
Back to his old belt maker.
the belt maker works for you mom, night and day and across vast terrains
Did you mean he works for Yu’s mom?
This article is about Sandoval, not Darvish.
I pablo got my facts mixed up :I
i call for an alliance against xabial. i’m bored and have nothing better to do. he said he was going to tell on me, i told his mom he’s a failure, the end
maxwell hon, I wasn’t going to awknowledge you, but for what it’s worth I’ve never told on anyone here in my life. I came closest to you because you make things personal talking about ‘Yu’s mom’
Fyi you don’t ask for ‘alliances’. This isn’t the NBA. You’re not KD. You’re just a D. Respect is earned here and people will call you out on your Bulls**t or get your back. (trust me, I know 😉 )
HahahahahahahHahHhHahahaha
Garbage
Well Duh
league minimum for the next 2 and third years? sure why not
I thought they did away with the circus?
As a Baseball fan Brilliant move, as a Dodger fan I’m not as enthused. The Giants have nothing to lose and everything to gain
Giants are the new Phillies
The gave him a special contract in which he gets 8 Big Macs a day and an unlimited slices of cheese cake from the cheese cake factory. I heard Pablo was so happy that when he signed he had whipped cream all over his face from the hot fudge Sunday he was eating. Lol – I actually like Pablo and hope that he turns it all around.
Well it was some tough negotiating, but his agent insisted on everything they recently offered Bartolo Colon.
Hahahaha fat jokes hahahahahahaha
print the world series tickets?
Well it is an even year haha
Wow not it’s not I’m sorry!! Planning ahead 5 months lol
It’s 2017
gph.is/2pdXuqn
Odd to think somebody thought 2017 is an even year…
Remember this is an odd year, the Giants can only win in an even year
belt strikes out more than anybody on the team! he hits 3rd..and now bring in a washed up Sandoval no wonder their in last!!
they’re not trying to win. they’re trying to tank and sell merchandise. this is a brilliant move IMO.
Well it is also the Dyson thing, if he can rebound you get an all Star for league minimum, if not then cut him loose like you did with ruggiano and others at the beginning of the season
Dyson as in trying to vacuum up the worst players for cheap?
Ruggiano is in Sacramento; they didn’t cut him loose
In fact, not sure they lost many, if any, of their stockpiled flyer guys. Kyle Blanks possibly (think he was with Sac) and they cut Ricky Romero I remember, but otherwise believe they are largely all still around
Exactly right now the Giants are slated to hold the 2nd overall pick in the 2018 draft, it’s a lost year for SF so why not bring back a fan favorite and if we keep losing maybe we can earn the #1 overall pick.
im going to do no research on this but im pretty sure belt has the highest obp on the team. poseys might be better but thats why he hits 3rd. although his high obp should slot him 2nd, not 3rd
Posey leads the team with a .409 OBP.
honestly, i have hated most of the giants moves over last 15+ years but they just won 3 world series titles. i think they deserve at least a 5 year pass before we get too disgruntled. i would love to see them actually commit to a decent rebuild and try and move cueto, strickland, melancon, nunez, and kontos. they probably cant get anything for pence so let him ride out his contract as a 4th outfielder and it might be time to move belt
***they’re
Belt gets on base more than anyone on the team not named Buster
Buster Hymen?
He also has the best walk rate of qualified SF hitters and comfortably the highest ISO. So yeah, he can produce at the plate, even in a “down year”.
Lol
He breaks more belts then he has productive days
he might break more belts according to you, but pablo has 3 rings….
Then he signed with the Red Sox. Have you seen him break his belt on a swing and miss?
somebody post a link on that.
youtube.com/watch?v=koGxRi7AD-A
Yep! I posted the Vine video above. Irecommend readers read Death’s savage comment after it.
Tiny what?! Irelevant and just plain creepy. “mothers” –> new low at mlbtr. You’re a worse troll than death and probably make Troll Hall of Shame. I expect the mods to arrive shorty and remove history of this *** whooping (with the way they’ve been working overtime lately. Go away you fool, and stop making their job harder than it already is.
The sad part is people like you ruin such a great forum for basball talk. These are some of the smartest baseball people around and I ask anyone considering making an mlbtr account to join the conversation and not be scared because of **** trolls like you who talk about people’s mothers (Sorry death, I have no idea why he would bring your mama into this, if it was up to me I’d perma ban him) Name calling; Im ‘wierd?’ Oh good one. If being a passionate baseball fan, means being weird then ok. I’m wierd. The only thing wierd about me is taking you seriously, you clown. Go away and stop regurgitating this garbage, I’m surprised your comment wasn’t flagged for removal yet
Congratulations doubling down on being creepy and weird. You spelled ‘sieman’ wrong, but you probably did that on purpose to pass through the chat filter.
No reason for the Giants not to sign him. After all, the Red Sox are on the hook for his salary. Maybe he can turn things around back with the Giants.
Don’t be shocked if he does well. It happens like that sometimes when a player goes back to the place that they had success at
Avg regular season guy, clutch post season guy
He was well above average for the Gaints wasn’t he?
Well he is going back to the Bay Area, closer to BALCO.
Great, now there are going to be those dumbass Panda hats all over the yard again.
Gripe and complain all that you want, this is a zero harm venture for SF. Boston pays the fright to see if the Giants can get anything out of their former fan favorite … a no brainer really.
welcome back to the San Francisco Giants. Pablo Sandoval had a lot of success with the Giants. I like this signing.
It would be so funny if he regains his old form. The baseball version of LaGarrette Blount.
Can they switch from Panda to Piggy? Pandas are adorable and have more athletic ability than Piggy Sandoval.
Round mound on the rebound.
Makes sense. He already knows all the places to eat.
Fans in the stands. That is all.
Yeah because attendance needs a huge boost out there :/
Welcome back, Pablo… Time to quit those delicious shakes and ice creams…
Here’s an inexpensive and maybe not so great idea for Red Sox……Will Middlebrooks. He’s at Texas AAA and has 18 homeruns at the midpoint. I looked at all the teams out of contention at the major league level and very few have any pop.
That’s a pretty interesting idea I could see that
Middlebrooks has had many chances to prove that he’s not a major league hitter.
Middlebrooks is just biding his time until he comes back to the Majors and makes the Hall of Fame.
I bet he does great for the Giants
I know right
this should tip the scales in the giants favor
seems a bit harsh for signing a player to a minor league deal to fill a gap for the rest of a lost year
Nice knowing you guys!
Giants: Panda, we’d love to give you a truckload of money, but right now, we just….Oh wait, I have an Idea. Go to Boston, get their money, and just eat some pizza for two years. When you get full, just come on back and play some ball for us, on their dime. Just remember: Pizza and TV til then.
Panda: Ok.
Conspiracy 101.
Hahaha
Everyone should’ve seen this coming. Zero risk for the battery chuckers.
Wow… I don’t care what price was, who’s picking up the tab, if has a stellar year. It doesn’t change the fact that he bailed for more money. He’s a fat douche… I’ll wait til next year…
Is every other player who took the big market payout a douche?
Thome isn’t to Indians fans
…Albert Belle was tho! (And showed his appreciation by flipping off his old fans from the OF upon returning to Cleveland)
at .294, he was hitting his weight
Can’t believe he’s only 30
Stone
How far and how fast the Giants have fallen. They have very short memories and right now the franchise disgusts me.
why? because they can pick up a former all star from their system for the league minimum and toss him if need be with no obligation? Cain’s contract, resigning timmy, resigning huff – those were all bad decisions, if panda comes back to SF it really isn’t a bad idea, it is more akin to them picking up dyson as a reclamation project which has actually been paying off ok
Just what the Giants need a Fat Bum !
“Giants Expected To Sign Pablo Sandoval”
…so he can retire in San Fran?
we love Pablo ….cant wait for him to come back. Maybe a 4th ring next year. now we need Angel Pagan and possibly Gregor Blanco and we will be complete….
Lol, there is no “we”. Stop living in the past. Giants need to move on, and so do you.
How is there no “we”? What SF fan wouldn’t love to see a guy return that brought them rings? He’s no longer having to live up to a contract, and their season is over. May even sell a few more tickets. Lol, need to move on? They already did when BOS signed him. This is a perfect year for them to remember the glory days.
These negative reactions baffle me.
when talking about sandavol plate appearances takes on a whole new meaning
They want him to play 3B after Nunez gets traded….plus for merchandise sales and ticket sales etc….no risk in this
this willl help em whua whua whua
Sandoval says he’s “waiting for Friday to make a decision,” with the Giants being “one of [the] options,”
Translated: “You gonna finish that Cinnabon?”
My big concern is this time off, away from the gm this last wk…..slowly slipping away from the finely tuned, high performance professional athlete that he is……maybe it’s just Giants asking for cpl extra days while waiting for the special order pants n belt to arrive….
He’ll hit a buck eighty. Pay him whatever his batting average is.
that’s animal cruelty! i do agree to pay him $12o clams though
options, as in plural? make me laugh. I can’t imagine teams are beating down his door after the BoSox debacle. pay him proportionate to his weight-a dollar for each pound.
Well I I guess if you have to have a no buddy third baseman I guess this will do. The only thing I can think of is they bring him in for a minimal let him play there for half a year save the money and use it on somebody from the minors or bring another slugger in to play third base for next year. What whatever happens nobody knows what CBN and all them are thinking at this point.
If they do sign him I’d be very surprised if it’s a major league contract. It has to be a minor league deal with Pablo going to Sac. I wonder if he even sees much time in SF at all. They still have Hwang, and if I’m not mistaken Ryder Jones is off the DL, and Conor Gillaspie, as well. The Giants had Pablo on a weight regimen, and I would think they’d have him back on one with being in shape a requirement for call up.
What do you call a MLB position player who wields a gold glove but hits below .250? For our Giants we call him a Starter or Everyday player. For teams in contention they are called Bench players.
booooo
Does anyone else find it funny that he’s waiting to make a decision? He’s getting paid regardless. Kind of another slap in the face to Sf. It would be funny if he chooses them and they say no thanks deal is off
He has to wait till he clears release waivers I believe before any team signs him for the minimum
He was released on Wednesday. He cleared them already
He was waiting for the pizza delivery man?
Saw the graphics, when Panda Nation fans come to Giant games…..concessions go up 43%. On that level he’s a game changer, welcome home Pfat Panda!
And that boost is because he sends the clubhouse kid up to get him some grub.
7th inning stretch…. n 3 quick chili dogs….”gotta keep my strength up!”
Good move they never should have let him get away in the first place.
? serious…i’m all about humor but that’s too far
it’s obvious to us all that the giant would have won the 2016 WS if they still had Panda.
If he stayed in SF things would be different. He didn’t like dealing with the miserable people in Boston and I don’t blame him. Too bad Boston.
pepesilvia: I agree. Pablo said he signed with Boston because the contract had no weight clauses. He said that if he had signed with SF that he would be on a weight regimen for 5 years. I have to think, even if he wasn’t an AS, his career wouldn’t have become the train-wreck it did with the Giants discipline imposed. Worse thing he ever did was go to an org that relied on Pablo’s own self-discipline to stay in shape.
The Giants had a whole staff of chefs and trainers dedicated to trying to keep his weight down. He only really put in the work going in to contract years, though. His athletic abilities across the board are certainly directly connected to his weight. You could literally watch his playing improve almost by the week when he was losing weight. In baseball years, it’s been a while since 2014, though.
They’re obviously trading Nuñez. They SHOULD be bringing Arroyo up for the rest of the season to get him more big league at bats and make sure he’s ready defensively, not sure why Panda is in the mix.
Arroyo has a fractured hand and is out for the year. I’m sure Nunez won’t be here this time next week.
Yay the Panda is back! Hey try to avoid those delicious ice creams and shakes, man…
Foo king idiots
I hope that he resurrects his career. Though he made a big mistake in going to Boston, the Red Sox made a big mistake in throwing so much $$ after a player who’s greatness was only in post season AND had issues that they were fully aware of!
They should pay for pissing away $$ on many players including Panda, Hanley as well as the two they are cheating on that are sentenced to play in Pawtucket so that John Henry can avoid paying luxury tax.
Sox fans stop foaming at the mouth. Your team also signed Carl Crawford and others whom you dumped on the newbie Dodgers owners.
And we’ve saved the best for last as we will enjoy the pain of watching your team “Pay THE Price” for his contract. Haha
Haha dam, someone is a little salty. Little far by saying cheating? Every team had the chance to pick up the guys in Pawtucket. And if they performed at a big league level they wouldn’t be there. I’m guessing yankee fan? How are you liking the Ells contract? Or that Tex one? Or Arod? They had to retire just for you guys to get rid of em. Point is a lot of teams have bad contracts. Deal with it in different ways . But price? Yeah maybe overpaid but he’s actually pitching good. I’ll take that over that CC anyway.
Really? Price has been pitching good for a month? Compare stats this year and you will need a corner to become quiet in. CC is a winner-big game pitcher down the stretch for MANY years and Price hasn’t ever been the main guy in the post season EVER. And the length of his contract is absurd.
Going back to parking your mistakes in the minors it was to AVOID luxury tax. The Yankees sucked it up and paid those guys along with the luxury tax. And the price might have been high, however that produced winning seasons.
And rather than get your big old argument out of the closet, the main point is that the game has changed dynamically over the past 5 years. Trader Dave is playing your team with the old playbook. If you want to see a quick historical refresher study the Detroit Tigers. They are still suffering from the affects of robbing the minors and bloated contracts and will for a few more seasons. So you have lots to look forward to while Aaron Judge and his young friends learn to dance all over your beloved Sox.
I think it’s reprehensible when people try to minimize a player’s contribution to justify spewing hate. To say Sandoval was only good in the PS is just flat out wrong.
In Sandoval’s final 4 seasons, 523 games, he averaged a 125 OPS+. After the 2010 season the Giant’s insisted he lose weight and show up to camp in shape. He did, and in 2011 slashed .315/.357/.552, with a 155 OPS+.
And I seriously doubt, that any MLB FO is stupid enough to sign a guy for 5/95 on the basis of only PS performance. The mistake the Red Sox made was not signing Sandoval based on past performance, it was in not recognizing that Sandoval was challenged in his discipline and needed to have it imposed on him.
I had hoped he’d burned this bridge when he trashed the org and the fans on his way out, with dreams of filling Big Papi’s shoes. Eh, whatever. It’s a lost year for the Giants anyway.
Good riddance. Worst 3B play I’ve ever seen in a BoSox uniform. TFTF. (Too fat to field!).
We thought the Curse of the Babe was something,
Now, the Curse of the Panda.
We Red Sox fans are screwed again.
Surprised they wanted him back. After he flaked on their offer that was like 10mil more than Boston. Boston signing him was a disaster from the start. They gotta eat 50 mil now.
Padres offered the most per years of contract but only Boston gave that extra year which gave more overall money
Giants offered the third most money
No brained. The Giants have nothing to lose and everything to gain
Total stupidity buy the Giants. How is he going to help. He can’t stay healthy….
Stupidity would be if the.Giants did this and had something to lose by it. They don’t. In the past the Giants were able to help him control his food addiction. If they can continue doing that he might be useful. If not he’s gone and it costs the Giants virtually nothing. A fit Sandoval with something to prove could help a lot. Still, stupidity would be passing on a no-risk opportunity.
Really there’s no way that “statement” was even remotely written by Sandoval. SF should have at least written something that sounded like he had written it. Now it just seems fake.
Something “like, I’m sorry I said that stuff, I was mad at the organization for a bunch of stuff that I know now I shouldn’t have been mad about. I hope the fans can forgive me and I promise to work hard every day to earn your respect back”.
Either way. I’m not a fan of his but hope he bounces back.
As a Giants fan who lives in San Jose, I’m just happy I will get a chance to go boo him without having to make a road trip.
What in hell are the Giants looking at……. This organization is going down hill……. He stay healthy for five minutes…….Dumb move