If I could only write one word about the Matt Cain extension, which instead of a $6.25 M option year in '11 guarantees $8 M in '11 and $15 M in '12, it would be sensible. There's always risk in promising a lot of money to a pitcher, but when teams do it, they often promise many years' worth of gazillions of dollars. The Giants managed to "lock up" Cain for an extra year at a price that, if he continues to pitch at his typical performance level, would probably be market value.
To put it another way, both sides stalled for time. Cain doesn't have to worry about hitting the free agent market at the end of 2011, and he gets an extra year of security against diminished performance or injury. The Giants get an extra year of cost certainty (or if you prefer, true financial risk). In a perfect world, I"d prefer the Giants to sign Cain to a five-year extension at $15 M a year with guarantees that his arm or other body part would never ever ever go kerflooey. Short of that, the extension is about as sensible as the real world allows.
Now, onto the juicy bits of today's post. I don't follow the day-to-day notebooks of other teams' beat writers, but I have to ask: Do other GMs speak so off-the-cuff about their own players? Following in his grand tradition of being brutally honest in public (yet often contradicting himself soon thereafter), here are the most recent words of Brian Sabean, in Baggs' Sunday blogpost about the fate of Nate Schierholtz:
"He was calmer, but that's his M.O. when he was in the minor leagues much like Bowker. Now all of the sudden Bowker is relaxed and settled in and Nate is in this anxious period. I don't know if it's the pressure trying to earn the position or if the game just speeds up for him at the major league level. He's battling some demons there,. If he doesn't get it right, he's going to be in between and not be able to hit good pitching. That's what makes it tough in the big leagues. In our division, from at-bat to at-bat, you've got to be really competitive with your swing and he's not there yet. Is he working hard at it? Yes. Is Hensley (Meulens) trying to unlock it? Yes. But you can't go out there for him. They still have to stand in the batter's box and take the swing. He's got a lot of things to offer. He's just gotta relax. Easier said than done."
First of all, all of what Sabean says about Schierholtz is true for every non-superstar major leaguer. There's pressure. It's tough. Good pitchers will eat you up if you don't have your mechanics and your head right, you're in trouble. Hey, Brian -- no duh. And that's where Schierholtz is at. He hasn't proven he can be an everyday major leaguer. Is saying any of this out loud really helping?
Perhaps Sabean has a degree in Sports Psychology, and he knows that laying out Nate's faults a week before he's supposed to start the year as the opening day right fielder serves a motivational purpose. I don't pretend to know what's happening in Schierholtz's head, or how he responds to pressure. Perhaps Sabean has deeper insights. But time and again Sabean and his cohorts have talked frankly -- even talked trash -- about their players, and they've often been wrong or misguided. Whatever happened to keeping it in the family? I'm glad he's not my boss.
