Time for Giants to talk contract with Hunter Pence

Hunter Belushi

 You hear it all the time. You'll never see a guy do things quite like Hunter Pence. Hell, even Hunter himself said as much after being traded to the Giants at the deadline last season.

“I have to be honest. Every now and then, I do things that you don’t see very often.”

Everything from his lumber-chopping practice swings, to his fidgety wiggling in the batter's box, to his crazy eyes and spirit-inspiring speeches; Hunter Pence is one of a kind.

Like Pence, the Giants themselves are one of a kind. Their maddening style of play and uniqueness is a reflection of the city they play in-- a place I'd certainly call maddening and unique in its own right.

Nothing against Houston and Philadelphia, but Hunter Pence belongs here.

He belongs here because of his crazy ways and his crazy eyes. The fact that he rides a go-ped to the ballpark just seals the deal. Oh yeah, and he's a good baseball player.

"He's all out, and he's contagious." as Bruce Bochy put it after Wednesday's walkoff win against Philly in which Pence clubbed his 7th HR.


Last season after being traded, Pence struggled with his stroke a bit, but made up for it in a myriad of ways-- the aforementioned inspirational speeches and timeless weirdness like that triple hit broken bat Texas leaguer against St. Louis.

This year is another story. He's been arguably the team's best hitter this year, if not a close second to the .320 hitting Pablo Sandoval.

There's something very timely about Pence's hitting this year. It's not always situational success or crazy clutch, but if no one else is doing much of
anything, he seems to be the guy to rely on.

Obviously, it's early May, so there's no guarantees, but you have to be thrilled with Pence's 7 HRs and 22 RBIs to go along with an average hovering around .290 and an OPS around .825. Not just that, but he has increased his percentage of line drives by 5%, he's playing a righteous right field and is 5 for 5 in stolen base attempts (which equals his 2012 total).

The man once heckled by a Giants fan as "Bird Legs" as a member of the opposition, Pence's defense has perhaps entertained and impressed me most. As with everything else we see from Pence, his throwing motion is a bizarre, side-winding body heave that people just don't run on. He covers a ton of ground for a guy his size, and has learned to properly play balls off the right field archways and how to safely pursue foul balls near the bullpen mounds.

For you Saberjerks out there that need some sort of bizarre, contrived formula to satisfy your question about Pence's defense other than his 1 error or .988 fielding %, he's got a career high +3.7 UZR going. OKAY? 3.7!

To me, it's safe to give "Ol' Bird Legs" the ultra rare label of Five Tool Player.

Long story short is that Hunter Pence needs to remain a Giant for the foreseeable future. Not just for his personality, well-documented and impressive work ethic, and hot start. It's a significant factor in this situation that he genuinely loves it here. He feels like he can be himself, he loves the fans, and for God's sake, he hits well at AT&T Park. He's hitting a full 60 points higher in San Francisco (.318 vs.258 ) with 4 dongs (vs. 3) in San Francisco this season.

As for money, you have to expect that he's not going to be taking any paycuts-- as he shouldn't. The notion of a "hometown discount" won't exist here, but since the guy wants to stay here and buy some real estate, I don't think an in-season contract extension is out of the question.

It seems to be the new trend that guys don't want to "negotiate in season" to "avoid distraction". That to me is BS, and it's a politically correct excuse to be wined & dined following the year to get the biggest offer from the other 29 teams. That's fine, but for guys like Pence, that's not going to be an issue.

Just so we know where we are with Pence, the talks probably have to start at 4yr/$60MM and could go up a bit from there. If you look at the deal Pagan got (4yr/$40MM), you'd have to say Hunter is worth more than that. Keep in mind as well that he's making $13.8MM this year in the final year of arbitration.

As far as potential OF competition for Pence in free agency next year, the crop is deeper than usual.The likes of Nelson Cruz, Curtis Granderson, Jason Kubel, Shin-Soo Choo, and Carlos Beltran are all expected to be available. This will likely play in the Giants' favor, and if the conversation begins at that 4yr/$60MM figure, Pence would be remiss if he didn't try to get a deal done.

Let's hope we see UnderPence's googly eyes under that black Giants hat for years to come. Godspeed Sabean.

A little too much leash

Loyalty and trust are two of the greatest things in the world. You trust your gut, you're behind your guys and you believe in them. I get it.

It's a long series and Sunday's loss in Game 1 doesn't kill us. Far from it.

I have to say though, this first loss against the Cardinals lies squarely on Bruce Bochy's shoulders. Obviously Bumgarner gave up the six earnies and two back-breaking home runs, but he shouldn't have been in the position to let Carlos Beltran go yard.

Am I an armchair quarterback? Yes. Absolutely. I'm not on the team. I'm just like you. This is what I was saying during Bumgarner's disastrous inning chronologically (bottom to top):

Not trying to toot my own horn, but you know, I'm just saying. I couldn't have possibly been the only one thinking these things? Right?

So many times we second guess our managers and coaches during games. We don't have anywhere near the experience or knowledge as these leaders, but it's still easy to see when a guy just doesn't have it that night.

I think of all of Bochy's flaws as a manager-- as minor as many of them are in the grand scheme of things-- his loyalty to his starting pitchers is simultaneously the most positive and detrimental.

Hell, he's an old catcher and he fights for his starters the same way he did back when his knees allowed him to squat and catch nine innings. I think it's admirable, I really do. All season, he allowed Lincecum to hang himself with the extra leash-- same with Vogelsong and Bumgarner in the second half.

As admirable as that quality is in a manager, it seems like probably 6 or 7 times out of 10 letting a guy work out his problems on the mound ends in failure. There of course are times when a guy will have a lousy couple innings and then right his ship, but this is the playoffs. Time is of the essence.

That's all I'll say about Boch. I don't want to rag on the guy, because he's gotten it done before and he's gotten us to this point. He's a great manager, he really is. He doesn't trust youngsters and he likes his pitchers and catchers, and that goes hand in hand with being an old-school backstop.

Random thoughts

• Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma are not going away. They were clutch against the Nats, they contributed down the stretch, and they are going to be pesky little weirdos the rest of this series
• I found out that the Peninsula's own Descalso grew up an A's fan. Not cool bro...
• I know a guy named Danny Descalso. No relation. 
• Lance Lynn is probably better suited coming out of the 'pen and the Giants took advantage of him. No Jaime Garcia will do that to you. Too bad a certain someone was left in the game too long and gave up six runs.
• Chris Carpenter won't give up more than 3 runs. Bank it.
• If there's one weak spot in the Cards' pitching staff, it is poor situational pitching and mismanagement by Mike Matheny. At some point this series, Mike will put the wrong guy in at the wrong time and we will benefit.
• Is Jason Motte the best closer ever to only have one pitch at one speed? He's obviously better than Jose Valverde.
• Seriously, he has a 98 mph fastball, and that's IT.
• Beltran has now taken Zack Wheeler AND Game 1 of the NLCS from us. Time to give something back dude. How about a costly error?
• Tony Bennett is a beast.
• Can you remember a more disappointing sports day? Niners getting embarrassed by a new arch-enemy during the afternoon and the Giants losing a playoff game at night? BRUTAL.
• I blame Joe Buck, who called the 49ers debacle at Candlestick, then proceeded to ruin our day further by taking a "trolley" to AT&T and imposing his lousy announcing, stupid face, and Cardinals cheerleading on us.

• It was pretty obvious that a lot of people were coming from the Niner game based on the early inning empty seats. Lucky bastards.
• Bumgarner didn't get any better after his awful outing against Cincy. He now has a postseason ERA of 11.25. That is the ERA of a guy who just doesn't have it. AT ALL. He belongs in the bullpen until further notice. I love you Madison, I do, but we both know you're lost.

Let's get Game 2!

Uncertainty is the name of the game

When your fellow Giants fans ask you, 'Are you excited for the season??!!', your automatic response is 'Yeah! Can't wait!'.

Mine is the same. Of course I can't wait. It's the Giants, it's BASEBALL for God's sake. How could one not be excited? I mean, you'd have to be some kind of Communist foreigner not to be excited about the 2012 season.

Beyond that initial excitement for Giants baseball and my upcoming fantasy drafts, I feel very uneasy.

I feel uneasy about the lineup again. I feel uneasy about management's willingness to do what needs to be done about our lack of offense.

I feel uneasy about the Tim Lincecum situation.

I feel uneasy about the Matt Cain situation.

I just don't know what 2012 will bring, and it's beyond "anything can happen, it's a new year" sort of jitters.

For the first time in a few years, I'm not feeling confident. I've always tried to not be a negative fan, but for some reason, I can't shake it right now.

Uncertainty breeds a lack of confidence, and a lack of confidence breeds anxiety, negativity, and a general neurosis-- something that no one wants or needs.

I can't be the only one worried about this season, can I?

Sometimes I fall asleep wondering if Matt Cain will re-sign or if Lincecum wants to stay a Giant his whole career. It scares me to think that we'd lose either of them, but the possibility of losing one or both still exists.

What the hell am I supposed to make of this Huff/Belt/Posey/Pill 1B logjam or the Cabrera/Pagan/Schierholtz/Huff/Belt OF logjam? Are any of these guys any good anyway?

Will Posey return to form? Will Brian Wilson return to his 2010 form?

I just don't know, and no one could possibly know.

Perhaps I've just been watching too much Doomsday Preppers on NatGeo, but I just feel like this roster could possibly be on the verge of chaos or collapse at some point.

With another weak and unproven lineup of hitters with no guarantees of who will be playing where on a given day, I thank God that we still have the pitching staff that we do. I know it'll be there for us to keep us close and prevent things from getting out of hand.

With that said, I'm not a believer in Melky Cabrera or Angel Pagan. I think they're both third outfielders and both 6th place hitters that will probably see time hitting some combination of leadoff and third. Call me negative, because that's the way I am right now.

I wanted Beltran back, even with his injury risks because we had the depth already to fill in for him if he went out. Now we just have two more average players vying for everyday roles.

Hopefully once the season starts, I'll see that things aren't that bad, and that we'll continue to scrap out games they way we always do, but with Arizona (the team that beat us and made the playoffs last season) adding Trevor Cahill to its rotation and Jason Kubel to its already superior lineup, it's just hard to stay positive.

I feel like Arizona got better, but we really didn't-- and that's a depressing thought.

Anyway, thought I'd just rain on everyone's spring training parade and I hope getting all this BS out of my system helps get me into a more positive mood about 2012.

Sabean cannot stand pat

I like the Beltran move, I really do. He's a real hitter, and he instantly made us better. I'm not going to buy a $35 #15 shirzey or anything, because it'll only get a few wears out of it before it's obsolete... I'm celebrating the move by praying for another.

Our catcher situation sucks, it really does... but there's not a lot that can be done. There's no significant upgrade available, and our pitching staff is doing well throwing to our no-hitting backup tandem of Whiteside and Stewart.

The glaring hole is at shortstop, where the sickening play continues.

The bluntly ugly truth of the matter is that Tejada sucks, Fontenot sucks, and Crawford can't hit.

Sorry. All good guys... maybe Crawford will be a serviceable starter someday, but if we're going to repeat as World Champs, this situation must be fixed.

Crawford must be sent back down. Sorry Stamos, you just haven't been able to adjust to big-league pitching as quickly as we'd all have liked. You'll get another shot in September, but if Burriss gets sent down, you need to too... neither of you are doing anything of note.


Secondly, if I see Mike Fontenot face just ONE MORE left-handed pitcher at ANY TIME, I am going to blow an effing head gasket on my truck and in my brain. In fact, as I'm writing this and looking up his splits, I don't want him facing righties either. How he looks so bad against southpaws on a regular basis (.256 avg) and somehow manages to hit .186 against righties as a full time lefty absolutely boggles my mind.

The man needs to be a pinch hitter and emergency infielder, and THAT's it.

Same with Tejada, the man is a backup at best, and I can't take it anymore.

I know our big deal was Beltran and that the Mets say that they're not looking to move Jose Reyes, but I believe now more than ever, that Sabean can't give up on getting him out of Queens forever.

If the Mets think they can keep him, they're mistaken. They're broke and in disarray. The Giants are one of the teams that can actually pay him long term if they so choose, especially with Rowand's disgraceful contract expiring after next season, Huff's contract expiring after next year, and Zito's albatross expiring after '13.

With all the success the Giants have had recently and the prime pitching staff they have assembled comes in gobs of money. They're not as rich as you think because of unfair revenue sharing and AT&T annual mortgage payments, but they're still doing as well as they ever have.

I know the urge is to keep the farm system intact and keep it rolling into the future, but the truth of the matter is that after Zack Wheeler, the desirable and/or blue chip prospect pool declined significantly.

There is no more Bumgarner or Posey, no Belt or Wheeler down there anymore.

There's speedy and impressive OF Gary Brown, a couple above-average hitting catchers, big hitting 27 year old 1B Brett Pill, a couple under-performing OFs named Neal and Kieschnick, and a surprising lefty starter named Eric Surkamp in AA-Richmond who has 140K's in 114 innings with an ERA around 2.00. And of course the typical list of middle infielders with good gloves and no bats (Adrianza, Culberson, Crawford, Noonan).

Honestly, that's about it right now. The minors ain't what they used to be because we've already harvested our crop down on the farm and sold off a lot of the rest of it.

This is why I say we go for it.

We're already better than we were at this time last season, and we somehow won it all. Filling the gaping hole at short with Reyes, and paying him long-term sounds crazy, but it is the best possible solution to our current problem of TeCrawfenot stinking it up at SS.


Check out Croix de Candlestick's workup on Eric Surkamp before this season started. He was ahead of the curve on the lefty.

There's enough to get a Reyes deal done but barely. They'll want Belt or Jonathan Sanchez, and surely that's in addition to Gary Brown and a lower level prospect like Crawford.

I say do it any way you can without giving up Belt. Do it and do it yesterday, because we have the unique opportunity to win it all again, something that hasn't happened in quite a while.

Lincecum and Cain won't be in their mid 20s forever. The time is now! It can be done without mortgaging the future, especially with an interesting crop of free agents available next offseason (Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Reyes, Beltran).

Anyway, sorry about this rambling rant, but I can't rest knowing that Sabean didn't take his best shot at Reyes and a back to back championship.

Hello Carlos!

The date was July 10th. It was probably sometime around 10 or 10:30pm when they started to board the flight to Sky Harbor. Timmy and Cainer were there. So was Boch and Kung Fu. Ron Wotus and the Flan Man, Righetti and B-Weez. Somewhere towards the back, Ryan Vogelsong was pinching himself, in disbelief of what he was experiencing.

It was a charter flight to Phoenix full of Giants all-stars-- both coaches and players, incredible in its own right.

The only oddity were two guys who belonged in Phoenix for the all-star festivities, but didn't really belong on that particular flight.

One was Jose Reyes, the other was Carlos Beltran.

I'm sure there were plenty of jokes thrown around on that joyous flight. Torres and Beltran were probably talking about Puerto Rico, Pablo, I'm sure, was yukking it up with Reyes, being the goofball that he is. It honestly is a flight I wish I was on. Sounds like a pretty epic scene.

Somewhere though, a bespectacled Brian Sabean was staring a hole through the back of Beltran's seat. If he could have eye-effed the hell out of him, he would have. Like a bar sleaze eyeing his prey, he thought, "I want you, and I'm gonna get you."

Sabean has made some ballsy moves in his day... trading Matt Williams probably being his most brassy balls move. This one is up there though.

The Giants certainly needed something-- someone-- to improve this struggling first place lineup. Yes that's right, a first place, defending World Champ lineup that needs an infusion of energy like a crankhead needs to buy Sudafed from a Tennessee Walgreens to trade to a dealer for a hit of ice.

Is Beltran the answer? Ehh... he's not a savior. He's an all-star hitter, a decent outfielder, and immediately improves an anemic offense. However, he's not a prototypical thumper. On most teams, he'd be a #2 power threat. With the Giants though, he's immediately the best hitter on the team, and it couldn't have come soon enough.

This Beltran deal is either brilliant, or will go down in Giants lore as being a real waste of prospect pitching. Zach Wheeler projects pretty well in the Bigs, and it is difficult to let him go. In addition, Beltran's contract stipulates that he cannot be offered arbitration after his contract expires-- meaning of course that when he leaves after this season, the Giants will receive no compensatory draft picks. He's a Type-A free agent that will net them nothing. They do not pass Go and do not collect $200--- I mean a Sandwich Pick.

This deal is riding solely on Carlos Beltran's shoulders, and Sabean has his fingers crossed that Beltran repeats his 2004 magic he displayed in Houston after being traded mid-season from Kansas City.

The Astros rented Beltran too, and he was worth it. In 90 games, he hit 23HR and drove in 53 with an OPS of .926.

That of course, was the peak of Beltran's solid career-- a contract year-- one that he parlayed into ungodly amounts of cash from the Mets.

Beltran is on the downslope of his career. He's still a great hitter, but is injury-prone and slower than he used to be. Regardless, he will help us exponentially.

The Giants lineup is unpredictable, but I'm assuming that Schierholtz and Torres will be affected the most by Beltran's arrival. I have no idea what they'll do with all this.

I do know that Andres Torres can't hit a lick right handed though. In case this has escaped you, he's hitting .121 against lefties, and I'm at the point where I think he should pull a JT Snow and only hit left handed.

Beltran's arrival means that against a righty, Torres should play CF with Ross in LF and Beltran in RF. Against a lefty, I see Schierholtz, a career .326 hitter against southpaws, playing RF with Ross and Beltran taking up the other two spots.

It is a shame that Schierholtz will lose time because he's been one of our only decent hitters in the last couple months, but he will still be able to contribute.

It's a bold move and a bold statement by trading for Beltran, but if he hits like he's capable of hitting, I don't see why we can't win it all again.