It’s a no-brainer to bring back former San Francisco Giants World Series hero Pablo Sandoval after his disastrous, 161-game detour with the Boston Red Sox that lasted nearly three years.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the Giants aren’t good at the tepid corner. It happens to be the position Sandoval played during two of the Giants’ recent World Series victories. Is Pablo in shape or is he in the shape of a pear? That I do not know. What I do know is San Francisco is last in baseball in third base production. They are dead last in OPS at an anemic .606 and last in runs batted in with 32. They rank near the bottom in home runs with just six from a traditional power spot on the diamond and the third base batting average sits at .232.
As bad as Sandoval was in his 161 games in Boston, his OPS was .646 with 14 home runs and 59 RBI – not good, but not at the depths of the Giants not-so-hot corner production. And that’s Pablo at his worst. His average season in San Francisco produced an OPS of .811 with two seasons over 20 home runs and a .300 batting average. He’s a career .344 postseason hitter, a career .426 World Series hitter and cranked a major league postseason all-time record 26 hits during the 2014 World Series run. Yes, that was three seasons ago, but he’s only 30 years old, the same age as Buster Posey.
Would the Giants be doing this if they were playing well? Nope, but this is more than a public relations stunt to dust off some old Panda merchandise during a disastrous season. Many of us media types predicted the gregarious style of the Panda would clash with the ‘what have you done for us’ skepticism many outsiders receive in East Coast sports cities. Sandoval did himself no favors by admittedly showing up out of shape and literally fat and happy after the Red Sox signed him to a five-year, $95 million deal in the winter of 2014. In San Francisco he had postseason equity built up, his quirky nature and battle with the bulge was seen as Pablo being Pablo. “Let Pablo eat” was often heard around AT&T Park. At Fenway Park, “you suck” was the language of the rotund and often injured Panda. The optimistic thinking is Sandoval fits better in this environment, and I agree. Concerning the fit in the clubhouse, former Giants relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, a teammate, told me on Tolbert and Lund that maybe his energy would wake the clubhouse up and he had no hard feelings about some of the things Sandoval said when he exited the team.
The biggest reason it makes sense, though, is it’s the Giants job to look under every rock to find potential offensive talent. The farm system isn’t producing consistent hitters or the prospects to trade for quality lumber, and solid free agent bats rarely sign up to swing at pitching friendly AT&T Park. You may have heard these Giants are near the bottom in every major offensive category this season. Even during the World Series years the team relied on timely hitting more than consistent knocks. Sandoval produced many of those key hits.
The cost? Thank the Red Sox for cutting loose Sandoval with nearly $50 million left on his deal. Baseball contracts are guaranteed, so Boston will eat this contract like Pablo used to crush the post game spread. The Giants can sign him to the veteran’s minimum with no future risk.
If he’s postseason Panda, the Giants add a much-needed bat to a mostly toothless line up. If he’s overweight, unmotivated Panda, the Giants move on, nothing lost but a few at bats which would have gone to players who have proven they don’t deserve the plate appearances anyway this season.
Dust off your Panda hats and 48 jerseys, Pablo Sandoval will be back in orange and black. With the season already lost, there’s nothing more to lose.
