At times, it was painful to watch.
There were the singles that dropped in front of him, the doubles that plopped beside him and the triples that spun him around and fell right behind him.
For much of the 2017 season, Denard Span was the worst center fielder in Major League baseball. Anyone who watched the Giants play could have guessed as much, and at some point, I figured Span understood his days patrolling the middle of the outfield were numbered.
That’s why when Bruce Bochy revealed the details of a conversation he had with Span about moving to left field, it didn’t come as a surprise to most. It did, however, stun Span.
Pride is a funny feeling. Though Span still felt he had the range to cover the grass at AT&T Park, advanced metrics failed him and the eye-test betrayed him. It was time.
By the first week of August, Span agreed to switch to left field, as he accepted the fact he no longer held value to the Giants in center. For as trusting and open as Span was with reporters, it was clear to anyone who walked in the Giants’ clubhouse how the decision impacted Span. It hurt.
In Pittsburgh, a similar discussion had taken place between the Pirates and their center fielder months earlier. A 30-year-old Andrew McCutchen wasn’t prepared to shift to a corner outfield spot, but the franchise’s management felt as though it could no longer go on with McCutchen up the middle. Prior to Spring Training, McCutchen agreed to move against his initial wishes, in large part out of loyalty to the only club he’d ever known.
Fast forward to January 16, 2018. Span expects to suit up for the Tampa Bay Rays, and McCutchen is the new right fielder for the San Francisco Giants. It’s not an outcome either player anticipated, but the cliche says “baseball is a business,” and both players understand the reality of their situations. Span never had to play left field for the Giants, and thanks to a Starling Marte suspension, McCutchen played all but 13 games in center field for the Pirates last year. Now, both players belong to a new club, and plan to live up to a new set of expectations.
“I’m looking forward to playing right field,” McCutchen told Giants reporters on Tuesday. “That’s one place people can’t pick on me with my sabermetrics, my defensive metrics are so bad. I’m looking forward to being able to play right. I know there’s a lot of room out there to run. It’s definitely going to be a reminder of almost like playing center field. I’ve gotten to see Hunter Pence patrol out there quite a bit so I’ll be able to pick his brain quite a bit to learn where to play, how to play, I’m just looking forward to being able to be out there and doing what I can to help the ball club win.”
On Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded away their best player in the last two decades for a rookie relief pitcher and a mid-level outfield prospect. In December, the Giants gave up Span and top prospect Christian Arroyo to land third baseman Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays. With two blockbuster moves, Giants’ general manager Bobby Evans has shifted the focus away from a 64-98 season and a last-place finish and afforded San Francisco a chance to reverse its fortune.
It wasn’t easy. For anyone involved.
The Rays bid adieu to their franchise cornerstone for the last decade. Longoria was Tampa Bay’s first homegrown star, a first round draft pick done good.
The Pirates said goodbye to the player who changed the way baseball was viewed in Pittsburgh. McCutchen walked from his home to PNC Park on game days, and led the Pirates to their first playoff berth in 21 seasons in 2013, the same year he claimed the National League MVP.
In less than a month, the Giants have traded four prospects and two Major League players in an effort to improve the club, all while staying under the $197 million luxury tax threshold. Giancarlo Stanton told them no. They whiffed on Shohei Ohtani. They don’t have the payroll flexibility to sign J.D. Martinez, and they don’t want to surrender draft picks to do a deal with Lorenzo Cain.
To compete now, Evans had to sacrifice key elements of the team’s future. When presented with both deals, he pulled the trigger.
“This player (McCutchen) has been the apple of our eye in the offseason and it was a dogged pursuit,” vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean said. “Bobby and the baseball ops staff with Pittsburgh reciprocating on their end to try to make this trade happen and lo and behold, we were able to make the transaction. The reason is Cutch’s skill set to this point in his career has been sorely needed really, and this team can use going forward not only in the lineup, but a presence in the clubhouse and how he conducts himself off the field. We’re getting a guy that’s a very exciting player and again to add to our lineup, which now I think is very formidable, short of what else we’re able to do is really a feel-good story to this point.”
When Evans, Sabean, Bochy and McCutchen joined reporters on the phone on Tuesday, they sung in harmony and their chorus was one of “compromise.”
The Giants don’t have a center fielder, and they might not sign one. Evans said prospect Steven Duggar could challenge for the starting job in Spring Training, but the franchise would prefer he begins the year with AAA Sacramento. Gorkys Hernandez, who began the 2017 season 2-for-31 at the plate, could fill the void until Duggar is ready.
McCutchen knew the day would come when he couldn’t man center field, he just didn’t know how soon it would arrive. In a new stadium with a brick wall and a unique alleyway, he’ll accept the challenge.
“I’m just very happy to be a part of this organization,” McCutchen said. “This is an organization that knows what winning is all about, and I have seen it over the years, played against it for many years, been eliminated by it so I’m very excited to be here and to be a Giant.”
The right fielder the Giants have started for the last six seasons? He wasn’t on the phone call, but Bochy was happy to relay Hunter Pence’s thoughts about shifting to left field.
“I’ve already spoken to Hunter and he’s just so excited about getting Cutch on this club,” Bochy said. “He’s good with anything and whatever is best for the club. That’s the plan right now.”
A season after the Giants’ core failed the franchise, Evans, Sabean and Bochy are leaning into the team they built instead of joining the growing number of leadership teams begging for their way out. While others rebuild, the Giants are attempting to reload. It just so happens they’re doing so with a last-place team.
With the team’s payroll situation, compromise was the most desirable option. Instead of skewing younger, the Giants chose to ride with the veterans. For Longoria and McCutchen, the weight of an entire franchise, better yet, the weight of an entire city is off of their shoulders. The only uniform they’ve ever put on is now in their past.
“How much time you got?” McCutchen joked, when asked about his emotions. “There are a lot of emotions that of course come along with it. I was there for nine seasons. You’re going to have those emotions, a lot has happened. To put it all in a nutshell, we have a lot to be excited about and we have also a lot to be thankful for. We’re thankful for everything that we have belonged to, we’re thankful for everything that has happened, we’re thankful for the Pirates’ organization and for them having faith in me.”
Neither Longoria or McCutchen ever wanted to leave. The Giants never thought their window might close so soon. Now, a franchise featuring a core that many view as too big and too old has added two more stars that are probably past their prime.
This is a Giants team loaded down by players who have been around the block. Now, those 30-something-year-olds are making compromises so they can take another trip.
It won’t be easy and it might not work, but at the very least, the Giants have given themselves a chance.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve got some baggage that they’re carrying along with them but it’s great baggage,” McCutchen said. “We’re going to be able to use all of that as a team and to mold into one. We’ve got a lot of veteran guys who have been through some things, experienced some pain. We’ve got some guys who have won championships over there with the Giants, guys who’ve lost 100 games, too. That stuff is going to help us all together. It’s something that I’ve never experienced before. This is going to be really fun.”