COLUMN: Giants had to sign Cain

The San Francisco Giants had to sign Matt Cain to a long-term contract, so it wasn’t a surprise Monday that the championship-oriented franchise and its valued pitcher agreed to a historic five-year, $112.5 million deal.
No right-hander in baseball history has ever signed a bigger deal, which is quite a statement considering that Cain’s lifetime record is 69-73.
Including the $15 million Cain is slated to make this season, Cain is guaranteed $127.5 million over six seasons.
He gets a $5 million signing bonus and could be vested for an additional season at $21 million if he throws enough innings at the back end of this deal.
Only 27, Cain will average $21.25 million over the next six years. Only two pitchers, both in New York, make more – CC Sabathia of the Yankees and Johan Santana of the Mets.
Consider also what the Giants will pay three starting pitchers this season: Barry Zito will make $19 million, Tim Lincecum will make $18 million, and Cain $15 million. And yet there might have been more obscene money out there for Cain.
“We didn’t want him to get into the (free-agent) market,” said Brian Sabean, the Giants’ general manager, acknowledging Cain’s price would have gone up had he tested free agency after this season.
That much money for a sub-.500 pitcher might seem ludicrous, and I’m not going to argue that Cain is “worth” it an era of high unemployment.
I would simply say that in this context, this team had to do this deal with this player at this time considering a number of factors, some of which transcend what Cain does on the field.
Though what Cain does on the field is significant. His losing record typifies how numbers can lie.
In the past five seasons, Cain had the least run support of any pitcher in baseball – only 3.7 runs per start.
Though quiet by nature, Cain became a stalwart in the clubhouse. He never sulks or complains about his lack of run support, and that attitude sets a standard that others follow.
“He leads by example,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “He’s very much respected.”
Every fifth day, Bochy has had the luxury of counting on Cain to give the Giants a great chance to win.
He’s is a workhorse with a Tennessee drawl who has pitched at least 200 innings for five consecutive seasons. He’s home-grown by the Giants. When the Giants went on their magical World Series title run in 2010, Cain started three games and gave up zero earned runs.
He was 2-0 in those games with one lights-out win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series and an even more impressive victory over the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
By keeping Cain, the Giants are signaling they are going for it in this limited window of opportunity where Cain, Lincecum and other young stars such as Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval are under contract for several more years.
“To see that talent we’re going to have is exciting,” Cain said.
Plainly stated, Cain had all the leverage to make this deal happen.
But unlike other star athletes who test free agency for vanity reasons, Cain probably got the Giants to overpay because he likes them and wanted to stay.
“We know him inside and out,” Sabean.
There were other considerations in Cain’s contract that spoke more to the current state and business of baseball. The Giants are locked in a bitter territorial battle to keep the A’s from moving to San Jose.
Commissioner Bud Selig must decide who is right – the A’s, who want to move south, or the Giants, who want to block them for fear of losing the lucrative corporate partners and well-heeled season-ticket holders from the Silicon Valley.
By investing so much in their product, the Giants stand in stark contrast to the bargain-basement A’s and make it that much harder for Selig to choose the low-rent neighbors over the model franchise.
The recent $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers by a group led by Magic Johnson also had to make the Giants’ brass pause at the thought of Cain wearing Dodger blue and pitching for their hated rival.
That won’t happen now.
The Giants also avoid what might have been a season-long distraction had Cain gone unsigned.
Now the Giants can turn to their other major distraction: How are they going to score runs to support Cain?