San Francisco Giants

When the San Francisco Giants welcomed Pablo Sandoval back to the Bay Area in July 2017, he was a shell of his former self. A bust. Seemingly broken from his ill-fated days with the Boston Red Sox.

Roughly two years later, he's been reborn as a key offensive cog and a valuable trade piece for the last-place Giants.

Before we get into that, let's recount Sandoval's roller-coaster career. After he hit .345 during a 41-game audition with San Francisco in 2008, he hit 25 home runs with a .943 OPS in 2009 and finished seventh in National League MVP voting.

His numbers dipped in 2010 (.268 average, .732 OPS) amid questions about his weight and conditioning, and he played a limited role in the first of the Giants' three even-year title runs.

He rebounded in 2011 with 23 homers and a .909 OPS. In 2012, his OPS dipped to .789, but he hit .500 in the World Series and launched three home runs in a single game, including two off then-Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

In 2014, he again raked in the postseason with a .400 average in the National League Championship Series and .429 average in the Fall Classic.

That offseason, with three rings on his fingers, he spurned the Orange and Black and signed a five-year, $95 million deal with Boston.

Then, the bottom fell out.

Sandoval slashed .245/.292/.366 in 2015. In 2016, he showed up to spring training overweight and embarrassingly busted his belt on a swing in April. After appearing in only three games, he was sidelined by a shoulder injury that required surgery and ended his season.

He returned with the Sox in 2017. But after he hit .212 in 32 games, Boston cut him loose and ate the remaining $48.6 million on his contract.

That's when the Giants signed him to a minor league pact. In 47 games with San Francisco, Sandoval hit only .225, though he swatted five home runs and tallied 20 RBI.

Considering the Red Sox were paying his tab (minus the league minimum) and given the nostalgic goodwill San Francisco fans had for the Panda, the Giants kept him around.

Last season, he hit nine homers with a .727 OPS in 92 games. He'd been reduced to a utility role but authored arguably the most memorable moment in an 89-loss Giants season when he pitched a one-two-three ninth inning in a 15-6 loss to the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers:

This year, he pitched another scoreless inning in May in a 12-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. More importantly, he's hitting .288 with 11 homers and an .895 OPS in 80 games before the All-Star break.

He's logged 176 innings at third base with two defensive runs saved (DRS) and 104 innings at first base with one DRS. Not Gold Glove-caliber, but decent.

Then there's his noted role as lighthearted clubhouse Energizer Bunny. The player who keeps it going.

"He's a great guy in here for us," said Giants catcher Stephen Vogt, per Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. "... When he comes to the plate, everybody gets to the top step, to the rail, you're expecting him to hit the ball out of the park."

Soon, he might be hitting it out for a contender. The Giants are lurching toward an overdue rebuild. And, along with closer Will Smith and left-hander Madison Bumgarner, Sandoval is one of their most flippable pieces.

He's got a $5 million club option after this season. But with the Red Sox paying most of the bill, what club wouldn't offer a couple of high-upside prospects to have his bat, unflappable spirit and playoff pedigree on its roster?

Sandoval would make the most sense for an American League team that could slot him at third base, first base or designated hitter (and sneaky relief pitcher). But there is virtually no club with postseason aspirations that wouldn't benefit from his services.

According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Giants plan to be sellers prior to the July 31 deadline and have gotten calls about Sandoval. But he added there are concerns about losing the fanbase's interest and Sandoval's connection to outgoing manager Bruce Bochy.

Nostalgia aside, however, San Francisco needs to look toward the future.

Going forward, Sandoval's up-and-down conditioning and output will be an issue for anyone who wants to sign him for next season and beyond. At age 32, there's no guarantee his renaissance will last.

Yet, he's shown rebirths are possible. And he might be hitting his way off the only MLB franchise for whom he's ever been a hit.

             

All statistics current as of Thursday and courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.

With Madison Bumgarner in the final year of his contract and the San Francisco Giants in last place in the National League West at the All-Star Break, there is a lot of interest in a potential trade centered around the left-handed starting pitcher. 

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers are among the teams most interested in acquiring the 29-year-old veteran.

But making the situation more complicated, Bumgarner has an eight-team no-trade list featuring the Astros, Braves and Brewers, as well as other contenders like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Although he might still want to play for a top team, he at least wants the right to say no.

"Bumgarner compiled the list strategically, seeking leverage, a measure of control, over the teams he figured might want him most," Rosenthal reported.

This leaves only the Twins as a team that can make a deal without permission, but there will likely be a lot of suitors before the trade deadline.

Bumgarner hasn't had his best season, producing just a 5-7 record and 4.03 ERA, which would be the worst ERA of his career if it stands. 

On the other hand, his peripherals have remained outstanding with 115 strikeouts and only 24 walks in 111.2 innings. His 4.79 strikeout-to-walk ratio is above his career mark (4.17) and nearly double last season's 2.53. A team could expect him to have better luck in the second half and return to the ace form he's displayed in the past.

Additionally, any contending squad would be well aware of the impact he can have in the postseason as a three-time World Series champion and one-time World Series MVP. He has a 2.11 ERA in 16 career playoff appearances.

A big market could emerge over the next few weeks. 

The San Francisco Giants have reportedly "received calls" from teams interested in a possible trade for third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reported the update Friday and noted the Giants "fully intend to be sellers" ahead of the 2019 MLB trade deadline July 31.

Sandoval, whose production dropped off considerably after he left San Francisco to sign with the Boston Red Sox following the 2014 season, is enjoying a bounce-back campaign.

The 32-year-old Venezuela native has posted a .286/.324/.571 slash line with 10 home runs across 73 appearances in 2019. His .895 OPS is his best mark since 2011.

Along with the return to form at the plate, he's making a modest $555,000 base salary this season (via Spotrac) because the Red Sox are still paying the remaining portion of the five-year, $90 million contract he signed in November 2014 and has showcased a little defensive versatility.

Sandoval has played first base and third base this season (he even pitched in one game) and could also slot in nicely as a designated hitter if dealt to the American League.

"You expect good things to happen, that's how good he has been," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters after Sandoval delivered a game-winning, pinch-hit homer last month. "And it happened again today."

All told, Sandoval makes for a low-risk investment since his contract includes a club option for 2020 at the same salary. And he's showcased the ability to make an impact off the bench for a team seeking depth at the corner infield spots.

Given the Giants' 34-46 record, it wouldn't be a surprise if Kung Fu Panda is on the move over the next month.

Madison Bumgarner would like everyone, presumably including potential trade suitors, to know he's still got it.

Does he, though?

We're not talking about Bumgarner's credentials. The left-hander has been an All-Star four times in 11 seasons with the San Francisco Giants and is a three-time World Series champion. He earned each of his rings, none more so than when he ripped off a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 innings in October 2014.

Never mind the guy he wants to be remembered as. That's the guy Bumgarner wants to be known as now.

As the 29-year-old told Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic:

"I'm the same guy I was in 2014, contrary to popular belief. I know that gets said a lot, 'Oh, he's not the same guy he used to be.' That's just ... wrong. Numbers are what they are right now, but let's just wait to the end of the season. And we'll check. Maybe they won't be there and maybe they will. All I know is, the last two years, the stuff was a little different rushing back from two injuries. Now? How I feel is the same. My stuff is the same."

The "numbers," of course, aren't so sure.

Given that Bumgarner made only 38 starts in 2017 and 2018 because of shoulder and hand injuries, it's a positive that he's up to 17 starts this season. Yet his 4.21 ERA is nothing like the 3.03 career ERA he had coming into the year. It's the mark of an average starter, not an ace.

As Baggarly reported, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is ready to hold on to Bumgarner if he doesn't get offers to his liking for the southpaw. But in light of the club's need to rebuild and Bumgarner's pending free agency, that sure seems like a bluff.

It sounds like contenders aren't about to fall for it. To wit, MLB Network's Jon Heyman said on the Big Time Baseball podcast (h/t Katherine Acquavella of CBSSports.com) that the New York Yankees are split on Bumgarner's value. Generally, the feeling may be that he has more name value than actual value.

"Bumgarner might be a big name, but I'm looking at somebody who may have actual impact; he hasn't pitched well since his injury," one American League general manager told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand in May.

But in fairness to Bumgarner, he wasn't altogether kidding himself by insisting he's not fundamentally broken.

After his fastball went missing for a couple of years, its 91.8 mph average velocity for 2019 isn't far off its 92.1 mph peak from 2014 and 2015. Likewise, his average spin rate is the best it's been since Statcast began tracking in 2015.

Lo and behold, his strikeouts-per-nine rate has recovered. Throw in an additional improvement in his walks-per-nine rate, and his 4.21 ERA begins to reek of bad luck.

But while all this certainly supports Bumgarner's notion that he's still the same guy he was in 2014, well, that was five years ago. That's a long time in baseball years, and he's made only two postseason starts in the interim. His reputation as a big-game pitcher is arguably dated.

More to the point, his velocity, spin rate, strikeout and walk numbers don't tell the whole story of where he is as a pitcher. Because there's also this:

Pictured here is the rate of hard contact that Bumgarner has allowed since 2011 (his first full season) relative to the league average. It didn't used to be a problem. It very much is now.

Seeing this trend in conjunction with the ones previously discussed is...odd, to say the least. But above all, it gets at how his four-seam fastball just isn't the weapon that it used to be.

Its rising action hasn't recovered to the same degree as its velocity, and even the latter recovery must be taken with a grain of salt. In 2015, Bumgarner's 92.1 mph heater was faster than the average starter's 91.7 mph heater. Four years later, his 91.8 mph is significantly slower than the 92.7 mph average.

Despite this, Bumgarner still works primarily off his four-seamer. Moreover, he's putting four-seamers in the strike zone at his highest rate since 2015. Here's a chart that shows how well that's working:

In short, not well at all. Bumgarner used to get away with challenging hitters in the zone with his fastball. Now the slugging percentage he allows on such pitches is easily outpacing the league average.

Given that four-seamers account for 10 of the 17 home runs he's allowed, this is a root cause of his struggle with the long ball. And it would be worse if he didn't have the Oracle Park advantage:

• Home: 9 GS, .418 SLG%, 8 HR
• Away: 8 GS, .478 SLG%, 9 HR

Bumgarner is only half of a great pitcher right now. He's fit to take the ball in the postseason, but it's hard to make a case for him as a Game 1 starter. Or even a Game 2 starter, for that matter.

Granted, whether it's as simple as playing down his four-seamer or perhaps altering how he throws it, he may only be one adjustment from reclaiming his ace form. Now more than ever, such adjustments have been known to happen. Whether it's the Houston Astros with Justin Verlander or the Tampa Bay Rays with Tyler Glasnow, it just takes the right team making the right suggestions.

Teams nonetheless have good reasons to not want to pay a premium for the chance to tinker with Bumgarner. If one can get a good deal on him, then great. Go for it.

If not, it might want to consider Marcus Stroman, Matthew Boyd or even Max Scherzer instead.

   

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs, Baseball Savant and Brooks Baseball.

The San Francisco Giants won't settle for anything less than what they want if any team is going to make a trade offer for Madison Bumgarner.

Per The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly, team president Farhan Zaidi is indicating to interested clubs that the Giants "will get the value they are seeking or they won't move [Bumgarner]."

For a Giants team that enters Tuesday last in the National League West with a 26-38 record, Bumgarner is presumably their best trade asset leading up the July 31 deadline. 

The four-time All-Star is only making $12 million in 2019, the final season of his contract before becoming a free agent. He's rounding into form after a slow start with a 3.47 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 49.1 innings over eight starts since May 1. 

Given the state of the Giants right now, as well as their future financial commitments, it would be in their best interest to try collecting at least one top-tier prospect in exchange for Bumgarner. They are currently set to pay 16 players $136.9 million in 2020, per Spotrac. 

The danger for the Giants is any team interested in Bumgarner will only be trading for, at most, three months of control. Recent history has shown teams aren't going to give up significant packages for players who are on the verge of hitting free agency. 

Last year, for instance, the Baltimore Orioles received five players from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Manny Machado. Not one prospect who went back to the Orioles ranked among the top 100 in Major League Baseball entering 2018, per ESPN.com's Keith Law. 

San Francisco is on pace for its third straight losing season, despite having a top-five payroll every year since 2017. 

Since it's unclear what the Giants want in return for Bumgarner, it's impossible to say they may have to settle for a deal just to accrue future assets. But the odds of them receiving at least one elite prospect in return would seem to be slim at this point. 

Former MLB outfielder Angel Pagan and former minor league pitcher Orlando Roman were rescued at sea off the coast of Puerto Rico when a 15-foot wave caused their boat to capsize. 

Con Las Bases Llenas reported details of the accident, which happened in the early morning hours Tuesday. According to the report, Pagan and Roman were with an unidentified minor at the time.

Roman was treated for a head injury, according to a Telemundo report (h/t SFGate's Katie Dowd). Neither Pagan nor the minor suffered any injuries.

Pagan, 37, played for the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants for 11 MLB seasons. He won a World Series with the Giants in 2012, serving as an integral part of their playoff run. After not reaching an agreement on a contract during the 2017 offseason, Pagan stepped away from baseball to spend more time with his family.

Pagan hit .280/.330/.408 with 64 home runs and 414 runs batted in during his MLB career. 

Roman was drafted by the New York Mets in the 31st round of the 1999 MLB draft but never reached the majors. He last played in 2017 as part of the Chinatrust Brothers in Taiwan. 

This will come as a shock to anyone who's just traveled forward in time from 2017, but Pablo Sandoval might be an All-Star this year.

The San Francisco Giants have to send someone to the Midsummer Classic, and there is no brighter spot on their moribund roster than the Kung Fu Panda. Through 48 games, Sandoval is batting .299 with a .956 OPS. The latter equates to a 151 OPS+ that places him among the National League's top hitters.

Even more interesting is the Johnny-on-the-spot role Sandoval has played for the Giants. He only has 101 plate appearances because manager Bruce Bochy has preferred to bring him off the bench as a pinch hitter, with only occasional spot starts at third base and first base.

Regardless of his given assignment, Sandoval has excelled at the plate:

• As Sub: 1.029 OPS with 2 HR
• As Starter: .915 OPS with 5 HR

Sandoval, 32, also notched his second one-two-three inning as a pitcher in as many years against the Cincinnati Reds on May 6. Also in that game, he joined a small group of players who've mixed in a home run and a stolen base with a pitching performance:

A player like this would be fun to watch even if he had a perpetually frowny face and a blank-slate personality. But this is Pablo Sandoval, and his frequent smiles and infectious energy prove that he's as Pablo Sandovalian as he's ever been.

"I talk about Pablo a lot, but he's just a great guy to have on the club," Bochy said in April, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. "It's just his energy. He plays first and third. He can come off the bench. And now, right-handed, I'm fine with him facing lefties. That hasn't always been true."

The further beauty of all this, of course, is that the Giants are only on the hook for $555,000 of the nearly $20 million that Sandoval is pulling in this season.

The rest is on the Boston Red Sox, who must be flabbergasted at what's become of the investment they made five years ago.

It was in November 2014 that the Red Sox and Sandoval agreed to a five-year, $95 million contract. He was 28 at the time and a two-time All-Star with a 123 career OPS+. To boot, he was fresh off earning his third World Series ring with a .344 average in the postseason. 

This was also a time when offense was down across Major League Baseball, and the Red Sox were stung especially hard by that. After averaging 5.3 runs per game en route to a World Series championship in 2013, they regressed to only 3.9 runs per game amid a 91-loss campaign in 2014.

But while all this allowed for an easy defense of Sandoval's deal, his notoriously aggressive approach and diminishing returns were real causes for concern. And apart from significant examples of weight loss here and there, it was no secret that he tended to carry an unmistakably round frame. Age and the pressure of playing in Boston threatened to make these issues even worse.

Sure enough, Sandoval showed up to spring training in 2015 noticeably out of shape, and he went on to struggle offensively (.658 OPS) and defensively (minus-11 defensive runs saved). According to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement, he was the American League's worst everyday player in 2015.

Sandoval then showed up in 2016 in neither better shape nor in a mood to be accountable, telling reporters: "I don't got nothing to prove." He ultimately didn't get a chance to prove anything, as shoulder surgery ended his season after he appeared in only three games.

During the winter of 2016 and the spring of 2017, a smidgen of hope arose from Sandoval's much-improved physique and red-hot performance in spring training. But when the games started to count, he was once again bitten by nonexistent production and poor health.

Come July 2017, the Red Sox—who had passed the task of running their front office from Ben Cherington to Dave Dombrowski in August 2015—had finally had enough. Sandoval was designated for assignment and cut loose even though his $95 million deal still had $48.3 million remaining on it through 2019.

Sandoval spoke of wanting a "new challenge" when he first arrived in Boston, and he even went so far as to take a shot at the Giants while also downplaying his exit from San Francisco.

"Not hard at all," he told Bleacher Report's Scott Miller of his decision to leave the Bay Area. "If you want me around, you make the effort to push and get me back."

A few weeks after he was let go by the Red Sox, however, Sandoval let the truth loose in an essay for The Players' Tribune:

"At the end of the day, I just never felt comfortable in Boston. It had nothing to do with the organization, or my teammates, or the fans, or the city. Everybody was great to me. I think it was just something that happens sometimes  — you don't feel comfortable somewhere, or you don't fit in, even if you're in a place you chose to be."

Sandoval also wrote that he facilitated his return to San Francisco with a series of text messages to Giants front-office personnel. Since they had nothing to lose, the Giants obliged by bringing him back aboard.

They didn't get anything out of Sandoval initially in 2017, and even a better turn in 2018 still featured a torn hamstring and 0.1 WAR. Earlier this spring, it was indeed fair to ask if the Giants should even be setting aside a roster spot for him.

They did anyway, of course, and a decidedly happy and healthy version of Sandoval has yet to give them any cause to regret it.

If nothing else, what he's doing at the plate is legit. He's back to swinging aggressively after testing a more disciplined approach in 2018, and both his hard-hit rate and percentage of barreled balls—i.e., ones with ideal launch angle and exit velocity—suggest this approach is working better than ever.

That Pablo Sandoval is so hot right now. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/tksXXfIjKK

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 19, 2019

What it all amounts to for now is a hell of a feel-good story. It might amount to more for the Giants if they're able to generate interest in Sandoval ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. He might fetch a prospect or two from a contender in need of a cheap, versatile slugger.

It's not a given that said interest will actually materialize. Buyers on the trade market will have sluggers aplenty to choose from, and they may be scared off by what happened to Sandoval the last time he left the safety of San Francisco. 

But unlike the Red Sox five years ago, it would cost a team virtually nothing to take a chance on Sandoval. And this time, he'd be coming in with a hot bat and a better mindset.

"Never give up, man," Sandoval recently told Baggarly. "You never give up on your dreams. When you have the opportunity to play the game that you love, you have to take advantage of everything."

Perhaps he can stay in a good place, whether or not it's literally in San Francisco.

                                                      

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

The San Francisco Giants on Saturday will reportedly call up outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

The Giants acquired Yastrzemski from the Baltimore Orioles during spring training in March.

A 14th-round pick by Baltimore in 2013, Yastrzemski has been working his way through the minors for the last six-plus seasons.

The 28-year-old is hitting .316/.414/.676 with 12 home runs, 11 doubles, one triple and 25 RBI in 40 games for Triple-A Sacramento this season. His 1.090 OPS ranks eighth in the Pacific Coast League. He has been playing particularly well of late, hitting .380 with nine home runs and 15 RBI in May.

Considering that by some measures the Marlins and Giants are two of the 50 worst offensive teams since MLB moved West of the Mississippi(to KC), why can't Mike Yastrzemski--with a 30 game Sacramento line of .314/408/.705/1.113 with 30 runs and 11 HR--get a big league opportunity?

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) May 18, 2019

He owns a career .263/.341/.441 line in the minors.

Of course, Yastrzemski is a familiar name in the baseball world. Carl Yastrzemski was named to 18 American League All-Star teams during his 23-year career with the Boston Red Sox, and he also won the 1967 AL MVP Award in addition to that season's Triple Crown. His No. 8 is retired by the Red Sox.

Prior to 2012 (when Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera snapped the drought), Yastrzemski was the last MLB player to win the Triple Crown.

He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1989.

The rivalry between Madison Bumgarner and Yasiel Puig continued Sunday, both on the field and in the clubhouse. 

Puig launched a home run off the San Francisco Giants pitcher, followed by a long walk and a bat flip to show up his opponent:

There's only one day a season you can flip a pink bat. pic.twitter.com/uI1Mn9AiWs

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 12, 2019

Despite the big hit, Bumgarner still took the opportunity to mock the outfielder after the game.

"He's a quick study. It only took him seven years to learn how to hit that pitch," Bumgarner joked, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.

The Giants also got the last laugh with a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

The history between these two players goes back years with Puig spending most of his career in the NL West with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The drama began in 2014 with the players exchanging words on the field, and more of the same in 2016 led to a scuffle:

Puig has also faced Bumgarner more than any other pitcher in the majors, per Baseball Reference. He entered Sunday with a .217 batting average and just two home runs in 51 plate appearances against the left-hander, including 0-for-11 over the last two years.

Bumgarner won the matchup two more times in the latest game until Puig finally came through with a home run.

Considering their reactions, it seems these two won't forget about each other anytime soon.