At least Angel Pagan is saying the right things.
When the Giants hit the field for the first full workouts
yesterday, Pagan wasn’t headed toward his customary spot in center field.
Supplanted by newly-acquired Denard Span, Pagan told Giants beat writer ChrisHaft that it’s time to practice "sacrifice over self" as the team
seeks its fourth title in seven seasons.
An Angel in flight, sort of... |
Entering the final months of a four-year, $40 million deal it
appears the writing is on the wall for Pagan. Two center fielders are on the
payroll, but one is inked through 2018 and it’s not Pagan. Reports the Giants
would like to move Pagan circulated in the off-season, and the acquisition of Span pretty much sealed his fate.
And that’s just the Giants way. Hunter Pence and Marco
Scutaro pushed Ryan Theriot and others to the bench; the Giants won a World
Series in 2012. Midseason ads like Pat Burrell and Cody Ross meant Barry Zito missed the party in 2010. The list of changes from midseason to title run in ’14, most notably the reduced role of Michael Morse. is ridiculous: who’d heard of Hunter Strickland or Matt Duffy in July?
So the Giants made it official. Pagan’s traditional CF and leadoff
role belongs to Span. It could have been ugly, and still may be. It’s early. But
GM Bobby Evans has done something that, whether by accident or design, now looks like
sheer genius.
We’ve seen what usually happens. Aaron Rowand pouts or Dave
Roberts gets paid to sit home and water petunias. Clubhouses get uprooted,
turmoil ensures, and suddenly Reggie Jackson and Billy North are slugging it
out in the visiting locker room.
Ever been fired, laid off, outsourced or whatever other word
they used for “your job still exists but we’ve got someone else doing it”? Now imagine being forced to sit and watch
your replacement.
"Milt, we're gonna
need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B. We have some new
people coming in, and we need all the space we can get. So if you could just go
ahead and pack up your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific,
OK?" -- Bill Lumbergh
Usually the player being replaced is out of job. Pagan has a
soft landing. Many, including this page, cried for the signing of a Justin
Upton or Jason Heyward to fill the obvious hole in Left Field. The Giants could
have broken the bank on a big name but instead looked ahead, took advantage of
the market, and bought themselves a year.
Pagan’s move to a corner spot softens the blow for him and
spreads out the Giants’ financial pain. With $220 million spent on two
starters, an extension for Brandon Crawford and new deals for Brandon Belt and
George Kontos on the books, the Giants would have been well above the $189
million luxury tax threshold even after money came off in 2017 – and they’d
still need to go searching for a Center Fielder.
Denard Spans the outfieled (it was there) |
That free agent class may not be sexy but it’s deep, and
Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson just got another year to mature. If San Francisco
really likes either of these two, maybe waiting a year to fill from
within is the answer, especially with the potential for a Belt extension and/or
a revised deal for Madison Bumgarner on the horizon.
Pagan claims he's "on board 100 percent" with the
change, but it’s gotta be hard. He’s seen two World Series titles in three
seasons in The Bay, and he was a key cog in the 2012 championship team (.288
AVG., 95 runs). But he’s been oft injured since then, and the Giants were right
to look for other options.
Pagan admitted to being “surprised" but
told Haft he understood “at some point, you have to make a move. ... I'm here
to do whatever the team needs me to do."
If you buy zone ratings, Pagan was the worst center fielder
in the NL last year. It appears the injuries and age (he’ll turn 35 in July)
are catching up with him. Span had an injury plagued 2015 but is a prototype
lead-off man with above average defensive skills when healthy; and he’s three years younger.
Moving Pagan down in the order also strengthens the offense.
Span has proven better at reaching base and is a legitimate threat to steal.
Pagan is neither of those, but still can swing it and has a knack for timely
hits. Pairing him in the seventh and eighth slots with Crawford gives opposing
hurlers little chance to breathe.
The bottom line is the Giants have an upgrade and Pagan
still has a job. If he embraces the role, it sure beats working at Initech. And if the past is any indication, such a selfless move could pay off big.
More even-year magic? Yeah, that would be great.
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