Hot Stove Update: Giants Bring Back Pablo Sandoval

Pablo Sandoval wants everyone to know he learned his lesson.  He does not ever want to play for a team not named the Giants again, if he can help it.  Today, the Giants answered his prayers and agreed to a minor league deal for $2 M plus $750 K incentives.  It's unclear whether the $2 M is guaranteed or if it is contingent on his making the active roster.  What makes this a bit surprising is Pabs is coming off Tommy John surgery in September and the usual recovery period is a full year.  Maybe it's a bit less than that for position players, and Pabs says he is ahead of schedule in his rehab, but it still seems farfetched to think he will be ready much before midseason.

I love the Panda as much as anyone.  He's given this team and fanbase a lot of thrills as well as ups and downs over the course of his career, but this seems like a sop to a fanbase still smarting over the loss of Madison Bumgarner.  It's like, "see, we're not such ogres after all!  Pabs wants to come back, the fans want him back, here he is!"

Let's say Pablo is way ahead of schedule and is ready to play by May 1.  The Giants are likely to split the 26 man roster evenly between pitchers and position players.  That means there will likely be 5 position bench players which usually gets divided as 2 OF's, 1 IF's and a C.  Of Pabs is one of he IF's, that leaves just one MI which will have to be someone who can play SS in a pinch.  That narrows down the possibilities just a bit, unless someone can play both MI and OF.  We'll see how it plays out, but we're happy to have The Panda back in a Giants uniform!

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It's official.  Dusty Baker is the new Astros manager.  Talk about exact opposites!  The Astros go from being managed by one of the most ruthlessly data driven Manager and GM to hiring one of the oldest of the old school managers out there.  I don't think you are going to see many Openers or early hooks from Dusty.  This should also be very interesting to watch.  As we all know, Dustyball is close to the exact opposite of Moneyball, but Dusty excels at the things Moneyball guys don't seem to get.  It's the same thing Bruce Bochy excelled at, except Boch was also a much better tactician than Dusty.  Both managers know what makes players tick and how to keep them motivated on the field and happy in the clubhouse.  That's something Gabe Kapler still has to prove he's learned after struggling with it in his first managerial stint with the Phillies.