If You Were Matt Cain...

If you were Matt Cain, would you ever consider going to a ballclub where runs aren't so hard to come by?

In 4 years of major league ball, Cain has W-30 L-43, ERA: 3.74, BB-276, K-558, IP-665.

His record, much like that of Barry Zito, would be much better if the team for whom he pitches scored more than the 1.5 runs they average when it's his turn to pitch. (Zito has a decidedly better record when his team scores 3 runs, like the A's were very capable of doing, as opposed to the Giants, who just can't seem to score when it's Zito's turn either.)

If you were Matt Cain's agent, you would want what is best for your client. So you'd ask him if he likes the San Francisco Giant organization enough to tolerate this lack of support when it comes time to re-sign.

I'm not so sure I would. Although, we all tend to think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it's not always better. Especially when you are on the outside looking in, so to speak. But I'd want a chance to see how far I could go in my major league career. Nobody knows if they have Hall of Fame capabilities until things begin to fall in place and you string together several seasons of quality production. And baseball is all about longevity, so unless you shined for a couple of years and set records nobody can approach you probably won't get any sculptor making any appointments to mold a likeness of you for lifetime enshrinement into Cooperstown, NY.

For the sake of the Giants keeping their rotation together, I really hope those whose job it is to evaluate players and sign the players who are the best fit for this team, which is very much on the rise, do so this off-season.

Those days of "Bye-Bye-Baby" with Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Hart... need to be revisited. I don't know about them acquiring potential Hall of Famers, but they had better get some hitters who are a threat to hit a home run any time they step into the batter's box. This past season, that threat did not exist.

(thanks to Baseball-Reference for the stats on Matt Cain)

Kevin Marquez