SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants had followed up their 2010 championship by scoring the majors’ second-fewest runs in 2011. The Royals were beginning to assemble an interesting group of young position players, but craved high-end starting pitching.
So on Nov. 7, 2011, two organizations without much history with one another agreed to an intriguing deal — Jonathan Sanchez from San Francisco to Kansas City for Melky Cabrera.
It was the last swap made between these clubs and vital pieces of this World Series can be traced to it.
For example, Cabrera had hit .305 with 18 homers in his only Royals season, but was viewed as expendable because Kansas City wanted to promote to the majors a center fielder, who hit .312 with 16 homers at Triple-A. That was Lorenzo Cain.
Sanchez was a disaster for the Royals, going 1-6 with a 7.76 ERA. So in July of that season, they flipped him to the Rockies for another starter having an atrocious season. That was Jeremy Guthrie, who won Friday’s Game 3 for Kansas City.
Not long before that, San Francisco considered Sanchez untouchable. He had thrown a no-hitter in 2009 and was one of the Giants’ four postseason starters — along with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner — when they won it all in 2010.
Although he struggled in 2011, Sanchez seemed an important part of the rotation future, particularly because San Fan had surrendered a top young pitching prospect during the 2011 campaign to get Carlos Beltran in an attempt to energize the dormant offense. The starter was Zack Wheeler.
Cabrera’s addition actually made another trade with the Mets possible following the 2011 season as center fielder Andres Torres was made expendable and dealt to New York.
Initially, this trade was lopsided. Cabrera was one of the NL’s best players in the first half of 2012 and won the All-Star Game MVP — at Kauffman Stadium. But a month later he was suspended 50 games for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone. He never rejoined the club, even when he became eligible for the NLCS. The Giants won the World Series without him.
The trail of that suspension lingers still. Cabrera signed a two-year deal with Toronto after leaving the Giants in disgrace. That pact is now expired. Cabrera had a poor year in 2013, in part because he was diagnosed with a tumor near his spine. This season he bounced back to hit .301 with an .808 OPS.
Will the ties to the suspension hurt his free agency? It seems unlikely. The feeling in the business is he will get a contract similar to Curtis Granderson’s three-year, $45 million pact or Jhonny Peralta’s four-year, $53 million deal — in fact, Peralta’s strong play for St. Louis following his drug suspension only helps Cabrera.
The Blue Jays are going to put the $15.3 million qualifying offer on Cabrera — which means if he signs elsewhere Toronto would get a draft pick between the first and second rounds in June. The Jays want to try to sign him, considering him a gamer who works hard, likes to play and is a positive clubhouse presence. But a switch-hitter at 30 in a diminished market for offense is going to have many suitors, and it would seem Cabrera would not reach the brink of free agency and not see what was available to him.
“We’d love to have him back and he has expressed he wants to be back, as well,” Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “That is as good a starting point as you could hope for. We have kept in touch with his agent, Peter Greenberg. The lines of communication are open and we continue to talk.”
And just for a bit more intrigue — the Royals definitely will be looking for an offensive-minded right fielder this offseason.
Maddon the rare free agent
Alan Nero, the agent for Joe Maddon, insisted his client does not have a deal in place to manage someplace else, notably the Cubs. Nero, speaking by phone, did say, however, he anticipates five or six teams being interested in his client, who opted out of his managerial contract with the Rays on Friday.
He said managers usually either are fired or re-work their contract before they expire, so they never truly experience free agency. Nero said that was what this decision was about — Maddon being a free agent. Nero said if Maddon gets a job, great; if not, he is comfortable sitting out a year and waiting to see what a more full field would bring.
He did mention that another of his managerial clients, Lou Piniella, did that. And the comparison could end up being quite apt. Since Piniella resigned as Tampa Bay’s manager in the final week of the 2005 season, worked in television for the 2006 campaign and then signed a three-year contract with the Cubs beginning in 2007.
No one would be surprised — should it not be worked out in the short run — if Maddon worked in TV for a year. One way or the other, the Cubs are looked at as the frontrunner to hire him — now or later.
First things first for Duda
Lucas Duda really is committed to not playing the outfield any longer.
He was approached about joining the MLB All-Star squad that will tour Japan next month. However, he originally balked when told he might play some left field in an emergency situation. Assured that he would only play first base or DH, the Mets slugger agreed to join the team. Pittsburgh’s Justin Morneau is the other first baseman who has committed to an MLB club that will play a Japanese All-Star team five times between Nov. 12-18.
Robinson Cano, Yasiel Puig, Bryce Harper, Jose Altuve and Evan Longoria highlight the MLB team.
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