Sandoval called up to the big leagues
Scott Ostler: Playoff hero returns — showing few signs of his old self
Pablo Sandoval said that when he got the call-up call from the Giants early Saturday morning, he cried.
He wasn’t alone. Many fans also wept at the news. Some shed tears of joy for the return of the Prodigal Panda, while others cried in shame at the Giants’ selling of what’s left of their pride and dignity to bring back a player who, strictly on merit, shouldn’t be starting in Class A ball.
Very polarizing guy, Panda.
He probably wears polarized sunglasses.
There wasn’t much polarization at the Giants’ ballpark, though. When Sandoval stepped to the plate Saturday to open the bottom of the second inning against the Diamondbacks, the crowd greeted him with hearty cheers — and a smattering of boos, some of which may have come from the Giants’ dugout.
That’s the way Giants’ fans roll. When Barry Bonds was hip deep in steroid suspicion, a villain to all of baseball, he was always treated like a king by the fans at his home ballpark.
So you would expect no less for Sandoval, whose only sin was defecting to the Red Sox three years ago, childishly trashing his teammates and the organization on his way out the door.
Sandoval’s three seasons in Boston went poorly, except for his money-counter. The Panda made off with $95 million for doing the equivalent of dusting the piano. He got fan mail from the men who pulled off the Boston’s 1950 Great Brink’s Robbery. They stole only $2.8 million, which wouldn’t cover Sandoval’s buffet tab.
Boston fans were united in their unlove for Sandoval, but Giants’ fans, who have seen both sides of Sandoval, were all over the map when the Giants signed him to a minorleague contract. Even among the Panda-hatas, there is division. Some dwell on the way he repaid Giants’ loyalty with rude disrespect, and some resent him for the way he disrespected the game and his natural gifts with his lack of personal discipline.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before Saturday’s game that the Giants called Sandoval up because “we need
his presence.” Bochy’s not much of a BS-er, so I take him at his word when he says he’s hoping Sandoval can bring some of that old championship spirit back to a ballclub that has lost its way. Seems unlikely, but what else is working?
If bringing back Sandoval is a cheap publicity stunt, that’s not Bochy’s fault. He doesn’t have a bonus clause in his contract giving him a cut of Panda-hat sales.
Speaking of which, I spotted only a few of those furry relics in the crowd Saturday night, and there were no Panda Hats for sale at the concession stands.
“We sold ’em all (back in Panda’s glory days),” a concession-stand clerk told me. “We’ll probably order more of ’em. We’ll see how long he lasts.”
That might depend on how desperate the Giants are for a warm body at third base. In 12 minor-league games Sandoval hit .211.
Panda no more earned a promotion to the Giants than Stephen Curry’s recent twoday adventure in real-tournament golf earned him an invitation to the Masters.
Logic and hard evidence seem to lead to the sad conclusion that Sandoval lost it somewhere along the line, and now, at 30 (31 next week), he isn’t likely to find it.
In Boston, he abandoned his power switch-hitting to become a slap-hitting lefty. As for
Sandoval’s once-gold glove? Maybe the quickness and hands are still there, but they were not seen Saturday. He overthrew first on a fairly routine charge-and-throw play, allowing a run to score and bringing the boo-birds out of their nests.
In the end, all the love and the hate for Sandoval won’t mean as much as this: Can he still play baseball?
Panda is one of the great mysteries of baseball history. Guys get hurt, and pitchers wear out, but great young hitters just don’t drop off the map the way Sandoval did, for no clear reason.
He was an instant superstar for the Giants, a kid with superb gifts and zest for the game, then he slipped a bit to the “star” level for a few seasons, then, poof, one day he showed up at the ballpark as a portly dude flailing with a stick.
Then, a glimmer. With the Giants down 4-0 Saturday, Sandoval led off the bottom of the seventh with a slashing double to left-center, then he scored on Jarrett Parker’s double, which was followed by Hunter Pence’s first home run in San Francisco this season.
So the Panda mystique clings to life, but the Giants haven’t yet alerted the hat factory.