SANDOVAL STARTS SEQUEL WITH GIANTS
Team hopes slugger can hit
The San Francisco Giants clubhouse has a boisterous presence again. Now the question is whether Pablo Sandoval’s bat can still make noise.
The return of the prodigal Panda certainly livened up the woebegone Giants, who are buried deep in last place in the National League West with the third-worst record in the majors.
A day after his double sparked the club’s rally from a four-run deficit in San Francisco’s biggest comeback victory of the season Saturday night, Sandoval held court in his usual loud fashion in front of the lockers of Venezuelan teammates Gorky Hernandez and Albert Suarez. Chances are Sandoval was chirping away during Sunday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which he didn’t start.
“I was in the dugout last night, and you could hear him in the cage being Pablo,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s great to have some energy.”
It was almost as if nothing had changed between the time Sandoval caught the last out of the 2014 World Series and now.
But of course, that’s far from the truth.
Not only did Sandoval sign a five-year, $95 million contract as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox, but he badmouthed the Giants afterward and said the only two people he would miss were Bochy and Hunter Pence.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when the Giants agreed to a reunion with Sandoval after his disastrous 2½-year tenure with the Boston Red Sox ended when they released him July 19 despite still owing him close to $50 million.
The two-time All-Star batted just .237 with 14 home runs and played poorly defensively in parts of three injury-shortened seasons in Boston, where his chronic weight problems continued to dog him and became the source of media scrutiny.
With little to lose in a wasted season and no strong candidate to play third base, the Giants took a flyer on Sandoval, who will only cost them the major league minimum this year and in the next two seasons if they pick up those options. After a 12-game minor league stint in which he batted just .211, Sandoval was called up Saturday after Brandon Belt went on the disabled list with a concussion.
Sandoval, who turns 31 on Friday, says he’s more mature now, and he clearly has been humbled. He publicly apologized for his disparaging comments upon re- joining the organization and said he cried when told of his promotion to the team that signed him as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela.
“If it’s up to me, I’d stay here the rest of my career,” Sandoval said in Spanish. “That’s my goal. That’s my mind-set. That’s what I really want.”
It’s much too early to assess whether that might happen, and it will mostly depend on how he hits. Although once-popular Sandoval riled plenty of Giants fans with his jabs upon departing, they gave him a warm reception with only scattered boos when he was introduced Saturday.
But much of the goodwill Sandoval accumulated over seven years — including his postseason heroics and contributions to three championship teams — is now a thing of the past. That 2012 World Series MVP award might as well be a doorstop if he puts up an on-base plus slugging percentage around the .646 mark he had in Boston.
“The timing of my swing is better,” said Sandoval, who sat out a total of 50 games with a knee injury and an ear infection this season while with the Red Sox. “I missed a lot of time. But I’m here to work regardless of what happens.”
Hitting right-handed remains an issue for the switch-hitter, who has a .075 batting average with no homers from that side over the last three years, but Bochy said he would get chances against lefties.
Sandoval missed all but three games of the 2016 season, when he had surgery on his left shoulder.
The Giants have hit by far the fewest home runs in the majors while scoring the second-fewest runs per game. They could use help from either side of the plate. Even franchise legend Barry Bonds, who was at AT&T Park on Saturday for ceremonies honoring the 1997 division-winning club, made sure to welcome Sandoval back.
“It’s exciting to be back,” Sandoval said. “When you do some things in baseball in the city where you grow up and then you come back on a second opportunity, it’s special. … I made one mistake the first time. I didn’t want to make a second mistake. I wanted to come back with the team I grew up with.”