Hamilton = Bonds?
By Scott Schwerdtfeger l 9/14/12 12:01 AM
I wrote a column a couple of weeks back about the Giants’ left field situation in the wake of Melky Cabrera’s suspension. As was obvious at the time, left field is still a platoon situation and will stay that way for the rest of the 2012 season. Even so, the outstanding performances of center fielder Angel Pagan and second baseman/infielder Marco Scutaro have catapulted the Giants to the top of the NL West. Both players are impending free agents and both have said that they would love to come back on new deals. Should the Giants retain both Pagan and Scutaro, the only hole in their lineup for next season would be left field.
Josh Hamilton in a Giants uniform. Looks good, no?
What if the Giants stole Josh Hamilton from big-market teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox and put him in left field? The 2010 AL MVP is having another stellar season, leading the Majors in home runs (41) and RBI (121) with a .285/.354/.582 slash line for the AL West-leading Rangers, putting himself in the MVP discussion yet again. He is facing stiff competition from the Angels’ rookie sensation Mike Trout, the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, and his teammate Adrian Beltre for the award, so it won’t be easy. But if Hamilton does win it this year it would be his second overall, quite an accolade to take onto the free-agent market. Another outfielder accomplished the same feat in 1992 and signed what was the most lucrative deal in baseball history.
Barry Bonds.
Could Josh Hamilton be the next Barry Bonds?
4/12/2004: Barry Bonds after hitting career home run #660, tying his godfather Willie Mays on the all-time HR list. The fans raise their hands with him as then-SBC Park goes into a frenzy.
After his 1992 NL MVP, his second MVP award, Bonds left the Pirates via free agency as the best player in the game. He signed a then-record six-year, $43.75 million contract with the Giants, who were under new ownership after the 1992 season. The signing put both the Giants and the Pirates on completely opposite paths for the future. Bonds came to a Giants team that had lost 90 games, had the second-worst run-scoring offense in the league, and was on its way to Tampa Bay. Bonds won the 1993 NL MVP, leading the league in home runs (43) and RBI (126), and lead the Giants to a team-record 103 wins and coming within one game of the playoffs. This was the beginning of a decade of relevance for the Giants, something they hadn’t been for many years prior to their World Series appearance in 1989. The Pirates were one game away from the World Series in 1992 when they lost Game 7 of the NLCS to the Braves. Bonds tried to throw out Sid Bream at the plate in that game (he should have been playing further in) and wasn’t successful. The Pirates haven’t had a non-losing season in the 20 years since.
Hamilton, should he sign with the Giant’s, could have similar effects on the Giants. The Giants are the least powerful team in the majors in terms of home runs with 87, and that includes Melky Cabrera’s 11 home runs and current Phillie Nate Schierholtz’s 5, leaving 71 homers on the current roster. If Hamilton did sign with the Giants, they would have at least 4 players capable of 25 home runs or more (Hamilton, Pence, Posey, and Panda), even at AT&T Park, and those numbers would instantly go up, provided Hamilton stays healthy. Even though he missed 29 games in 2010, Hamilton hit .359 with 32 HRs/100 RBI. The Giants are already in a pretty good spot with their team on pace to win at least 90 games. With Hamilton, they could compete with the Dodgers and their enhanced roster for years to come.
Make no mistake, Hamilton is not Bonds aside from the hitting ability. Bonds was a far more disciplined hitter than Hamilton, striking out more than 100 times only once, in his rookie year, and he led the league in walks 12 times, over 100 walks in 14 seasons. Barry was a stellar defender in his early career, winning 8 Gold Gloves. Bonds stole 514 bases while Hamilton has stolen 43, less than the 52 Bonds stole in 1990, his first MVP season. But his presence would lengthen the lineup considerably by adding a legitimate power hitter, something the Giants have been looking for since…well…Barry Bonds retired in 2007. Hamilton, on the other hand, is a better person and personality than Bonds. Everyone on the Rangers loves him because he’s a great teammate and he’s a great community ambassador and he has great respect for the game. He would fit very well in Mike Murphy’s tight clubhouse.
Signing Hamilton is going to be very expensive, possibly Zito-esque. It is expected that he would only be able to get a 5-6 year contract but considering the lack of marquis players that will be on the market he could get as long as 10 (I doubt it). I think that, if the Giants were to sign him, a likely contract would be 5-6 years, $100-120 million dollars, at $20 million per year, though $18 million would be nicer. Just looking at next season, if they were to sign Scutaro and Pagan to $6 million contracts for next season, $13 million for Hunter Pence in arbitration, $6 million for Brian Wilson, and $3 million for Jeremy Affeldt, and a whole lot of other contracts, the payroll will probably be in excess of $140 million dollars for 2013. Whether the brain trust in the Giants front office is willing to dig into their wallets (how deep is another question) to sign Hamilton will have to wait for the offseason.
Should they dig into the so-called “rainy-day fund”, here’s what a projected lineup would be with Hamilton:
- CF Angel Pagan S
- 2B Marco Scutaro R
- LF Josh Hamilton L
- C Buster Posey R
- 3B Pablo Sandoval S
- RF Hunter Pence R
- 1B Brandon Belt L
- SS Brandon Crawford/Joaquin Arias L/R
- Pitcher
Remember when McCovey Cove was this full on a regular basis?
While Hamilton is not the same caliber of player as Barry Bonds, the presence in the lineup is very similar and would make the Giants very dangerous in the National League for years to come. Plus, it’d make McCovey Cove the coolest spot in town again. Barry Bonds hit 35 into The Cove. Who knows how many Josh Hamilton could sink.
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