Matt Cain will retire at the end of the season, the longtime Giants right-hander told reporters (including CSNBayArea.com’s Alex Pavlovic). Cain will make one final start, the 331st of his 13-year career, on Saturday at AT&T Park against the Padres.
Cain informed his teammates of his decision before addressing the media, saying “I think Saturday will be the last time I put on the Giants uniform, and I can’t see myself going to play somewhere else.” (hat tip to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle) The Giants held a $21MM club option on Cain’s services for the 2018 season, though it was a foregone conclusion that the option would instead be bought out (for $7.5MM) given Cain’s struggles and injury problems over the last three years.
“Matt is one of the most accomplished right-handed pitchers in Giants history and has made a tremendous impact both on and off the field within our organization,” Giants President/CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. “His play on the field and community service exemplifies what a true big leaguer should be and he will definitely be missed. On behalf of the Giants, I congratulate Matt on an outstanding career and wish him and his family all the best. He’ll forever be a Giant.”
Originally taken by the Giants with the 25th overall pick of the 2002 draft, Cain developed into one of the key figures in the franchise’s return to championship prominence this decade. From 2006-12, Cain posted a 3.30 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 2.47 K/9 and averaged 213 innings per season, racking up three All-Star appearances and three top-12 finishes in NL Cy Young Award voting. Cain joined Tim Lincecum and then Madison Bumgarner as the aces of San Francisco’s staff that helped the Giants win three World Series titles from 2010-14.
Elbow and ankle problems kept Cain from contributing to that 2014 championship team, though he’d already proven his postseason bonafides in the Giants’ previous two title runs. Cain owned a sterling 2.10 ERA over 51 1/3 playoff innings, including 21 1/3 shutout innings over the entirety of his work in the 2010 postseason.
Cain’s success led to a notable contract extension signed in April 2012 — a six-year/$127.5MM deal that was, at the time, the largest contract ever signed by a right-handed pitcher. 2012 was a thoroughly notable year for Cain given his extension, the Giants winning another World Series and the perfect game authored by Cain on June 13. It was the 22nd perfect game in MLB history and the first in the history of the Giants franchise.
Injuries hampered the final few years of Cain’s career and forced him into an early exit from the game (he turns 33 on Sunday). Still, Cain will long be remembered by Giants fans for his durability and clutch October performances, and Saturday’s start will no doubt be a special day at AT&T Park. We at MLBTR wish Cain all the best in his post-playing career.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
It was a good run Matt. Enjoy the retired life
You were simply a joy to watch big daddy cain! I’ve always been a Mariners fan, but the 2010 Giants team holds a special place in my heart. That team helped distract me from a horrible personal experience and reinvigorated my love for baseball. Matt Cain you were my favorite of the bunch! it’ll be super sad knowing I’ll never be able to watch you take the mound (after saturday) but you’ve had a fantastic career! thanks for the memories!
good luck matt
Guess it’s time to get new Giants jersey. Thanks for the memories Matt
Great career, not a surprise
Had a tough past few years, but will always have a soft spot for Matt Cain. Good guy, great teammate. Glad to see he’s unwilling to play anywhere else.
Made the right choice. Great career Matt Cain!
This really impacts this year’s Cy Young balloting.
How?
You SERIOUSLY couldn’t pick up the sarcasm there? Like seriously?
I couldn’t.
How does Matt Cain retiring and not playing NEXT year impact THIS year’s Cy Young voting.
Makes absolutely zero sense.
It doesn’t. At all.
It was sarcasm.
I really hope your joking
You really hope his joking what? Finish your sentence.
Woops, sorry. I meant to say “I really hope your joking-comment was implied.”
Is that better, scumbag?
He is being a troll.
You don’t need to make such a sacrastic comment like that. You can show a little respect for a player with a great career
Come on man, he’s making a non offensive joke about a millionaire. He played a children’s game, he doesn’t deserve any more respect than anyone else
Like Matt Cain honestly cares what commenters on MLBTR think of him
Don’t you know that “speech is violence” now?
Nice career. One of the few extreme fly-ball starters left, lucked out with a great ballpark/ division, but in his prime he was one heck of a pitcher.
$127M for 5 years of negative WAR. Might be the worst contract in MLB history.
Josh Hamilton might disagree
That or prince fielder
Or Pablo Sandoval.
homer Bailey
Prince Fielder’s contract is mostly being paid back by insurance.
Or Barry Zito
Fielder had 2 spinal fusion surgeries that forced him into retirement but is the furthest thing from being the “worst contract in MLB history” He had four years $96 million remaining on the nine year $214MM deal he signed with Detroit. Rangers insurance that picks up half of the remaining $72MM they owe Fielder; Detroit Tigers are responsible for the other $24MM. Rangers are paying him $9MM per season, Tigers are picking up $6MM per year and insurance paying $9MM per year. His 9 year $214MM contract is actually 3 years $27MM Texas owes after ’17 season.
His contract for Texas Rangers was far from an albatross. Give him a break. He really wanted to continue playing. I’ll never forget that emotional conference saying, Doctors said he couldn’t play MLB baseball anymore. He was forced into retirement, with the same number of home runs as his father (319) The year before, he played 158 games, hitting .305, with 23 homers, 98 RBI helping TEX win the AL West (2015) Source- link to espn.com
Sources- espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17267384/prince-fielder-te…
baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/al-west/t… (contract details)
Sorry forget to add the links above.
Homer did shut down the Brewers last night to eliminate them from the NL Central race, so he’s earned part of his mega contract.
Bobby Bonilla
And soon, Pujols will disagree with him
Chris Davis
Albert Pujols wins in a landslide.
You’re comparing a drop from MVP-caliber numbers to decent numbers (ballpark .260-25-95) to the totally unproductive dumpster fires that were Panda & Hamilton’s contracts, and saying “landslide”? Notice the Angels had the chance to dump either (or both) by eating nearly 100% of the salary, and chose Hamilton. Do you think it was because 1Bs are soooo much harder to find than RFs?
I think it’s because everyone still loves Pujols. By all accounts, he’s a terrific guy, a fan favorite. He also has 4 years and 120+ million dollars left on his contract after this season, and he’s already the worst everyday player in baseball. And if teams start doing the extreme shift on him like Houston has begun doing, it’s only going to get much, much worse for Albert and the Angels.
Since Pujols has only played 6 games on defense, all you need to take into account is his offense. That means the only thing to consider is how many runs he creates. He is 21% below MLB average in wRC+ and 18% below average in OPS+, but far from the worst among qualified batters.
I think the casual fan is going to look at Pujols year and say “but he hit 23 HR and drove in 100 runs. That’s pretty good.”
Only dedicated fans recognize that he has not been very good with the bat.
He is also the slowest player in baseball, non-Colon division, and he’s not going to get any faster.. The HOuston shift will probably become the norm for Albert. Pretty easy to get 100 RBIs when the best player in the league is batting in front of you and getting on base at a .425 clip, even with the missed month. Pujols is awful, which sucks to say because I think he’s a really good person and a great ambassador for the game. But he hurts his team.
He hit behind Mike Trout all year. 95 RBI isn’t decent, it’s embarrassing. He only played DH and only will from here on out. That means that 25 home runs is, if decent, unimpressive. And if you watch him play for one game or look at any other number aside from those two, it’s pretty clear he’s cooked. Generational player, inner circle hall of famer, yes and yes. But this decline is final and almost complete.
He can’t play defense adequately enough to be put in the field….but yeah, just ignore that. The DH penalty adjustment exists for a reason. He clogs up the DH spot for his team. That IS a negative. You don’t just take his batting production into account.
5 years of negative WAR? Says who? BB Ref has only 3 years of negative WAR, and Fangraphs has only 2. And why are you cherry-picking the final years of Cain’s career? More germane is BB Ref has his net WAR at 30.3 and Fangraphs at 29.5. Are you that desperate to find something negative to say about a great career?
Also, the fact that it has to be explained to you that all young players under team control are underpaid, while vets after reaching free-agency are overpaid, says something of your baseball knowledge. Cain’s contract, like most extensions are reimbursement for performing way beyond for what he was paid early in his career.
If you look at Cain’s career as a whole, and not highlight the negatives, SF paid an average of just under $11m a year for an average of 2.3 WAR per year. That is not only not the worst contract in history, it’s very reasonable.
His ERA was above 4 every season of that big contract. That is just horrible and there is no way around it
No team even looks at ERA when discussing a pitcher. You shouldn’t either.
Ok give me any stat that says cain was good during that contract. And no teams dont sign pitchers to 125 million dollar deals to have an ERA above 4 every single season believe it or not
I don’t think that’s true. ERA is overrated, but teams probably still use it along with their peripherals
Right, because everyone knows the Dodgers have never overpaid for a pitcher. It’s easy to be bitter when your team hasn’t won a WS since the 80’s
I actually doubt teams use ERA much anymore in evaluations. Probably looking at much more granular stuff, like velocity, ground ball rates, medical records etc. way too much noise in ERA and other runs allowed metrics.
As far as the Dodgers overpaying for pitchers, sure, all teams do. Just off the top of my head, chan ho park, scott kazmir, Darren dreifort is a classic one, Brett Anderson…there’s a lot. But there’s a lot of teams that do. I’m thinking the Giants probably regret that zito contract sometimes, and of course the Rockies had Hampton and neagle…Padres are still paying James shields. And that’s just the NL West.
Another clueless fan that brings up my team and the last time they won a world series. Its a classic giants fan delousional line. Enjoy your 100 loss season with no farm system that should really work out for you. scott kazmir cost 48 million big deal. Zito and Cain were massive 100 million + busts and samardjzia for 90 is a disaster too. Only pitcher dodgers dropped 100 million on was Kevin brown who was actually decent and Greinke who left because he was too good.
The Dodgers will choke and miss the World Series.
Yeah, it’s too bad Cain’s contract kept the Giants from contending for any WS titles.
So the contract turned out badly, so what? No one has a crystal ball, and Cain had been solidly healthy for his entire career when he signed that contract. But you keep ignoring the fact that Cain pitched for 6 seasons of 3.35 ERA, 124 ERA+, averaging over 200 innings, and 176 SOs, for less than $17m total. That’s less than $2.8 per season.
Players love playing for the Giants because they take care of their guys. The contract was partially in reward for all the great pitching he did in his first 6 years. It could have turned out better, but I doubt the Giants are questioning themselves for having given it to Cain. The Giants still made money and still won in spite of it.
Samardzija, in the first 2 years of his contract, has been valued by BB Ref at 5.3 WAR. That is no one’s definition of a “disaster” except to the clueless.
4.12 ERA as a Giant while pitching half his games in AT&T Park. Where does BBRef get the idea that that is worth 5.3 WAR?
Samardjzia for 90 million and a forfeited mid first round pick for slightly above leauge average pitcher. Thats a disaster
No, a disaster is hanging out on a thread about another teams soon-to-be retired pitcher yet still wishing you could trade places with them to fill the empty void you have in your life. Move along.
I wanna trade places with a 97 loss team with no farm system and many awful contracts. All while my team has 102 wins a good farm system and money coming off the books. Patrick lay off the drugs
So if a stat says something counter to what you believe, you question the stat?
BB Ref obviously looks at far more than ERA. He’s pitched the most innings, and walked the fewest batters of any pitcher in the NL this season. Since becoming a SP he’s averaged 206 IP. He has a sterling 6.41/1 SO/BB ratio. WAR looks at runs allowed per 9 innings (RA9). Samardzija has a 4.27 RA9 and the average for all pitchers is 4.66. He’s a mid-rotation pitcher paid accordingly.
Just the IP alone makes him valuable, and MLB teams do value that. If you don’t think all those innings aren’t valuable then your opinion becomes highly questionable.
You keep telling yourself that it’s a disaster if that makes you feel better. Who cares about reality?
A mid rotation arm doesn’t get paid 90 million dollars. Yes we all know he doesn’t walk guys and he eats innings. When batters put the ball in play bad things happen. Innings eaters are not worth 90 million and never will be. Rich hill is a mod rotation arm who is far better than samardjzia and didnt cost a pick or 90 million. And losing the draft pick is huge too.
Mid rotation starters don’t have ERA’s in the 4’s. He’s an innings eater being paid like a #2
Basically all free agent contracts reward players for what they’ve done, not what they will do. It’s the nature of the beast. Players are underpaid early in their careers, overpaid later. No real way around that.
BB Ref shows -1.6 WAR combined for the last five years of his career. Maybe that’s what he meant. But a lot of good players posted negative WAR their last few seasons. Cain was still a very good pitcher overall.
Understood, but I still don’t get the focus on only a partial span of the contract. I think one should look at his career as a whole. Some people are focused on just the contract extension But this guy cherry-picks only a few years of the contract using only the largest possible sample, so he can get a negative result. Even over the length of the contract, which I admit did not turn out as hoped, Cain still had a +2.4 WAR.
Did you just use team controlled years to make an argument that his contract extension (which is what was being referred to with worst contract) wasn’t that bad? That’s rather disingenuous. I don’t think that his is the worst contract by a long stretch, but using his team controlled, cheap years, to lower the cost of that extension is an awful way to try to make that argument.
Was my favorite player back in the day, so happy when I opened a pack of cards and got his rookie card. Hope to see him back with the Giants in some capacity.
Wouldn’t have won 3 titles without him! Great career and Giant for life! Will be missed
So he foregoes the buyout? Classy move by a good guy. But man he was awful these last few years
nope it’s just a formality he won’t play next year but he will take his free money
That’s not a classy move, they both agreed to the contract…
That wouldn’t have been*
Some athletes the money they make whether healthy… Not the common regular US workers making 10-12 bucks an hour… Joke…
You fight the power brother
if you’re making 12 dollars an hour at mid career, you’re in the wrong business.
Then don’t watch baseball, you are paying his salary.
Got to give the Giants organization high marks for both loyalty and class. Whatever has gone wrong with Cain is clearly not a fluke, yet rather than release him when he really serves no purpose on the roster, they are allowing him to finish out his Giants career with dignity – at least as much as his current performances will allow. After all he has contributed to the organization, I certainly hope that he is able to go out on a high note.
The Giants have always done that. Another notable example of that was Peavy. They by all rights should have DFAd him, but they kept him on.
That would seem to be why players are so loyal to the organization as well.
Why retire. Just play that huge contract out. lol
He has. It expires after this season. They will pay him every penny he is entitled to then he’s retiring.
Unless of course the Giants decide to pick up his club option as a token of loyalty XD
If he is retiring at the end of the season, Cain is foregoing the $7.5 million option buyout on the $21 million option for 2018 that the Giants hold on his contract.
He will retire after they buy him out of the last year of his contract. No player would ever forfeit $7.5m just like that
It’s rare, but it happens. Gil Meche retired, leaving $12M on the table. He didn’t think it was fair for the Royals to have to pay him since he sucked. Stupid move in my opinion, since they certainly wouldn’t give $12M to a guy who got injured after 7 productive years playing for well below market value.
Because he only has 1 year left and it’s a team option.
Classy move. Leaving 7.5 mil on the table by retiring rather than having his option bought out.
Is that the case? I don’t think it is and didn’t see that in the story. The smart move is to be bought out and then retire. I don’t think his saying “I’m retiring” means it’s officially done, not until the paperwork is filed.
Go listen to the interview.
I think you are very confused as to what is going on. All Cain has done is announce that he will retire once the season is over. It’s not official until the paperwork was filed and there is no reason for him to do that early and forfeit the money he is entitled to. He doesn’t have to do anything other than make his last scheduled start tonight if he doesn’t retire immediately.
Correction: His last scheduled start is on Saturday.
IF he is leaving the $ on the table like Gil meche then I agree it’s a supreme class move. If he takes the $ that is just good business and takes nothing away from him as a quality MLB PLAYER. He was bad the last 4 yrs but he was great before that!
Pretty sure he’s still taking the buyout. Like, he knows they aren’t picking up his option so he’s just leaving once he gets his money.
does any one else wounder why cain, Lincecum,Zito and Bumgarner have all ended there MLB career before they should have? Is it overwork bak coaching what it dosn’t happen to other teams..
Bumgarner retired also, i missed that.
I didn’t know Bumgarner retired
When did Lincecum and Bumgarner retire?
Bumgarner? He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. Zito was always overrated, Cain and Lincecum got hurt, like most pitchers do.
Zito was awesome in Oakland. He sucked in SF, but he was not ALWAYS overrated.
Pretty bad in SF, 2012 postseason excepted.
Those playoffs he was remarkable.
Cain, like a lot of other pitchers, got injured.
Lincecum was not going to last with his size and body type.
Zito was 35 when he ended his career with the Giants.
Bum did not retire.
There is no pattern there, and it does happen to other teams: the current Mets, e.g, the Cubs of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. It happens plenty of times with pitchers.
I would say that it’s most likely bak coaching.
I happened to be standing next to Matt Cain because we happened to be staying in the same hotel. I normally wouldn’t speak to a player and leave them be but couldn’t resist congratulating him on the perfect game he threw a couple of weeks earlier. He smiled, shook my hand and thanked me. It was only a brief encounter but he seemed exactly like he seems on the field – a classy guy.
I wish him all the best for the future. He was an amazing and intelligent player and I look forward to seeing what he does next with the Giants organization.
Why not play another year at his buy out price? Giants gonna have to pay that any ways. I guess he’s been that bad huh?
Yes, he’s been that bad, and the cost of picking up the option is $21MM, far higher than the buyout cost.
Yes but let’s just say he never said I’m retiring. All Giants have to is decline the option he’s getting 7.5 million regardless. So then he can tell the Giants I will play one more year at 7.5 million.
I’m not sure you understand. He gets the buyout figure even if he retires (assuming he wants it, which why wouldn’t he). He doesn’t need to come back and pitch to get that money, and yeah, he’s terrible now regardless, so they wouldn’t want him back. No team would want him on their roster next year. He would need to take a minor-league contract with a spring training invite and pitch his way onto the roster. Given that he’s got the money and the championships, there’s no real reason to do that unless he just doesn’t feel like he can move on from the game, but he sounds like he’s in a fine place, so…
The Giants don’t have to make the decision whether to pick up his option or pay the option buyout for quite a while. If he retires now he gets nothing unless the team chooses to pay it out of the goodness of their hearts. The team is certainly not contractually obligated to pay it if he retires before they are required to make a decision on the option.
No I understand and I understand what your saying. He’s getting that money no matter what! So regardless of money and championship fine place or not they just wanna play.
I think that the players union would kick up a stink. Didn’t A-Rod want to go to Boston and meant he would take a pay cut and the union wouldn’t allow it?
Someone can probably tell me if this is true?
But I guess SF could resign him for league minimum after he’s released maybe? If they wanted to.
Glad he got 3 WS rings, 3000+ Ks, 2 Cy Young Awards and 2 no hitters. Quite a career!
Your stats are way off bud
Sorry I forgot the time he came in as a reliever in game 7 of the WS on a flying dragon. I won’t soon forget that!
LMAO
I think he only got 2 he was broke one year
Still got the ring
Is this what giant fans really believe?
to Big Daddy Cain, thanks for helping bring three championships to the bay. enjoy your family and see you when your plaque is debuted on the Giant’s Wall of Fame.
Happy retirement. Cain was able, brother.
My father always said “son never get old”! Damn if he wasn’t right too. This day comes to everyone, Cain was a formidable foe.
Congrats, had some great battles with LA. Much respect
He should go out with a win
4 more loses by the padres in a row should do the trick
Coming back from the elbow surgery he had a fantastic Spring Training in 2015, only to come down with a flexor tendon strain right before the season started. A cruel false dawn, but that doesn’t take away from his excellence through 2012 and the World Series rings.
What a career this guy had.
Thank you for everything Matt. You made one-hitters feel like no-hitters.
Not a bad career, 13 Years, $130 million and 3 WS titles! #Congrats
Does his early retirement announcement preclude the 2018 option ? Or does he wait until after the option is declined to actually file the paperwork and make his retirement official (and cash in on an additional $7.5 million)
I feel bad since Injuries derailed his career. Good luck in retirement though.
He’s announcing his retirement now so that the fans and his teammates know it ends this Saturday. What than means for the buyout is still unclear.
While the snarky comments are being made about Cain and his last contract, it needs to be pointed out that Cain will finish with a negative won/loss record due almost solely to pathetic run support over the course of his career.
This. I lost count of how many 1-0 or 2-1 games he lost due to poor run support before 2010. And yet someone below thinks he was an “overrated” / “lucky” pitcher? Uhhh.
He’s not forfeiting the buyout!
Classy move if he is giving up $7.5 million option buyout by retiring.
No he is not giving up the buyout. Its a given the Giants wont bring him back so he is announcing his retirement as a formality
If he officially retires before the Giants have to make a decision on the option in early November, then he is not entitled to the option buyout. The Giants would owe him $0.
There is no way he does that. That’s a couple of his grandchildren or great grandchildren who will never have to worry about money he is taking care of by waiting a month or how every long to file his retirement papers.
He’s not going to be doing that tho
It’s not official until the paper work is filed. He knows this will be his last ML start and wants the Giants fans to know that. The only place he’s ever played is SF. He knows the Giants will not pick up his option, and will buy him out instead. He’s just telling the fans “thanks for the memories!” He’s still getting the 7.5 million next year.
Not going to do that tho what? Finish your sentence.
no, he’s not officially retiring yet, he’s just announcing that he’s retiring after the season
^^ doesn’t understand my joke
Fantastic career. Absolute pleasure to watch him at his best – even times when he performed well against my beloved Dodgers.
Class act all the way.
Overrated Pitcher, and really Lucky !
331st start in his 13th year will 3 innings.
331, 13, 3
331133
Thanks Matt Cain for the 3 World Series Championships. It was an awesome run. Giants for Life.
Sure wish I could retire a millionaire when I turn 33.
Don’t we all.
Congratulations on a fine outing in what was your last game for the Giants!! Considering your age, bank account and the murky immediate furture of the Giants, it’s a good time to walk away. EVEN IF you resigned with them, it will be until you are over 36 before there is any kind of glimmer of success for the Giants (and by then MADBUM will have escaped via free agency to a team with offense and a bullpen). Too bad this game ended up being yet another example of the HEX San Diego has over Bochy and the complete failure of Evans and Sabean to ASSemble something resembling a bullpen. Time to clean house, Larry!!