Matt Cain: San Francisco Giants' Front Office Needs to Lock Up Pitcher Now

Opening Day of the 2012 MLB season is quickly approaching, which means that the San Francisco Giants' front office, specifically Brian Sabean and Larry Baer, need to cough up the money and re-sign Matt Cain to a long-term contract before the season starts.

So here we are.

With only one week left until Opening Day, Matt Cain is currently slated to hit the free-agent market at the end of the season.

It was roughly a month ago when Sabean openly stated that the Giants do have the funds to lock up both of their aces, Tim Lincecum and Cain. It should have been, and apparently was, their top priority this offseason to do so, but as it stands now, this could potentially be Cain’s last season in the orange and black.

If Cain hits the free-agent market—like he said he would if the two parties fail to reach an agreement before the regular season starts—it would be hard to turn down a seven-year, $140 million contract, which is what he'll probably demand on the open market.

But now, Andrew Baggarly has reported that Magic Johnson's purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers has rekindled negotiations between the two parties.

This is incredibly good news for the Giants and their fans since the last thing we heard was that Cain was "torn" over his future with the Giants.

But what has prolonged this process?

Does Cain really want to test the free-agent market and field offers from other teams before potentially re-signing with the Giants? Did the Giants low-ball Cain in their offer?

Baer has actually stated that the latter isn't true.

Giants fans should hope that Baer's statement is truthful, because the last thing the franchise needs is to lose one of its cornerstones.

The Giants have a formula for success, and it has been in the works ever since the Barry Bonds era ended in 2007. The formula is to draft good pitching and build the team around it. In essence, live and die by the pitching staff.

The formula brought the Giants a World Series championship in 2010, and that was probably a little sooner than the Giants front office had originally anticipated.

And one of the crucial, if not the most essential, piece of this formula is Cain, who has been the workhorse of the rotation for the past seven years. He even pitched 22.1 scoreless innings during the 2010 postseason run, and who knows if the Giants would’ve won the World Series without Cain’s brilliant performance.

Letting Cain walk in free agency would contradict everything that the franchise has been striving to become. Pitchers like Cain—All-Star pitchers entering their prime who don’t have a history of injury problems—don’t come around too often.

Yes, it’s possible that the Giants could spend the money to acquire another All-Star caliber pitcher to replace Cain, but let’s face it; San Francisco isn’t exactly the most appealing free-agent destination for a pitcher.

Pitching with one run of run support every night isn’t exactly an ideal situation for a big-name starting pitcher.

If the Giants want to contend for a World Series championship year-in, year-out, they must find a way to lock up Matt Cain before Opening Day comes. It’s far too risky to let him test the free-agent market and have other teams dangle upwards of $140 million in front of him.

With a rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and an offensive core of Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt and potentially Gary Brown, the Giants will contend for a championship every season.

And with the contracts of Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito coming off of the books in 2013 and 2014 respectively, the Giants will likely have the funds to retain all of these players for the foreseeable future.

As long as Cain is willing to take a contact that is somewhere around the $20 million per year range, Sabean and Baer need to cough up the money and just pay the man already.

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