Possible Offseason Targets for the San Francisco Giants: Lorenzo Cain

Through the month of October we’ll look at several different targets this offseason that the San Francisco Giants could possibly pursue, continuing with Lorenzo Cain.

Yesterday we look at another Kansas City Royal in Mike Moustakas, and Cain might not be the last Kansas City Royal we look at this offseason.

Cain is a player that some San Francisco Giants fans have been begging for. He’s an excellent defender in center field, and he’s been a consistent hitter for four years now.

The 31-year-old began his major league career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010. But the Brewers shipped him to Kansas City for Zach Greinke.

In 147 at-bats with the Brewers he hit .306 with 7 stolen bases.

He only got 244 at-bats in his first two seasons with Kansas City, and they weren’t great. His first full season in 2013 wasn’t impressive either. That year he hit just .251 in 399 at-bats with 4 home runs.

Cain started to turn a corner in 2014 hitting .301 in 471 at-bats with 28 stolen bases. But he had an undesirable on-base-percentage of .339, while striking out 108 times.

In 2015 he made his first All-Star Game appearance. He finished that season hitting .307 with 101 runs scored, 16 home runs, 72 RBI and 28 stolen bases. His on-base-percentage bumped up to a respectable .361 as well.

Last year he hit .287 with 9 home runs and 14 stolen bases, while this past year he hit .300 with 15 home runs and 26 stolen bases.

At this point you know what you’re getting from Cain. He’s going to hit between .280 and .300 with 8-to-15 home runs and 15-to-20 stolen bases.

The question is, how long can Cain continue to put up those numbers? He seems young because it took him a while to blossom and he’s missed a lot of time with injuries, but he’ll be 32 for most of the 2018 season.

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Still, he’ll most likely be the best center field free agent available this offseason, and one of the best outfielders available in general.

Cain will want three or four years at around $14 million a year. I don’t think that’s a devastating amount for a player like Cain.

You have to worry about his durability though. He’s already missed a lot of games because of injuries, and he’s only getting older.

Center field is definitely a position the San Francisco Giants need to upgrade. I think Cain would be a great option to fill that void.

Next: Possible Offseason Targets for San Francisco Giants: Mike Moustakas

Plus, we are getting rid of one Cain, so why not bring another one into the fold? We’ll see what happens as the offseason progresses.