Major League Baseball

Report: Sandoval willing to trade dollars for a longer contract

Published Nov. 7, 2014 6:24 a.m. ET

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When the Hot Stove League really heats up, the mind-numbing dollar figures grab all the headlines. But for one three-time World Series-winning slugger, one number matters more than dollars.

The agent for Pablo Sandoval, the 28-year-old free agent fresh off his third championship with the Giants, told the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman on Thursday that the third baseman's biggest concern with his new contract is the length of the deal.

"Pablo is 28," Gustavo Vasquez told the Chronicle. "He is still young. Maybe if he was 30 or 31 we could talk about four or five years. But he’s 28. He deserves more than that."

Gustavo added that he talked with a "few teams" about Sandoval, and that ultimately his client is willing to be flexible on average value if a contract meets the minimum six years Panda wants.

With a longer contract comes a heightened concern about conditioning and weight, to which Vasquez said, "The teams we are talking to have not asked about Pablo’s weight."

Earlier on Thursday, Schulman reported that the Giants have already made Sandoval an offer, and will continue to pursue their cleanup hitter first before focusing on the team's other free agents.

"We’ve told both [starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Ryan Vogelsong] we need time to sort things out," Giants general manager Brian Sabean told Schulman. "Again, it goes back to Pablo. Pablo is the only one we’ve engaged as far as an offer and moving forward. The other four free agents know where we stand. . . . It’s obvious that Pablo is the heavy lifting."

But, according to Schulman, Sabean will not wait forever, saying he has extended “feelers all over the board” to free agents and potential trade targets, and is willing to make a move on short notice.

Sandoval has played all seven of his MLB seasons with the Giants, his first full season in 2009 being his best with career highs in batting average in a full season (.330), home runs (25) and RBI (90). Last season, he hit .279 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in 157 games played. But the two-time All-Star has been historically great in the postseason.

In 10 postseason series in his career, Sandoval has a .344 batting average with six home runs, 20 RBI and an OPS of .935. In the World Series, the numbers are even more staggering (.426 average, 1.162 OPS, 20 hits in 12 games), punctuated by the 2012 World Series MVP.

And the biggest statistic of all — in those 10 postseason series, the Giants are 10-0.

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