Cain and the Giants – win win

Matt Cain signed a new deal worth 112.5 million over five years, which means one thing.That ruins the drama of the rest of the exhibition schedule.Cains new deal will average 22.5M per year, well within the parameters of every logical guess on how this would end. Cain knew his value, the Giants knew his value, the agents and the players union knew his valuethus obviating the need for all the panic and freakery going on about the deal.There was no hometown discount, which we knew. There was no gouging, which he could have done by coming in at Cliff Lee money. There was very little posturing, in fact. In all ways, this was a lousy contract negotiation for our purposes. Gentlemen and gentlewomen met, they argued a bit, and then they hit the number that was supposed to be hit, given all the numbers that have been hit around them.Now all he has to do is not lose 15 mph on his fastball, or tinker with his delivery every off-season, or be asked to be (the new hellish buzzphrase) the face of the franchise.All Cain has to do is pitch as he hasbe in the top 10 in innings pitches, pitches thrown, and all the other metrics that show workload and effectiveness.In other words, all he has to do is be him. Thats not as easy as it seems, to be sure, given the bar he has already set, but because baseball contracts have long been about non-baseball things like projecting the future, preventing competitors for bidding, etc., he got what he deserved considering the conditions that prevail.And the Giants got what they needed as well. Without Cain, their entire roster-building strategy would have been shot. Theyd have been a team built on pitching without enough pitching, and a team trying to fake it with their hitting not even managing that.In other words, theyd be the Pittsburgh Piratesa bad team in a good yard. And there are always great seats available in Pittsburgh.So it goes. Wed all congratulate all involved, but since none of the rest of us are getting a taste, we really dont care all that much. But a brief tip othe top to them for reaching the only logical conclusion where nobody looks greedy or stupid or shortsighteda rarity in this day and age.Now lets get down to the business we all know best, and let me be the first -- to wit:When is Cain going to earn his money and win the Lady Byng Trophy? Why cant he lead the NBA in scoring? And why can he not get over the top at the Country Music Awards? God in heaven, when does his contract expire? Hes killing the franchise!Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com