Michael Morse has played a grand total of 142 games for the Giants throughout his 12-year career, but it’s clear he left his heart in San Francisco following his exit in 2014.
Morse, 34, is back with the club in spring training after two forgettable seasons with the Marlins and Pirates, and is hoping to make enough of an impression that he gets a second chance after never wanting to leave. Morse told reporters in Scottsdale on Thursday that if he doesn’t make the Giants roster this spring, his career will be over.
“I’m pretty sure that even if I hit .900 this spring and don’t make the team, I don’t think I’d go anywhere else,” Morse told CSNBayArea. “I’d rather go home than not play for them.”
“This is an opportunity and the Giants have given me that opportunity,” he said. “It’s not something I’m not going to take seriously. I’m 110 percent in it to help this team, and I told Bobby I don’t want to play anywhere else. I don’t want to play anywhere but for the Giants.”
It makes sense that Morse longs to be back in San Francisco, where he played some of the best baseball of his career for one magical, World Series winning season. He hit .279, had 16 homers, and was second best on the team with a .811 OPS. Morse was also responsible for a memorable eighth inning, game-tying home run in Game 5 of the NLCS, setting up Travis Ishikawa’s walk-off that sent the Giants to the World Series.
The Giants let Morse leave in free agency after 2014, where he signed a two-year deal with the Marlins. Morse thought his career was over after last season, when he was designated for assignment by the Pirates on April 13, before being released eight days later. A chance encounter with Giants general manager Bobby Evans at Hunter Pence’s wedding in November changed all that, when Morse told Evans he knew he wasn’t done.
“If you want to see if you’re done or not, come to camp,” Evans replied.
“I told them to write up a contract,” Morse told the San Jose Mercury News. “I don’t care about the money part. …What other team would do that? That’s probably why I’m the luckiest guy here.”
Pence was just as excited as Morse.
“He was so excited. He was like, ‘No way!” Morse said. “I said, ‘I think we just shook on a little deal here.’ If (Evans) is telling me I can come to camp, I’m coming. I’m coming hard. I’m giving everything I have.”
Morse will likely be in competition with Justin Ruggiano, another veteran the Giants are bringing in as a non-roster invitee, who also can play in the outfield and has right-handed power. If he looks anything like the player he was in 2014, however, Morse should win the job easily.