At the very least, Pablo Sandoval’s exit from San Francisco in 2014 can be described as contentious. Telling everyone except for a select few of your former teammates and coaches you won’t miss them (amongst a few other choice phrases) is a great way to burn a bridge, not maintain one.
Because of the soap opera that was Sandoval leaving town, naturally the very first questions for him upon his arrival nearly three years later surrounded how he felt now that he had time away from all of the people he said he’d never miss.
Here’s what he had to say:
Q: So this is where you wanted to be, huh?
“It’s exciting, exciting to be back. It’s one of the things, when I was in free agency, there was a lot of miscommunication with that but I learned my lesson. I apologize to the fans, especially, and one of the things that I would say, I would apologize. There’s a lot of things I would say to my former teammates, there’s a lot of things out there, man. But the thing is like, I have to be thankful with the Giants’ organization because they gave me an opportunity to sign me as a free agent, to be here, and get a second chance. It’s special, it’s special, there’s a lot of moments. It’s been good here. I’m growing out here with this organization. I had the greatest moments of my career here so to have a second chance, it’s the most important thing. It’s the most important thing moving forward.”
Q: Do you feel like you have to apologize to any teammates?
“Yeah I really did, I apologized, and especially the fan support, the fan support is one of the things I apologized for. There’s a lot of things out there I’ve been talking to guys about. No, they are great teammates, I have great teammates so I just apologized to them and to talk to them and apologize is one of the best things.”
Q: You could’ve gone some place else where you wouldn’t have to apologize, with a totally fresh start. Why was coming back here, why was that a better fit for you than going somewhere else?
“Why here? Five years, three rings. Three World Series. Dynasty. Chemistry. The fan support. What else? Team, manager, teammates. Everything, you know. It’s what I came for. I’m growing out here and I got my second chance to be back with them. I have to make the right decisions, This was the right decision that I have made and I always loved to play so I’m here.”
Q: Why do you think Boston wasn’t a good fit for you?
“Doesn’t work, doesn’t work out, doesn’t matter, it happens in your career. It happens to players. You think you going to fit in but it happens to players. But when you came from things, and I felt, you always gonna have second opportunity, Giants gave me second opportunity again to be build my career back.”
Q: Bochy said you’d get at least 40-50 at bats in the minors. Do you think you’ll be back up here this year?
“You know, I just wanna work hard. Just work hard. And do the best and try to get the bats out there, try to do the best, the type of player that I am, I’m going to work hard. Doing the best, getting back in as soon as possible to help the team win. That’s the most important thing.”
Q: You say nice things about the giants now, why didn’t you sign with them two and a half years ago? Why didn’t you come back then?
“Miscommunication. Emotional, a lot of things happened. I wish I could get back the time to get the opportunity to sign again, I would sign, but it’s passed. I’m to moving forward right now, to do the best. I’m doing the best now. Give me another chance, I’m here. I’m here for a second chance to show them I’m ready for it. I’m just looking forward to be back here and showing what I can do.”
Q: How did this begin? Did you reach out to them? Did your agent reach out them? Or did they reach out to you? Who form their orgfaination was really instrumental in saying “yeah we could see this happening:
“I won’t say nothing. Ask those guys I won’t say nothing. It was great communication, Bobby [Evans] gave me personally, it was great. It was great communication. I got everything that I asked for so I’m here.”
Q: What did you learn about yourself over the last few years?
“Lot of things. I’m more mature, I respect the game more like I should. In baseball you gonna learn every day little things. You don’t want to stop learning baseball until it’s over. It’s one of those things, when you’re growing up, and you don’t have good people around you, it’s gonna be the worst thing you gonna do.”