Affeldt, Scutaro, Pence likely to return

Being a key contributor to a World Series championship can seriously enhance a player’s value on the open market. One good postseason can set up a player to cash in.

And that’s what Jeremy Affeldt and Marco Scutaro are set to do.

In a report published on Friday on BayAreaSportsGuy.com, sources close to the Giants are telling BASG that Affeldt and Scutaro are close to getting paid based on their playoff success.

The Giants will reward the 33-year-old left reliever with a three-year, $18 million deal. In 10 games during the 2012 postseason, Affeldt pitched 10-1/3 scoreless innings while striking out 10.

On Monday, ESPN’s Buster Olney confirmed the financial details but made it clear the deal was not done.

The 37-year old journeyman Scutaro will snare a two-year, $12 million deal. After being acquired on July 27 from the Colorado Rockies, Scutaro became a fan favorite and a catalyst during the Giants run to the World Series.

In 61 regular season games in Orange and Black, the second baseman hit a staggering .362 with 44 RBI. During his 11-year career, 2012 is the only season Scutaro hit over .300, finishing with a combined .306 average between the Rockies and Giants.

Before the trade to the Giants, Scutaro was hitting .271 in 95 games with the Rockies and was probably headed towards a one-year free agent contract. Now it looks like he’s going to get a multi-year deal.

The deals address two of the Giants’ significant free agents at salaries similar to what they made during the 2012 season. Affeldt earned $5 million while Scutaro made $6 million.

In addition to Affeldt and Scutaro returning, Giants GM Brian Sabean told ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick that the team will definitely offer a contract to right fielder Hunter Pence and has every intention of keeping him in a Giants uniform in 2013.

Sabean made it clear to Crasnick:

“Pence is going to be coming back. We think there are some things he can do to fix what went wrong this year. We like the player. We made a big trade to get him, and he’s going to be a Giant next year.”

Pence is going to be expensive. He’s probably going to make around $14 million, depending on whether he goes to arbitration.

But it’s a move the Giants have to do. They gave up a top prospect, Tommy Joseph, to get Pence and the organization would get crushed if they let Pence go. Last year, they let Carlos Beltran walk away after giving up their No. 1 prospect Zach Wheeler. Sabean can’t let that happen two years in a row.

If the Giants get these deals done, it leaves them with very few major holes to address, namely center and left field. Angel Pagan may command a three or four-year deal, so there is a very strong possibility that he does not return. Gregor Blanco could be easy to re-sign, but he’s not an everyday player.