SAN FRANCISCO - No matter how good they are, major league players typically experience a decline in their mid-30s. Managers and executives then ponder where to put players so they don't hurt the team. For a center fielder, the thought of moving him to a corner outfield position might arise early, since athleticism, range and speed don't age well as skill sets.
Angel Pagan, 34, has reached that stage in his career. After three injury-riddled seasons and advanced metrics that suggest worsening defense, the San Francisco Giants veteran was moved from center field to left field to make way for former Washington Nationals center fielder Denard Span, whom the Giants signed to a three-year, $31 million deal in the offseason.
It's natural for a center fielder such as Pagan to resist the transition. While he is still a regular in the Giants' everyday starting lineup, such a move out of a premier defensive position -- in which an average or below-average bat is passable -- diminishes his value and calls his skills into question. Though Pagan has acknowledged the Span signing bruised his pride, he is quick to accept the logical rationale.
"The market dictated [what the Giants] were looking for, and they had to sign somebody else," said Pagan, who turns 35 on July 2.
That's true enough. When former left fielder Nori Aoki left for Seattle via free agency this past offseason, the Giants were faced with a stacked and pricey left-field market that included Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton and Alex Gordon. Instead, they plucked Span from a much shallower pool of center fielders and moved Pagan to left.
But how much of a center-field upgrade is the 32-year-old Span over Pagan? Since December of 2014, Span has undergone three surgeries (hip, core muscle, sports hernia) that limited him to 61 games and helped derail his defensive effectiveness in 2015. Offensively, in 2014, Span hit .302 with an on-base percentage of .355 and a .416 slugging percentage to go along with 31 stolen bases. When Pagan last had two healthy legs under him in 2012, he had a slash line of .288/.338/.440 with 29 steals. And while the numbers show that Span played better center-field defense at his peak than Pagan did, the past two years have offered little statistical evidence to determine whether that still holds true.
So for Pagan to quietly accept a move to left field -- what he's too polite to call a demotion -- is impressive given the number of areas where he and Span are nearly identical.
Pagan made a point of having a conversation with Span shortly after the two players reported to spring training.
"I didn't know what his feelings [were], but I wanted to let him know that I was fully on board," Pagan said. "I was going to let him know that I was going to cover as much gap [in left-center field] as I can for him. ... I don't want him to feel anything weird between us because chemistry is the most important thing for the team."
Span chimed in, saying, "Basically, it was just about us being on the same page, talking about us trying to come together [and] win a championship, and that's basically what it is. We've got one goal in mind and that's to try to win and do whatever is best for the team."
But if the script is supposed to end with Pagan collecting dust in the final year of his four-year, $40 million contract, he has other plans.
It's still early -- as Pagan is the first to point out -- but before the critics start to yell about the small sample size, the switch-hitting Pagan has a team-leading .325 batting average and a .375 on-base percentage after 23 games. His move out of the leadoff spot, which Span now occupies, to the No. 9 hole has worked out well so far. In addition, according to FanGraphs research, Pagan is playing his best defense since 2012, his first year with the Giants, when he played a career-high 154 games as they won their second World Series in three years.
While Pagan is having a career start to the 2016 season, he is not likely to sustain his current level of offense as the season wears on, since his numbers are well above his career averages (.282/.331/.408). Health, though, is the undeniable difference-maker, and Pagan has an army of specialists to help him weather the season.
"The work I put in this offseason was very, very hard," said Pagan, now in his 11th MLB season. "A lot of changes in my preparation: a new trainer, a chiropractor with me, hitting coaches, a couple of former big league players with me."
Playing left field full-time should place fewer physical demands on Pagan's body and help him maintain his health. The rejuvenation of Pagan's career might also compel fans -- and potential suitors -- to wonder if he has been moved out of center field prematurely.
That's why Pagan's move to left field could be the career change he needed. His play during this free-agent year could determine how long he might be able to extend his baseball life. The loss of positional value, going from center to left, is understandably upsetting, but another season of too many injuries and too few at-bats could make it a colossal struggle for Pagan to land another multi-year deal.
All Pagan needs to do is maintain his all-around revival in left field. It might be a stretch; there are still roughly five months of baseball left and he's at an age in which his body is liable to break down. But while Pagan's assurance that "at some point, you have to do this transition" was said somewhat wistfully, he might end up giving a different answer -- perhaps even in a different uniform -- this time next year.