On the final day of the 2013 Baseball Winter Meetings, the San Francisco Giants signed Michael Morse to a one-year deal worth $5 million, plus incentives. Standing at 6’5” and weighing in at 245 pounds, Morse was the physical embodiment of the team’s name with the ideal frame for clearing the fences even at AT&T Park.
Brian Sabean’s decision to sign Morse was in response to the team’s lack of offensive production in the prior season. San Francisco’s lineup badly needed a spark plug, finishing 2013 ranked 21st in run differential, outscored by a margin of 691 to 629, and 29th in home runs with 107, far off the league’s average of 155 long balls for that season.