Giants sign center fielder Denard Span to 3-year deal

SAN FRANCISCO - Just three days ago, Denard Span posted a workout video showing him springing over a series of hurdles. Now he’s bouncing along to AT&T Park.

The Giants addressed their thin outfield, added a premier defender and gave themselves valuable insurance for oft-injured Angel Pagan, agreeing to terms with Span on a three-year, $31 million contract that is pending a physical.

Span passed his physical on Thursday, and the Giants plan to introduce him at a news conference today.

Span, 31, played in just 61 games for the Washington Nationals last year because of surgery to repair an abdominal muscle and then a season-ending procedure to repair a torn left hip labrum. When he was on the field, he was having one of his best offensive seasons - .301 average, .365 on-base percentage, five home runs and 11 steals without getting caught.

A Tampa, Fla., native and Scott Boras client, Span is a left-handed hitter who owns a .287/.352/.395 line over eight seasons with the Twins and Nationals. The Giants know well what kind of impact Span can make in center field; in August of 2013, he made a spectacular game-saving catch of Hunter Pence’s drive to send the Giants to a loss at Nationals Park.

“I like it,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said via text of the Span signing. “Always liked Denard.”

Former Giant Kevin Frandsen, who played with Span in Washington, tweeted: “One hell of a teammate, center fielder, and lead off guy! Makes plays look routine that aren’t.”

After the Giants spent $220 million to overhaul their rotation with the signings of Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto, center field defense loomed as one of few remaining weaknesses. By most statistical composites, Pagan ranked as the least efficient center fielder in the NL last season.

The Giants have expressed confidence that Pagan, after undergoing a knee cleanup procedure in October, would be productive again as the 34-year-old enters his free-agent walk year. But with Pagan not expected to re-sign, Gregor Blanco also coming up on free agency after this season and no center fielders in the upper tier of the Giants’ minor league system, the club sought to shop while they had choices on the open market.

Span will make $10.3 million per season and his contract also includes performance bonuses. With that kind of salary, it’s expected that Span will play an everyday role - likely atop the lineup and in center, with Pagan and Blanco complementing each other in left field.

The outfield market has been slow to develop, with Dexter Fowler, Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton still expected to receive major multiyear contracts. But Alex Gordon’s decision to return to the Kansas City Royals set things in motion earlier this week.

It was thought that Span could get lost in the shuffle amid all those other outfielders, but his center field defense was what the Giants most needed - enough to where he commanded more than a one-year contract to prove his health.

He won’t need a bounce-back year to go back into free agency. He’s already bouncing well enough, as that video he posted clearly shows.

“I’m jus sayin,” was how Span captioned it.