PHOENIX _ Matt Cain will ride into his final sunset on Saturday.
The Giants' respected right-hander and longest tenured player held an emotional team meeting prior to Wednesday's game at Arizona to inform teammates that he intends to retire after the season.
While leaving the door cracked "in case something crazy happens," Cain said he would not pursue continuing his career with another organization and he expressed pride at seeing the Giants through their most accomplished era in the franchise's West Coast history.
"I think this weekend will definitely be my last time putting on a major league uniform, and I can't see myself going anywhere else to play with another team," said Cain, clinging to stoicism even as his voice broke with emotion. "This organization has meant so much to me, it's meant so much to my family, and it's something that's dear to my heart. I'm just grateful it's been a part of my life and I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it so much.
"I know I'm able to hang my hat at the end of the day and say that I put everything I could into this, and I've experienced it all, and enjoyed every bit of it."
Cain is scheduled to make a final start on Saturday against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park. His announcement gives the Giants the green light to turn the day into a love fest for a pitcher who was a key part of two World Series-winning teams, threw the only perfect game in the franchise's 135 years of existence and started more games in the San Francisco era than anyone with the exception of Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.
Cain will turn 33 on Sunday. It's a young age to retire, even for a pitcher with so much mileage on his right arm. But he said over the past few days, he came to the conclusion that stepping away now is the right decision for himself and his family.
"I just felt like it was on my heart," Cain said. "I felt it was in my mind. The way my body felt, the way I knew I had to get prepared for the season, it was the right time. I want to be able to enjoy this last weekend and have fun with it."
Cain will end a tenure here in which only Marichal and Gaylord Perry have thrown more innings and only Marichal and Tim Lincecum have struck out more batters in the franchise's 60-year history in San Francisco.
It's a tenure that is as decorated as it is durable. It includes three World Series rings, a lower postseason ERA than Madison Bumgarner's, and in 2012, starting assignments in all three playoff series clinchers. And, of course, the only perfect game in the Giants' 135 years of existence.
And it is a tenure that covered an eventful and accomplished slice of franchise history _ from signing as a high school senior in 2002, the year the Giants won the pennant, then being in the big leagues at a young age to see Barry Bonds break the all-time home run record in 2007 and pouring out a large volume of the pitching foundation that led the franchise out of the post-Bonds downturn and into three World Series parades.
Cain referenced that journey when asked for a career highlight.
"Honestly, I think it's seeing the growth of an organization," he said. "Even when I first signed, I saw an organization that was in the postseason, saw what it looked like. Then coming through the organization, it was changing. It was turning over. To be able to go through that entire process is special. To be able to be a part of a group that had some really rough seasons and say, 'You know what? We had some amazing seasons and we won it all.' Those are all special, I think, to be able to put all of those together. It's something that is very meaningful. Not many people are able to see the bottom of the barrel and the top of the barrel. That's really special for me."
Cain acknowledged that the team's accomplishments made it easier to step aside at an age when many pitchers would try to find another team and force the uniform to be ripped away.
Cain hasn't been the same since elbow surgery in 2014 to remove bone spurs, and he is 3-11 with a 5.66 ERA in 26 games (22 starts) this season while limping to the end of the $112.5 million extension he signed after the 2012 season. The Giants plan to give him a $7.5 million buyout and decline a $21 million option for next season.
The Giants might regret but cannot begrudge their poor returns from the extension, given the contributions that Cain made (zero earned runs in three postseason starts in 2010, anyone?) while helping them summit a peak that greats like Bonds, Marichal and Willie Mays could not reach in San Francisco.
His value and deeds are not properly represented by his 104-118 career record _ a byproduct of pitching for a chronically malnourished offensive teams early in his career.
The Giants weren't able to properly celebrate Lincecum's departure. They'll be able to throw all the roses at the Horse.
"It does give me a little more freedom to go out there Saturday and enjoy the moment," Cain said. "The last few days it's been on my mind and I just had to feel comfortable doing it. After really thinking about it and taking my time with it, I felt this was really the best thing for myself and the team and even the fans. It works out the right way."
But he had difficulty saying the "R" word.
"Yeah," he said. "I think it is. It is. It's hard to get out. And, um ... yeah. It very much is. But unless something really unbelievable happens, I'll be retired after the weekend."
Did Cain break down during his meeting with teammates?
"Eh ... got close," he said, smiling. "I know I've got one more start. I've got to keep it together."
