Giants Pursuing Zito!?!?

I just saw on CBS News that the Rangers have offered Zito a contract worth $102 million over six years.

I posted it in the main thread already, but this is a better place.

Crazy, goofy money, but I'd much, much, much rather have Zito at 6/100 than Lilly at 4/40. Just don't ask me to quantify why.

I hope the Giants don't, but would at least be interested if they did. That's exactly what I thought about the possibility of signing Miguel Tejada, and that looks like a steal now. Which proves nothing.

I would love Zito, even at this price! He's young, he doesn't get hurt, he's left-handed, and his marquee pitch is not one that necessarily diminishes with age. Zito and 6 years were made for each other, and the Giants are loaded- why the hell not?

Also, it would make a Lowry trade more sensible. Interesting, although I expect nothing. Actually, to be honest, I expect less than nothing. I own my own business and I'm a giants fan; being a Giants fan is harder.

6/100m   17m a season   what will he do on the 4 days he doesn't pitch?

How back-loaded will Sabean skew the Zito contract? Sabean will push the limits. $5m in 2007 ramping up to $25m by 2013? From a pure economic/inflationary standpoint, deferred money makes all the sense in the world. However, paying an average of $17M per year, for a SIX YEARS, in huge escalating sums, is the textbook definition of "mortgaging the future." I can see Sabean strike quick with a signing like this- creative only in that it's the largest amount of money on the table.

With a potential Zito signing, and the Giants pushing Sanchez towards the rotation, all signs point towards Lowry becoming trade bait. (I would love to see a straight-up Lowry for Sexton deal. If Sabean could convince Seatte to throw in a couple of million dollars in salary relief, extra marks.

With all this "Boston wants a closer" talk, why not Benitez as the centerpiece for a Manny deal? I have been anti-Manny the whole time, but with the angle of discharging Mando, (one expensive head case for another), it would pique my interest. Of course, in addition to Benitez, Boston would also want a good, ready-for-MLB player (Frandsen), and/or young pitcher (Wilson, Sadler). To get talent, you have to give up talent. It would hurt, but wowzers, the Giants would have a line-up. Terrible defence, but a powerhouse line-up.

It'd be tough to justify that money to Zito in the context of what other pitchers are currently paid. However, what this REALLY means is that if the Giants sign Zito, then they won't sign Bonds; they won't have enough to offer more than "insulting" money on a one-year deal. In other words (and I'm tooting my own horn here: TOOT! TOOT!), but if this goes down, I will have been right that they're going all in with the "let's copy the White Sox model" thing, only they don't really understand why the White Sox won. Think about it: they're bolstering the pitching and, as far as position players, giving equal credence to speed/defense skills as actual hitting skills. (Another big if coming up...) If they land Zito, then we can look back at all the Manny posturing as attempts to jack up the price on the Dodgers while simultaneously telling Bonds they wouldn't just give in to his demands.

Roberts-Vizquel-Manny-Bonds-Sexton-Durham-Molina-Feliz.
Bench: Winn, Aurilia, Sweeney, Linden, Alphonszo.

Let me also add: If they should sign Zito, trading Lowry probably makes LESS sense. Keep the pitching a strength. Try to win by only allowing 600 runs instead of getting a bat and ending up with a balanced team that does nothing particularly well.

Rotation: Zito, Cain, Lowry, Morris, Sanhennesorreiatim.

Bullpen: Sanhennesorreiatim, Taschner Chulk, Kline, I Did My Job.

Twelve pitchers. Feliz, Aurilia, Winn, and Sweeney's positional flexibility makes it all the easier to carry twelve hurlers.

My only problem with Zito is the price. And I have a big problem with it. If this is supply and demand in today's market, I'll shop the bargain bin or eat leftovers thank you very much. It's not that he can't be productive. It's that with this team and that salary, his 34 days of somewhat better than average pitching will not be able to make up for the batters I could imagine we could have signed or traded for without that $17 million on the books.

That's most likely about 20% of the payroll, and for a guy who is neither an ace nor superstar position player? I'm happy with improvement, but there comes a point where signing big contracts for decent players does more to stop you from improving than to keep you on track.

You know, unless you have $250 million to blow.

It just blows my mind that so many Giants fans have been brainwashed to dumpster dive and scrimp and save along with Sabean.  Even to the extent of drawing up plans on who to sign in order to deal away a first rounder as in the Tucker signing.  Take a look at the attendance records since the park's opening compared with the rest of MLB.  Even with the stadium debt, the owners of this team have been cleaning up.  There's no reason we shouldn't be a top feeder in regards to payroll.  There will never be a true re-building mode in SF unless the fans stop coming to the park, and nor should there be.  Instead, we need to have a good balance of good young talent and top end veteran players...assuming we have salary constraints..heck even the Yankees have a Cano or soriano type once in a while.  

Personally, I would have thought Zito would get 20m/yr the way teams are paying though the nose for older flawed position players.  People who'd rather have Schmidt are kidding themselves on what he'll end up signing for...not to mention he's a MUCH larger risk due to injury history, delivery, and ..oh yeah... age.  Look for 14-15m/yr.  Well all know that Zito can run hot and cold..but he'll likely be a good investment that ripens with age (ala Glavine/Maddux).

Face it, short of dealing young arms, it'll be a long time until we get a good young bat in here much under the age of 30...and even then it'll be at a hefty price.  

Anyway, I'm glad to hear sabean swallow his pride and dance with the devil (Boras).  It seems he's keyed into dealing at least Lowry for a bat, and that means we'll need to at least sign two good SPs, one to replace Schmidt and one to fill Lowry's spot...just to get back to last years level.  If he had Magowan's wallet, he could also nail down Huff and still be able focus on a young bat for either 1B or RF....at least it would be a start..

I have a pseudo-sdyslexic tick that makes me consistently read the word Pursuing and Perusing. This thread has been temporarily giving me that feeling of "Qua?" every time I read the title.