Remember how worried a lot of us were when the Giants were linked to Carlos Lee? And remember how, when the Giants didn't sign Lee, how they turned around and signed Barry Zito with the money earmarked for Lee?

Damn, how I wished the Giants had signed Carlos Lee. With Lee, the Giants probably would have been forced to fill center field with an in-house option, like, oh, Randy Winn. This would mean no Rowand. No Rowand would give the Giants more money to throw at C.C. Sabathia (still a bad move, but with no Zito around, I'm down...)

Sure, Lee would be worth a few more wins each year, which would have meant that the Giants wouldn't have been able to draft Buster Posey. But that's good news for you Smoakophiles out there, right?

Oh, and Bengie Molina would not have ever had to hit clean-up. The laws of nature would not have been violated so.

Read the hindsight-strengthened stupidity of this quote and shudder:

I'm sorry, Carlos. I'm sorry, readers. I'm sorry, world.

Come back, Carlos! I didn't mean those hurtful things!

Comment starter: What free-agent signing in the past were you terrified of, only to have it turn out to be a good deal? Or, at least, would have helped the Giants more than the option they eventually signed?