That. Would. Be. One badass rotation.  Sabathia/Cain/Lincecum/Zito/who cares who the 5th guy is the first 4 are incredible enough (save Zito, but come on he'd be one of the best #4 starters in the league.)  However, I don't see us blowing any money at all on C.C.  Maybe he'd give us a huge discount, but if he can recreate his Cy Young season from last year, he could command upwards of 150 mil from anyone else.  I doubt he'd settle for anything less than 100 mil, so is he really worth it to fortify a rotation that's already good enough?  I'd rather we blew that money on someone like Mark Teixiera or somebody that could spark us some offense.

sign him!!! i dont care what offense you have with a rotation like that you are automatically a threat. also we would have all 4 of our strters for at least another 3 years. that would give us time to build our offense up and win it all!!!!! yaaayy! giants in 2011. cc sabathia ws mvp

Jon Heyman is an idiot, and his thoughtful speculation shouldn't be considered "rumor." What sickens me the most is that it's so stupid that it actually makes sense.

Like signing Zito for 126 million made sense, even though the rotation was our strong point, and that's stupid money to give anyone. And signing Aaron Rowand, even though we had 30 CF's. Oh, and re-signing Vizquel, with an automatically vesting option... sorry, my point was about Jon Heyman, not Brian Sabean.

It's not as dumb as we may think.  The Giants will have some wasted money coming off the books over the next several years, with key pitchers locked up under favorable contracts (Cain, Lincecum) during that time.  Even if they threw serious coin at CC, their entire Starting Five and bullpen for that matter would barely scratch $50 million of their annual payroll, and with them going young and cheaper at the non-Rowand positions over the next several years with a speed/pitching/contact hitting approach, they could bring him aboard and add a power bat for the OF, and keep the payroll perhaps just under $100 million.

From Magowan's perspective, which always involves filling the seats, having at least three pitchers worth seeing every five days may be more cost-effective than banking everything on a cancerous $18 million/yr. power hitter.

If the Giants give him a nine-figure contract I think CC should use the money to rescue Vallejo from bankruptcy.  Then he would OWN the town, figuratively AND literally.