That's a really long time.  Who knows, maybe in 8 years 16 million a year will seem like a bargain.  But I just can't trust any player to be consistently good 7 or 8 years from now.  I felt a bit better with those rumors of a 4 year contract.

But since it's a random rumor that I'm hearing from someone who heard it from someone I won't worry too much.  And hell, it's not my money that will be wasted when Zito's fingers are sliced off in a freak accident involving his stuffed animals a few years from now.

On second thought, this goes perfectly with Sabean's general strategy:
Make moves that will hopefully be helpful now, regardless of the effect they'll have a few years down the line.

With that in mind, I expect this deal to be announced by the end of the week.  Or perhaps an even crazier contract, maybe 18 years $270 million.  That would guarantee that no one will ever forget Brian Sabean and ensure some impressive savvy on the 2024 Giants.

4 years, I can get behind.

8?

Despite my affinity for the number, that's 8 FREAKIN' YEARS!

Eight years ago, by the end of 1998:

-- Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonzalez were the reigning NL and AL MVPs. Joe Mauer was a sophomore in high school. Mo Vaughn was still a dangerous hitter. Albert Belle had his last monster season, with a 334EqA, third best in his career (For comparison, last year, Ryan Howard had a 340EqA).

-- Orel Hershiser and Mark Gardner were the nominal "aces" of the Giants pitching staff. Shawn Estes and Russ Ortiz were the young guns meant to step up and replace the older guys. (Side note: According to the BRef page, only 6 different guys made starts for the Giants that year. Danny Darwin got 25!)

-- Hit singles included "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden and "I'm Your Angel", a collaboration between R. Kelly and Celine Dion (no joke). Limp Bizkit was also huge that year, performing for MTV's New Year's Eve party in December, along with a then-unknown DJ from Michigan named Kid Rock.

-- The Minnesota Vikings, led by Randall Cunningham, romped to a 15-1 record. Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, the 49ers' Terrell Owens had his first 1,000 yard receiving year, and the Oakland Raiders, under first year head coach Jon Gruden, miraculously acheived an 8-8 record despite suffering through multiple games with Donald Hollas at quarterback.

-- "Shakespeare In Love" won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

To sum up, 8 years is way too long a contract to give anyone.

So, three high-profile Boras clients made news this offseason. JD Drew signed with Boston despite red flags about his health everywhere. Matsuzaka signed with Boston despite the grandiose plans Boras had for him. Now Zito is said to have a ricoculous offer from the Giants. Is Boras being extra assy this offseason if just to get teams to throw their hands up in frustration and say, "fine you win?" Was it all part of one big plan? Do I need to switch to decaf tea?

On ESPN.com, they're saying that the Rangers are out of the Zito running and they(The Rangers) think Zito is heading to SF. No contract offer was mentioned except that Texas had reportedly offered 6 years/$80 million.  I think it more likely that the Giants offer will be 6 years/$90 mil as opposed to the eight year deal. Honestly, overpaying for Zito is a lot more digestable than overpaying for Carlos Lee/Juan Pierre/Matthews and probably Soriano.

Enough. If Zito is that blinded by funny money, than I think he is done within a very short time.

Arod is unraveling. Hampton unraveled.

Here

T.R. Sullivan, who wrote the story, is on KNBR right now and says the contract is in the area of 7 years over $100 mil.