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Usually the rumors of silly season are silly, by definition. There are too many sources, whispers, and mystery teams. A tweet can be attributed to people with knowledge of the situation or with knowledge of the team's thinking. These silly rumors are like free cocaine, and it's all very, very fun into you wake up with a hole in your nose or with a case of the deads.
This rumor, though, has a source and everything. Henry Schulman actually spoke with assistant GM Bobby Evans, who probably knows a few things. He might even be familiar with the team's thinking.
"Third base and the rotation are really at the forefront of our focus," Evans said, acknowledging that the Giant are engaged with free agent and former San Diego Padre Chase Headley.
That tidbit came shortly after Jeff Passan twote this:
Sources: Clubs being told Chase Headley has a four-year offer for ~$65M. @JonHeymanCBS says Marlins interested. Unclear if that's the team.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 4, 2014
Four years, $65 million. That's not cheap, but it's also not completely limiting. Considering that Headley's been as good (or better) than Pablo Sandoval, maybe this is a sneaky bit of good fortune. The Giants have been running low on those.
Headley is also two years older than Sandoval, and he's had some issues with creakiness and injury over the last two years, so it's not exactly a direct comparison. Still, Headley's a quality hitter, and he's also a switch-hitter, breaking up the righty/righty of Pence and Posey, or even possibly the lefty/lefty of Belt and whoever's behind him.
Him signing with the Giants would also troll the Padres. It would troll them ...
/checks sources
... so damned hard. You can't underestimate that. The universe seems to reward Padres-trolling. I don't know why, but you don't mess with a proven formula. It's basically Moneyball II at this point.
If the Giants can get Headley and a mid-rotation starter (Brandon McCarthy! Chihiro Kaneko! Oh, yeah, you probably haven't heard of him ...), they'll have made out quite nicely after the Panda-spurning. I'd probably rather have that than just one measly Jon Lester.
Both would be cool, though. Both would be cool. Just forget that Headley wore the same number with the Yankees (13) that Edgardo Alfonzo did in his last year with the GIants, and we'll all be fine.