Giants doing "background preparation" on David Price

The really meaty part of rumor season is just beginning. The first couple weeks are like the Trade Federation stuff at the beginning of Phantom Menace, just completely boring. Now we get to the Jar Jar stuff: completely absurd and actively hostile. And yet I've watched the stupid thing a dozen times, helpless.

If you're wondering how far I'll go chasing rumors and random speculation, well, here you go. The Giants are researching David Price:

How many teams, total? I'd wager about 30. Why the Giants specifically? Because they make a certain amount of sense, and because dorks like me are interested in anything with "Giants" and "David Price in it. And what is background preparation, anyway? What does that mean in rumorese?

Bobby Evans: /click

Bobby Evans: /click

Bobby Evans: /click

Bobby Evans: Hey, Larry, check this out.

Bobby Evans: Look at this Baseball-Reference page.

Bobby Evans: /click

Bobby Evans: /click

Bobby Evans: This guy's awesome.

Bobby Evans: Larry, come here for a sec.

No, I get it, they're really digging into him with their evaluators, with both the statistically minded and the scouts, trying to project how he'll last over the life of a seven-year deal. They're making sure he's not a Latos-kind of buttnose (he's not), and figuring out exactly what they would gain with him on the roster, and what they'd lose in opportunity cost.

In other words, pretty much what you'd expect from every pitcher on the market, from Price through Bartolo Colon.

But that was a tweet with the words "Giants" and "David Price" in it. Which prompted this article with the words "Giants" and "David Price" in it. Even though the Giants aren't likely to get within $40 million of what Price will eventually get. And while I thought I would feel dirty after writing this, I feel strangely ... satiated? It was cathartic. All rumors are nonsense. All rumors are life.

We have to build up our mental calluses. Episode II: Attack of the Winter Meetings will be here before we know it.

Yousa said people are gonna go through background preparation?

And how! Some of those people are employed by the Giants, and they're checking up on David Price. You read it here second. Maybe third.