December 2006 Archives

A longtime reader expressed surprise in the comments (which I'm trying to fix, by the way, to avoid the dreaded comment spam) that I wasn't so worked up about the Zito news. Like Grant over at the McChronic, my mind...
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* If Zito pitches 600 innings over the last three years of the agreement, 400 innings over the last two or 200 in the final year of the deal, he can either exercise a player option or opt out of...
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Well, well, well. Lookee here. The Giants have confounded everyone by finally overpaying in a grand royal way for a top-line free agent. Welcome, Barry Zito. ESPN's Peter Gammons says the contract is seven years, $126 million, which averages to...
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The Godfather of Soul. The Hardest Working Man in Show Business. Mr. Dynamite. Soul Brother No. 1. The Baddest of the Bad, The Coolest of the Cool. James Brown, now playing every night at the big Apollo Theater in the...
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Happy Holidays to all you punks, lunatic fringers, dead-enders, whiners, unbelievers, and season-ticket holders. May you get Steve Trachsel's used jockstrap from the 1998 one-game playoff in your stocking....
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Jeff Weaver, Mark Mulder, David Wells, Steve Trachsel, and a few other pieces of bellybutton lint are still floating free, but the last big FA pitching acquisition for several teams has come down to Barry Zito and Jeff Suppan. The...
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With Ryan Klesko on board at a very reasonable $1.75 million plus incentives, the Giants now have to bump someone from the 40-man roster. It is officially topped up at 40, but when (or is that "if"?) Bonds gets around...
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As former Giants continue to flock south to join Ned Colletti in L.A., former Padres pass them heading north. Ryan Klesko is now a Giant, prompting me to do that funny mouth sound people make when they pretend to enjoy...
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Today's bone to chew on: Should we feel betrayed by the Giant front office's promise that the 2007 team would be younger and healthier? To refresh your memory, here's the quote from Peter Magowan: "I think we need to go...
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"Some of these things are unpopular, but you know what would be more unpopular? If we did nothing, got too old, too expensive and had to go scrounging and overpaying for leftover and mediocre talent." - White Sox GM Kenny...
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My main man Elbo snuck into the live Q&A session the Giants held for season ticket holders last night and reports this classic Sabeanism: "If a pitcher like Barry Zito showed some interest in a team like the Giants, I'm...
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So now we know how much Daisuke Matsuzaka (first name pronounced "Dice-K," according to this story) is worth to the Boston Red Sox: $51.1 M posting fee + $52 M/6 yr contract w/$8 M incentives. Let the ZitoWatch begin. While...
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And not my Giant, either. Whew. Another bullet dodged. No pun intended. Before we go farther into unintended punland, I'd like to mention that BP writer Nate Silver says this year's free-agent market is running at a 47% inflation rate...
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I'm back from New Zealand, where the South Island landscapes are rivaled in my limited and humble experience only by the Canadian Rockies and the U.S. southwest desert. It's better to be late than to be never, so I weigh...
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