When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

08.25.2008
C.C. Into the Future

SI writer Jon Heyman leads his latest rumor and notes column with speculation from an unnamed executive that San Francisco is Vallejo native C.C. Sabathia’s first choice as a free-agent landing spot.

Heyman then hems and haws about how questionable this scenario is and ends up tabbing the Yankees as the early favorites because, duh, it’s going to come down to money. It’s a fine way to turn a bottom-of-the-column item (speculation from an anonymous “executive who knows [Sabathia] well”) into a headline in the dog days of August.

The only conceivable way the Giants go after Sabathia is 1) if they unload Zito and the rest of his contract and 2) Sabathia agrees to some kind of hometown discount. Ain’t neither likely to happen, girlfriend.

Losing the chance to go after Sabathia: yet another feather in the dunce cap of the Zito contract. But one could argue that overbidding for C.C.’s services, which will likely cost more than Johan Santana’s extension cost the Mets (6 years, $137.5 M), is a foolish endeavor, too.

Pretend Zito wasn’t a Giant. Would you want the Giants to go after Sabathia? Is there any way this team could keep Zito and sign Sabathia? Discuss.



Also on the Network:



[August 25, 2008 1:34 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

Hahahahaha, is that the Hubble Telescope looking at C.C.? I was going to say, since he's so, uhm.. large, you'd need a huge telescope to fit him into view.

And yes, I wish the Giants would go after C.C. if they didn't have Zito.

[August 25, 2008 1:36 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bbstucco said

Can C.C. play the infield corners with power?

No?

Not interested.

[August 25, 2008 2:09 PM]  |  link  |  reply
50andstillfly said

Overpaying for a starter makes no sense unless you are the 1990 Atlanta Braves and the one starter is Greg Maddux.

I am definitely in favor of trading Sanchez: his stock is at a 52 week high, and with his funky mechanics he is not likely to ever have a better year than '08. A left side infielder with power would be most excellent.

[August 25, 2008 2:31 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman said

I think this could work. We would not need to dump Zito's contract. We just trade Cain and Sanchez for the bats we need to build the offense we need to compete and replace then in the rotion with CC and a Zito worth having. I think with CC having a larger contract the Zito all the pressure would be off Zito and we would get the Zito the A's got.

[August 25, 2008 2:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof said

This is just preposterous. Having Sabathia and his big contract in no way affects the quality of Zito's pitching. Let me clue you in on something: ZITO SUCKS. He will never earn what he is being paid and the Giants will never be able to get rid of him without paying his entire contract.

I have no issue with trading Sanchez for offense. If you're going to trade Cain, you'd better be getting a YOUNG impact bat that the Giants can control for the near future (think: Braun, Longoria, or someone of that caliber).

[August 25, 2008 3:35 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to Boof

Dubious psychological benefits aside, I don't see how the Giants could afford to pay $40 M a year to two pitchers who have already put a ton of mileage on their arms, with one already showing that something isn't right only two years into the contract. I'm not saying one (or both) will break down, but it's not an annual $40 M bet I'd want to make.

[August 25, 2008 3:30 PM]  |  link  |  reply
BaysideBaller said

Hopefully this team has learned from its huge, long-term pitching contract mistake. This team needs to stick to developing young pitching, not acquiring another expensive FA pitcher.

Zito's contract isn't going anywhere. And I don't see how Sabathia can magically cure Zito's rising WHIP and plummeting K/BB ratio.

[August 25, 2008 3:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Matt said

Without Zito? Absolutely. The guy is an absolute horse and he is destroying the National League. He seems to be one of those rare talents that can throw 120 pitches an outing without consequences. However, if the Giants didn't pay for Zito, they certainly would have made a huge splash with another free agent by now. (Santana, A-Rod etc...)That money was going to be taken up by someone it just happens to be going to the suckiest suck who ever sucked. Even with a hometown discount something like two-thirds of the team's payroll would be eaten up by two pitchers which is ludicrous and franchise suicide, especially since big contracts for Cain and Lincecum are on the horizon.

[August 25, 2008 3:52 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

>>something like two-thirds of the team's payroll would be eaten up by two pitchers

I think more like 1/2 to 2/5, assuming the Giants stay in the $80-$100 M range. After this year, Zito's contract goes to $18.5 M for each of the next three years, then $19 M, then $20 M.

[August 25, 2008 4:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris replied to ELM

>> After this year, Zito's contract goes to $18.5 M for each of the next three years, then $19 M, then $20 M.

You're trying to depress me, aren't you!?

[August 25, 2008 4:34 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman said

You all are missing the biggest advantage of signing CC while keeping Zito. We are no free to trade Cain and Sanchez for the offense we need and this offense will be very cheap (a year or two or pre arb and then 3 or 4 years of arb) so we can afford to have expensive pitching.

It is also way easier to get free agent pitchers to come to pitch at AT&T then it is to get free agent bats to come and hit at AT&T.

[August 25, 2008 4:36 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman replied to giantsrainman

What happened to my "w"? I ment "now free to trade Cain and Sanchez" not "no free to trade Cain and Sanchez".

[August 25, 2008 5:59 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof replied to giantsrainman

Signing Sabathia for the purpose of trading Cain & Sanchez is lunacy.

[August 25, 2008 6:11 PM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman@yahoo.com said

Why? We can rebuild our offense better with these trades then we can spending the money we would spend on CC directly on the offense. It is just so uch easier to get the best pitchers to come pitch here then as free agents then it is to attract the best bats. We need to sign arms and trade for bats.

[August 25, 2008 10:37 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Paul R. replied to giantsrainman@yahoo.com

Aaron Rowand took a deal from the Giants when he knew that the team would suck and knew that the ballpark plays in favor of pitchers. I really doubt it's that hard to get free agent bats.

[August 26, 2008 1:07 AM]  |  link  |  reply
giantsrainman replied to Paul R.

Aaron Rowand (like Randy Winn and Fred Lewis) is not a legitimate middle of the order bat. He (like the other 2) belongs hitting 1,2 or 6,7 not 3,4,5. You can have one marginal 3,4,5 hitter but the other two need to be legit. The Giants went after Lee and Soriano and they passed.

[August 25, 2008 6:55 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Truffington said

Frankly, I don't think maximum contracts for pitchers are ever worth it. Got to grow them yourself and lock them up early. So no Zito and no Sabathia.

[August 25, 2008 9:06 PM]  |  link  |  reply
DC replied to Truffington

Couldn't agree more... look at some of the worst free agent signings in the last few years, and it shows you never spend huge on pitching.

Carl Pavano
Barry Zito
Mark Hampton
Denny Neagle
Chan Ho Park
Russ Ortiz
Jason Schmidt
the list goes on...

Overpaid dearly for these guys and they fall apart. Three year deals tops for free agents is all we should do. We don't NEED pitching, we have it! We need power infielders. Why sign someone whose arm is about to be past its prime when you have Cain who is about to go into his prime (and is affordable)?

[August 25, 2008 8:31 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Zo said

I have to agree with bbstucco on this one. We have real good pitching, we do not have enough good hitting. I was perusing the NL team stats just the other day, we surprisingly mid-pack in batting average, but tellingly the third worst team in OPS, runs and the worst in hr. It neatly sums up what we have to do to be competitive. I mean, we can discuss whether we would rather have Sabathia than Zito, or Maddux and a wayback machine, or anyone else, but really, Zito included, we have really, really good pitching (maybe the bullpen could use some help) and really, really jokey hitting unless and until our rookies show they can hit like we hope they can on a consistent basis.