...If It Wasn't for You Meddling Kids!

Brian Sabean ripped the media a new one tonight, according to Baggs, who tells us he was on the receiving end. It's the media's fault for....what, exactly? Sabean wasn't clear. Something about the public blaming the Giants for not signing Sabathia, when in fact the Giants were never really in on C.C.

"Just us floating the idea or being involved ... you need to do those things. But people have taken liberty with that (and said) he absolutely was going to be a Giant or we were absolutely going to sign him or that he was a real-life option for us. It was none of that."

Huh? Perhaps from his hotel suite in Vegas Sabean has tapped into Bay Area call-in sports radio or has read blather like this, though it's more likely he paints his toenails fuschia than he reads fan blogs. (Hi Brian! Love those colors.) Here's more:

Yeah, but you created that perception. The press created that perception. I didn't. When did we say we were going after Sabathia? When did we say we were going to make an offer? When did we say we were going to give him $100 million or $160 million? That's your problem. You created it. So because you created it, and it's in my lap, now you're right. Now I've got to respond to the fans. That's what's wrong with the process. And when I say you, (I mean) the business you're in."

It's an odd time for Sabean to go all schizo-paranoid about angry fan mobs, seeing how he's basically gotten everything right this winter. (So far.) He upgraded the bullpen with two reasonable, short-term contracts for guys who could easily be the best set-up tandem in the division. He probably overpaid for Renteria, but it's a fairly low-risk move with potentially high upside. More significantly, he didn't get sucked into the C.C.-stakes and, so far, has resisted trading his best chip, Jonathan Sanchez, for a plate o' third-base shrimp. This winter calls for patience, and other than telling Rafael to go take a flying Furcal with the quick-strike courtship of Renteria, Sabean has exercised it.

If Sabean can't stand the madness of the 24/7 bloggariffic rumor crapfest, which Baggs eloquently and thoughtfully described in an earlier post, he needs to move to Bhutan. Maybe he'll find a third baseman there.