C.C. Sabathia is close to signing a record-breaking deal with the New York Yankees. Which means the Vallejo native isn't coming to the Bay Area. And, contrary to GM Dodger's belief, he doesn't want to be a Dodger either.

Can't say I'm TOO disappointed. It would be cool to have him in the rotation, but not at that price. And he definitely isn't going to make the offense go round.

So, the rumors turn out to be true. The starting shortstop for the 2009 San Francisco Giants will be World Series hero Edgar Renteria. That's right, the shortstop of "two-out, walk-off single to win the World Series" legend will be donning the orange and black! But seriously, I was able to talk myself into the fact that this is a decent signing by the Giants. And by talk myself into, I mean read postings of prominent Giants blogs that put this in a positive light. [McCovey!]

This two-year, $18 million deal doesn't hurt the Giants too much if it's a disaster. For one, there doesn't seem to be a super-stud shortstop in the farm system being blocked off by the deal. Without this deal, the Giants were staring down a depth chart of Burriss, Ochoa, Bocock... then pray for rain. Either that or sign that fool Rafael Furcal who was injured most of last year. That and he wore Dodger blue last year. And he committed key errors that led to Los Angeles losing the NLCS.

So, welcome back to the NL Mr. Renteria! You've got some big size-13 defensive shoes to fill.

The Giants signed RHP Bobby Howry to a one-year, $2.5 million deal today in an attempt to bolster the bullpen. A quick glance shows that he had a pretty bad 2008 season, with a 5.35 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. However, he had a good run in 2004-2007 with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. To me, the terms of the deal say that this is a pretty low risk signing that isn't blocking any potential youngster stars from being on the club.

So, welcome back Mr. Howry - he was drafted by the Giants in 1994 according to popular belief. We hope you have an excellent return stay.

...is just around the corner. A few notes:

-Word came today that the Giants removed all references to Barry Bonds from AT&T Park today. Understandable... but it's a classless move. Steroids or not, perjury suspicions or not, this man was the face of your franchise since 1993. Not only did he bring the franchise millions of dollars and media attention with his home run chase, but his mere presence helped attendance last year on a ballclub that would otherwise be... the current San Francisco Giants roster. The Giants used him and just tossed him aside when it suited them. Absolute crap.

-Development on this site has been neglected since I'm working on updating the site over at Project Prospect, which hopefully will take off even more with a new design. Until work there slows down a bit, things here will be pretty slow. In the meantime, visit the main site over at projectprospect.com and the new design at projectprospectbeta.com

Opening Day is almost here! Hopefully this season will be... bearable.