Barry Bonds back in the Bay for one more year.

Lookout N.L. West, the Giants are back and older than ever!

My favorite Giants story this year is the "retirement" of J.T. Snow. Let's see, your agent tries for months to find you a contract, and when nobody wants any piece of you, you "retire"? I'm sorry Mr. Snow, your faux retirement ceremony does not fool anybody. In essence, Major League Baseball fired you.

To recap the Giants off-season:

They signed Aruillia to play 1st base.....?? They pay Bengie Molina 16 million, when they have a better rookie at the league minimum who isn't already 32. They refused to sign Schmidt, Soriano, or any other decent player. They lost Alou and replaced him with ....wait for it....Dave Roberts. Then they resign Bonds for 16 million to play left field, when nobody else in baseball would have started him in the OF, and nobody who wanted him as a DH would have even paid 10 million.

Oh, and they gave Durham a contract based on his career year last year, resigned Feliz, who has the lowest OPS of any NL starting 3B, and hired the manager that has managed to get swept out of the playoffs every time he got there.

Thank god for the Giants, or else I'd be feeling pretty lousy about the Angels' and Dodgers' off-seasons.

A couple thoughts on the Giants off-season.

-Overall I'm glad Bonds is back because he makes the team more interesting to watch. The money seems high but as soon as J.D. Drew signed his deal I knew Bonds was going to get more than $14 million. No way would Bonds' ego allow him to make less than Drew in a season. I look forward to watching him chase the record and the all the death threats that will ensue.

-I won't miss Schmidt at all. He gave them some great years but lately he's been aces from April-June and then MIA the rest of the year. I'm sure he'll help the Dodgers but his best years are behind him.

-The Schmidt loss will mean nothing if they can somehow sign Zito. Though once Ted Lilly signed his "What the fuck?" contract I imagine Zito's price has doubled.

-Resigning Durham was stupid. Good player when he's healthy but they'll be lucky to ghet 120 games out of him next year. Newborns are more durable.

-For love of Christ and whoever else died for my sins do not let Armando Benitez pitch one more game in a Giants uniform. Eat his contract if you have to. No player has ever been more deserving of having his rectum raked. Someone make that happen.

Zito basically replaces Schmidt, not sure how that helps in the short term (plus, Zito's now going to get 16+ mil a year for at least six years.

It wasn't Ted Lilly's contract that made my head implode, it was Gil Meche's 5 year, 55 million dollar deal. Gil Meche. To put things in perspective, in my 12 team, 25 man roster fantasy baseball league, Gil Meche was a borderline bench warmer.

Shit -- I was hoping Barry wouldn't end up with a contract from anyone.

I guess now I just have to root for him to die before he gets to Aaron.

Both Meche and Lilly's contracts were jokes. I don't fault the players of course, let them get what they can, but the teams signing those deals are bonkers.

If the Giants could get Zito, which I admit is all just speculation, it would be more than just replacing Schmidt. He's younger and hasn't shown the arm problems that have cropped up as late for Schmidt. Schmidt is a great pitcher but he's not the guy I'd want in a "must win" situation.

If I'm Zito and I see Lilly and Meche's deals I'm asking for $20 million a season.

I am ending my three year MLB Boycott this year, so this puzzles me. How bad did Snow get to merit such a resounding lack of need for what used to be pretty decent talents?

His glove was still one of the best ever at 1B. He just couldn't hit. If the A.L. had a Designated Fielder he might still have a job.

Statistically, J.T. Snow is one of the worst first basemen of the last twenty years....if not the worst among those with comparable at-bats. He was an offensive train wreck at a position for which defense is an after-thought.

Of course, he did fill those left field seats with women who wanted to see him sweat.

As a Padres fan I just have to say that Bochy did take the team to the World Series in ’98. It is the showings in all the rest of their playoff appearances that finally doomed him. As an ex-player he his very hands off and most if not all of his former players have nothing but good things to say about him. And he was one of the few managers to have the balls to pitch to Barry.

And I think you will be pleasantly surprised by Dave Roberts.

“A reliable leadoff hitter, Roberts batted .293 with two homers and 44 RBIs and stole a career-best 49 bases this year. His was fourth in the National League in steals last season and was caught only six times.
Roberts is fourth in the majors with 195 steals the last five seasons, and his 81.3 percent success ratio is second best among players with at least 175 stolen bases in the span.” – Yahoo Sports

I, for one, was sad to see them both go.

I like Bochy. I was hoping they would hire Bob Brenly but I knew that was a pipe dream so Bochy was a solid choice. I just hope he handles bullpens better than the last 2 managers did.

I don't have too big a problem with signing Roberts. He has always been a decent player. But a 3 year deal is a bit longer than I would have liked for a centerfielder his age.

If Dave Roberts plays more than 120 games in any one of those seasons, or more than 100 games in two or more seasons, I will be shocked.

I think it's hypocritical horseshit that the rest of baseball turned their back on Bonds. Not only would it be a smart financial decisions (how many sellouts can the home run record generate?) but you'd be getting a monster in the middle of your lineup, and if you have hitters to surround him with, you're solid. This complaint is moot considering what I think is an unfair Bonds deal (he's not worth that much), but these teams sitting on their hands while Bonds has to prostitute himself in person at the winter meetings amongst the likes of Nick Green and company is humiliating.

Bonds is a dick, but these baseball executives should quit talking out of both corners of their mouths.

Cause you know, Barry Bonds is the only ballplayer to ever be linked to performance enhancing drugs, ever.

Who cares if Bonds represented the best free agent bat this offseason, MLB's General Managers wanted to send a message. And what was that message?

"We don't want PED users on our teams."

You know, except for guys like Guillermo Mota. Quality middle relievers don't grow on trees, doncha know?