Cain and the Giants agreed Monday to a $127.5 million, six-year contract, the largest deal for a right-handed pitcher in baseball history.

It's that time of year again. The baseball season is underway (actually it's been underway). The Giants made some big splashes in the off-season, most notably the above mentioned extension on Matt Cain. I'm not sure if we are in a pitcher salary bubble but $21.25M a year for a guy who never won more than 14 games or struck out more than 186 a year seems a little much. Giants fans should rightfully have Zito nightmares over this signing. At least Zito had a Cy Young under his belt and a season or two of dominance on his resume. Does it make sense for Cain to be paid more than Roy Halladay ($20M a year)? For this contract to make any sense, Cain has to pitch like a #1 and he's had many years to prove he can and just hasn't. Some will argue that he doesn't get much run support and that's a valid point. But does anyone think the Giants are magically going to start bumping up the offense? Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera won't scare many opposing pitchers.

And let's not forget that Lincecum's contract is up in two years and he'll want more than Cain given his resume. Can you afford to pay him the $25M+ a year he'll most likely want? I'm hoping for the best this year but have more doubts than ever.

The Royals traded outfielder Melky Cabrera to the San Francisco Giants for left-hander Jonathan Sanchez on Monday...

Would have rather seen Zito go but that's plain crazy. Still, Sanchez was slowly losing favor among the Giants fan base with injuries and erratic performances. Not sure how much Cabrera has left in the tank but the Giants can use any bats to improve their last place offense. Assuming, the Giants lose Beltran, this would at least allow their line-up to remain somewhat level. Not sure what it means for Cody Ross but he has been up and down this year as well.

He had a reputation for strangeness as well as for a curveball that defied description. It was this perfect, beautiful, singular thing, and people who saw it sometimes fell in love with it and the man who threw it. I was one of those people.

This is a great and very eloquent article re: Barry Zito. Over the years I've moved from being angry at Zito (for his huge contract with little to show for it) to just feeling sorry for the guy. Of course, the Giants winning the World Series despite Barry helps but he is truly a tragic figure. If he was a guy who was just in it for the money, I would have less sympathy for him but I genuinely feel that his lack of performance weighs heavily each and every time he pitches a bad game. Maybe he can be moved to another team where the expectations won't be as high and he can restart his career. However, I think he'll play out his contract and just slip into the sunset.