Yes, agreed on Bobby Murcer.  I hope he comes through and he’s back in the booth in 2007.  A classy gentleman in every sense of the term.

Now, on to the “Holy ‘you know what’” portion of this post.  I just heard (and subsequently read) that Zito is signing with the Giants for $126 million.  I did not think the Giants were serious contenders for Zito.  And, it just goes to show you – it’s all about the sheckels.  I do not view the Giants as serious contenders for the National League pennant in 2007 and even 2008.  But, in the weak National League West, they may be able to contend for a division title.  I am somewhat relieved that he signed with the Giants and the Yankees did not make a push for him.  It’s too big of a committment and it appears that Zito was indeed looking for a big committment from a team. 

I don’t believe this impacts the Randy deal.  I have heard this morning that Arizona doesn’t want to take on all of Randy’s contract and it appears they are also not willing to include better players in the deal.  If I understand the Yankees’ position correctly – the Yankees are willing to “eat” part of Randy’s contract, but if they do that, then they are insisting that the players that come back are of a higher quality.  It sounds like Arizona is not willing to do either.  I think it comes down to whether Randy approves the deal to San Diego or L.A. (although I hear L.A. mentioned but no details).  Hopefully, this can get done over the weekend and we can start 2007 “Unit-free!”