I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Giants offseason moves – though the injury to Freddy Sanchez (the Chris Brown of the new millenium?) makes some of their transactions appear more reasonable in context.

But I am happy about one move: bringing back Bengie Molina. I was in favor of giving him more than one year to keep him around. But the Giants were able to get him for just a one-year, $4.5 million contract.

It was kind of an afterthought transaction, born out of Molina’s willingness to turn down more money with the Mets. But it may prove to be the Giants most important move for 2010.

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Tim Lincecum had to pay $513 in a fine today in county court in Vancouver, Washington for his citation for possession of a marijuana pipe. But he also exchanged arbitration numbers with the Giants: he wants $13 million. The Ginats offered $8 million.

My prediction is that Lincecum wins arbitration. Ryan Howard set the record with a $10 million arbitration victory after winning the NL MVP.  But Lincecum has won back-to-back Cy Youngs. Isn’t that even more impressive, for such a young player?

I wrote about Lincecum for SI.com today. Here is a link to that column. Howard and Lincecum have been linked before: the Giants played the Phillies the day of Lincecum’s debut and Lincecum was cruising until the third inning, when Howard hit a two-run bomb.

I’ve learned that:

*That the flu – both my own and my daughter’s – puts a real dent in tweeting and blogging. Suddenly lying flat and watching “Across the Universe” becomes much more important.

*That when Eddie D. shows up the party really gets rolling. Still. The event on Saturday night at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco was reminiscent of the high-rolling 49ers of the past – and you have to credit the Yorks for doing it up in style.

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Back when I was a young, Candlestick Park was a nasty place. You had to wear a puffy down jacket to ward off the chill. You had to bring the scratchy wool car blanket, one that was probably covered with burrs from the last picnic, out of the trunk. If you were of a certain age – and I don’t mean 21 – you had to brink a flask.

And if the Dodgers were in town, you had to watch your back.

AT&T has a much different vibe. It’s not as cold. It’s not as nasty. And the Giants haven’t completely sucked for as long as they had back in the day (though, in truth, they’ve been pretty sucky lately – just in a nicer environment and with better pitching). But tonight the vibe could get downright Stick-ish. Read the rest of this entry »