Didn't call it.

Okay, so I guess I was wrong on the whole Zito thing. Actually, I think most of the sports media community was off on predicting where Barry Zito would end up.

San Francisco.

Huh, didn't see that one coming. New York, New York or even Texas but not the Giants. I'm pretty sure that even with this signing though, the Giants' off-season has been a waste. Yeah, congrats on Zito but way to let Jason Schmidt move to division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. And way to let one of the only offensive weapons - Moises Alou - leave for the Mets.

Well, at least the Giants now have one one Barry who isn't tainted. And when I say tainted here, I mean tainted like Chernobyl. I had hoped (prayed) that no one would sign Barry Bonds for the 2007 season. Collude, scheme, plot - whatever the owners could've done to kept the Sultan of Syringes out of the game would've been fine for me. Giants' owner Peter Magowan and GM Brian Sabean, despite talking about building a younger team and how they couldn't use Bonds to create a team. I guess that was just part of the negotiations with Bonds' agent? So much for youth.

Anyways, congrats on your $126 million, Zito, you've earned it. I just hope you don't mind suffering from Roger Clemens Syndrome. After posting a sub-3.00 ERA the past three years in Houston (including a 1.87 ERA in 2005), Clemens never received the run support needed to post wins. Looking at San Francisco's offense lineup, Zito's going to have a hard time collecting wins . . . something I'm sure Clemens won't have a problem with in New York in 2007.

Called it?

The current sports news is saying that the Yanks are beginning talks to trade former star pitcher Randy Johnson, possibly back to the Diamondbacks or to the Padres or Giants. This is just another step in GM Brian Cashman's purge of past-prime talent that the Yankees had collected over the past few years (Gary Sheffield, Jaret Wright).

If New York does manage to move Johnson, it's even more possible that they'd make a move for Barry Zito, says SI.com's Jon Heyman. Makes perfect sense. I'd love to see an aged pitcher moved out of New York, have young talent brought in in return for him and then top it all off with the addition of who's probably the best pitcher on the free agent market this season (Daisuke Matsuzaka not included since he's still a mystery.)

It would also be another way to counter the Red Sox's addition of Matsuzaka, something I brought up a few weeks ago. If the Yankees can swap out Randy Johnson for Barry Zito, here's what their rotation will look like: Mike Mussina, Chen-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Barry Zito and Kei Igawa. I'm not including Carl Pavano since I'm just going to assume he'll be struck down by another phantom injury. That's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. On top of that, just imagine if the Yanks win the Roger Clemens sweepstakes, I'm not even sure what'll happen. Igawa will most likely go to the pen. And I consider the Yanks to be the odds-on favorite to land Clemens too.

Zito in NY?

Well, now that appears that the Red Sox have somehow wrapped up the Daisuke Matsuzaka deal, how do the Yanks counter? Yes, I love Pettitte and am thrilled that he's returned to New York, but in the world of Yankees-Red Sox, you have to match ace for ace.

So, I guess that means that Barry Zito will soon be coming to Yankee Stadium. Yes, I'm calling it here, on this blog, on Extra Innings. Yeah, you can read about Texas all you want but Zito will be pitching in pinstripes for 2007.

Let's start at the beginning. The New York Yankees bid something like $32 million for Matsuzaka. The Red Sox bid an insane $51.1 million. Okay, check. You won that one, Boston. But now, there are still are still chips on the table.

Scott Boras isn't stupid. Not by any means. He surely has to realize that he'll be able to play this Matsuzaka-envy onto the Bronx Bombers and create a need in New York for Zito.

And I'm completely fine with that. So far this offseason, the Yanks have shown great restrait. They've traded away Sheffield. They've traded away Jaret Wright. They've talked about moving Pavano. Things are looking good. Prospects are coming into the Bronx. Go ahead, Cashman, spluge a little. You've earned it. Let's bring Zito into New York.

In six years, we'll add Matsuzaka too.

The Matsu-clock-a is a tickin'

Leave it to the Red Sox to mess this one up.

With a bid of $51.1 million, you'd think Boston and Theo Epstein would've realized that they'd win the bidding for Daisuke Matsuzaka. I understand that this was probably all a power play to make sure the Yanks didn't get the Japanese phenom but this reflects pretty badly on baseball as a whole now.

I understand that the Red Sox already paid over 50 million just to have the rights to talk to Matsuzaka but that shouldn't be something held against him. In dealing with agent Scott Boras, a team has to know that the price of a player is going to be high. If Barry Zito is expected to get a $100 million deal, then why shouldn't his Japanese counterpart?

And there have also been rumors that Boston has tried to get Matsuzaka's team, the Seibu Lions, to allow them to reduce the bid or even pay for part of the World Baseball Classic MVP's MLB salary. Which is all strictly against baseball policy.

There seems to be a lack of respect on the Red Sox's part here. The Yanks have respected Hideki Matsui and paid him his due. Shouldn't Boston be able to do the same?

I think the Sox may have finally found themselves outside of their league on this one. It was funny and it was cute to bid $51,111,111.11 but how about signing the guy? You realize that this chance doesn't come around every season. If the Sox screw this one up, they're going to have a hard time wooing another Japanese star down the road. And if they don't sign Matsuzaka this season and expect to get the rights for the same price next season, they're sadly mistaken. What was $51.1 million this year will turn into $80 million next season. The Yanks bid somewhere around $30 million for Matsuzaka this season, thinking that it would be enough based on past posting bids. I'm pretty sure that if they get a second wack at the gyroballer, they'll get him. Posting fees don't count toward the luxury tax and I'm pretty sure the combo of Matsui and Matsuzaka'll sell pretty nicely - especially in that brand new Yankee Stadium.

Congratulations, Boston Red Sox. A couple years ago, you bought out entire hotels in hopes of keeping the Yanks from negotiating with Jose Contreras. But you've outdone yourselves on this one.