Weekend Lineup: 1/12/2007 - 11/14/2007

MLB

Relocating a team to Portland makes sense (Phil Rogers)
Report of failed test could hinder new Bonds deal (ESPN.com)
Rocket return likely (Jon Heyman)

MLS
Wanted: More stars (SI.com)

NFL
Be like Brady (Michael Silver)

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.