The case can be made that Barry Zito accomplished both goals when he signed with the Giants Thursday.
Are the Giants an NL contender? They won only 76 games last year, and their best player is over 40 and might just put down the bat for good when he hits his 22nd home run in 2007. Their offseason moves, until this one, aren't noteworthy. But yeah, they can contend. The World Series champ just won 83 games. And the Giants play in a division with mediocrity. Did the Dodgers get better? J.D. Drew is gone, Jason Schmidt, Juan Pierre and Luis Gonzalez are new. Doesn't excite me much. Padres now have both Gileses. Wonderful. Arizona's trying to deal for Randy Johnson to fix their problems. Yeah, the Giants can contend right now.
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Eric Karabell
Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He competed in his first fantasy draft in 1987, and chose Wade Boggs 11th overall. Karabell enjoyed his 24 home runs, which tripled Boggs' career high, and was hooked. (He also drafted Dale Sveum that year. Look up his career stats!) Eric has covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football.
Eric can be seen several times a week on ESPNEWS, hosts a national ESPN Radio show (Sundays from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET and is a weekly guest on numerous other shows. He appears frequently on ESPN.com's Fantasy Focus, is the host of the Baseball Today Podcast and contributes to ESPN The Magazine. He has also been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writer's Association, and this blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007.
Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors all Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer.