Barry Bonds and the Giants

There was a lot of talk about the Giants possibly ditching Bonds and deciding to "go younger" with their team. Well, so far this offseason, their signings (both of their own free agents and those coming from other teams) include Dave Roberts (34), Rich Aurilia (35), Ray Durham (35), Pedro Feliz (31), and it looks like they're close to signing Bengie Molina (32). They did let Moises Alou (40) get away, don't appear interested in Steve Finley (41), and Mike Stanton (39) did sign with another team (though in his case it doesn't seem to be because the Giants weren't interested), but, still, this hardly seems like a team embarking on a youth movement. Although there have been ups and downs, it currently looks like Bonds (42) will be returning to the Giants, and, barring injury, breaking Aaron's career homerun record.

I've also seen a few writers scoff at the Giants' belief that they're in the running next season (as some writers seem to do nearly every year), but the team was in the thick of the playoff hunt until they collapsed with about two weeks remaining in the season. It doesn't seem unreasonable to believe they could contend again -- and remember, the Cardinals didn't exactly blow everyone away in the regular season last year, but they still won the World Series.

Just to toss a link out there, ESPN has some interesting "expert" predictions on what to expect from the winter meetings.