I'd like to start out this post by saying that I've been as harsh on Sabean as anyone for the past few years.  He made a few amazing transactions when he first took over, and then fell into a let's-overpay-veterans-who-under-perform pattern.  However, this offseason seems to be a bit different.  Maybe it's just me being far too optimistic, but he's made some very good signings that won't adversely affect the Giants' longterm future at all.  A lot of us on this site seem to assume that Sabean will offer a horrible deal to any free agent (myself included).  Which is why I thought I should make this post.  Although I originally thought that everyone would be right in their analysis of the Giants-Manny rumors, assuming that Sabean would be offering 4+ years for way too many dollars, it appears that the offers are actually very reasonable.  In fact, the A's here on SBNation are jealous of Sabean's GMing this offseason!  I never thought the day would come that the A's wish Beane was acting like Sabean.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this viewpoint out there.  I'm not suggesting that Sabean's helped the club in the last few years.  But I'm all for giving him another chance, given his performance over the last few weeks.  If he signs Manny to a reasonable, short-term deal, he'll manage to field a contending team without sacrificing the farm system.  It's a rare GM that can pull of that feat.