teams in football and basketball can do things like that because of the salary cap. Essentially, the team has plenty of money to burn, can easily pay a player, but the cap prevents them from manuevering.

Nothing prevents the Giants from signing CC. Except maybe bankrupcy? Which won't happen. It is not like they need to free cap space.

So, without figuring out the specific details of the contracts, say they had to dole out $40 mil to CC and Zito. With Cain and Lincecum, 4/5 of the rotation is set.

What could they get if they traded Sanchez, etc. Could they get a young under control offensive player so they wouldn't have to spend on a FA bat?

Or maybe you deal Cain, you could probably get more.

My point is that I wouldn't rule out CC, whether they can move Zito or not. Zito, no matter how overpaid, is still a major league pitcher, even if he is your 4 or 5. If you were to trade him and swallow half his contract you have one less pitcher and you are over budget by $50 mil.

If this team wins, they won't have that much trouble affording the team... isn't that stadium paid off already?