The Vallejo native reportedly will make a recruiting visit to San Francisco this weekend, according to Bay Area News Group Andy Baggarly's blog (see link below). The City should do everything it can to welcome home one of the Bay Area's sons.

Use those holiday lights on the Embarcadero buildings to spell out "CC." Send those Tibet protestors back up the Golden Gate to unfurl a "Sign CC" banner. Crack crab for CC.

If Sabathia is willing to shun the super-sized contract (six year, $140 million) offered to him by the evil temptress (or Evil Empire) known as the New York Yankees, he is willing to give San Francisco a hometown discount.

He won't come on the cheap, but his addition to an already imposing rotation topped by 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum will be welcomed inside one of Baseball's friendliest pitcher parks. Insert your own joke about how his bat will strengthen the Giants' lineup every fifth day.

How will the Giants pay for him? Good question. Especially considering they've already alerted us they're not raising ticket prices, and actually discounting some. (No word yet on what an Anchor Steam will cost.) Based on that ticket pricing, you'd figure the Giants wouldn't be in play for another high-item pitcher (see: Barry Zito). But the Giants have been spending this winter (see: shortstop Edgar Renterria) so who knows their projected payroll?

If Sabathia is still on the market, that might mean he really wants to come home to the Bay Area. Worked for Barry Bonds. Would work for Sabathia. (Too bad the A's can't enter the sweepstakes and really invigorate the floundering East Bay sports scene. Apparently they're too busy reading Bud Selig's missives about exploring alternative stadium sites/cities.)

Spurning the Yankees is a splendid move by Sabathia, the 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner and a strong National League candidate last year after his second-half showing for the Milwaukee Brewers. But expressing a desire to be a Dodger as Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti claimed that Sabathia told him could really ruin his street cred in the Bay Area.

What started out as "East Coast vs. West Coast" for Sabathia's free agency might come down to "San Francisco vs. Los Angeles." To which we say: Beat. L.A.

Yes, the left-hander tips the scales near 300 pounds. Yes, an American League Cy Young Award doesn't translate to greatness in AT&T Park (see: Zito, again). Yes, he logged an incredible 253 innings last year, the most in his eight-year career. Yes, he stunk in his postseason appearance for the Brewers.

But welcome him home to the Bay Area this weekend, and perhaps longer.

LINK: blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2008/12/09/Giants -talk-to-sabathias-camp-yanks-rumored-to-be-out/