To a one-year, $2.75 million deal, which is pretty nifty for San Francisco. Howry's 5.35 ERA in 2008 was out of line with his previous performance and with his peripherals, and his flyball tendencies should play better in AT+T Park than in homer-happy Wrigley. Even at age 35, he's a good bet to rebound and earn his money.

Of course, there's the question of whether it behooves the Giants to hand out contracts to veteran relievers right now, but the money for Howry and Jeremy Affeldt was perfectly reasonable, so even if this is just a case of Brian Sabean being Brian Sabean, there's little to complain about.