"The last time Giants general manager Brian Sabean spent any significant time on the ground in the Dallas area, he jetted off with champagne sticking to his skin and the 2010 World Series trophy in tow.

Sabean and his phalanx of trusted advisers return to the Metroplex on Sunday for baseball's winter meetings, and while they don't expect to wrest away the biggest prizes at the industry's annual swap-fest, they hope to make enough lineup tweaks to give their lethal pitching staff another shot at that trophy.

No, they won't spend much time leafing through superagent Scott Boras' thick binders proclaiming the value of Prince Fielder. They won't set up a meeting with agent Dan Lozano to discuss Albert Pujols. Lozano also represents Carlos Beltran, and the Giants probably won't take an aggressive run at re-signing him this week, either.

With a mandate from ownership to stay away from long-term contracts, Sabean is looking at lesser targets to contribute in positions of need. For the Giants, those areas are a right-handed hitting middle infielder (such as Alex Gonzalez or Jerry Hairston Jr.) and an outfielder (maybe Josh Willingham or Coco Crisp).

Club officials also plan to engage in plenty of trade talks. They already executed what is likely to be their biggest move of the offseason, trading left-hander Jonathan Sanchez and minor leaguer Ryan Verdugo to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Melky Cabrera."