Giants Sign Renteria?

11:24pm: Henry Schulman says Renteria took a physical for the Giants today and "a deal appears to be done."

9:26pm: Renteria’s (other?) agent Jeff Lane told MLB.com’s Chris Haft, "We’re very close to a deal."

7:51pm: Jon Paul Morosi also talked to Meister, who said the Giants are making "substantial progress" toward signing Renteria.  Henry Schulman gets the vibe the Giants might announce a deal with him tomorrow.

4:49pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Giants asked the Brewers about J.J. Hardy, but Milwaukee doesn’t want to move him. So Brian Sabean moved on to Cantu.

4:12pm: Brian Sabean told reporters he hopes to sign a free agent infielder later this week.

3:42pm: Jon Heyman chimes in; he also thinks a two-year deal could be completed soon.  Heyman says the Giants have yet to decide whether to target C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, or Manny Ramirez.  Are we seeing a shift back to the win-now plan in San Francisco?

1:53pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick talked to Renteria’s agent Barry Meister, who said they’re "much, much closer" to a deal with the Giants but "nothing is done."  Crasnick’s source says it could be in the two-year, $18MM range.

12:58pm: According to Yahoo’s Tim Brown, the Giants "believe they are closing in on signing shortstop Edgar Renteria."  Brown also says the Giants have discussed trading Jonathan Sanchez to the Marlins for Jorge Cantu.  That’d be a steal for the Marlins, who plucked Cantu off the scrap heap in January for a half-million bucks.

Brown adds that the Cubs remain in the mix for Jake Peavy, and they have two possible matches for a third team in the deal (the Orioles being one).