Giants Aggressively Pursuing Manny?

10:28pm: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle is skeptical about this rumor.  His bottom line: "At some point the Giants could consider Ramirez under very specific financial conditions. However, their concessionaires should not order a large stock of dreadlock wigs for the souvenir stands just yet."

Jon Heyman has a new blog post on the topic; he says the Giants "could become the biggest threat to the Dodgers’ hopes to retain Manny."

11:33am: According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post:

The Giants, the NL West’s most active team this winter, are quietly making an aggressive play for free agent Manny Ramirez, according to a major-league source.

The Giants have been linked to Manny for months now; they apparently spoke with Scott Boras about him in November.  It’s interesting to see the Giants being aggressive while so many other teams are standing pat.  Would Manny put them over the top?  I imagine Brian Sabean would like to move Dave Roberts, Randy Winn, or Aaron Rowand to clear roster and payroll space.