"Every way you turn with this, (the media) created the perception, and I've got to respond to it, and I and the organization get (treated unfairly)," said Sabean, forcefully. "And I'm sick of it."

Sabean wasn't happy about being portrayed as "losing out" on Sabathia when he said the Giants were never serious bidders.

"We never made an offer, and we never had a meeting," Sabean said. "It wasn't even pie in the sky. It was the longest of long shots. And I kind of resent that in being thorough in your job, you get that held against you.

"Just us floating the idea or being involved "... you need to do those things. But people have taken liberty with that (and said) he absolutely was going to be a Giant or we were absolutely going to sign him or that he was a real-life option for us. It was none of that."

From the end of the season, Giants officials publicly refused to rule out Sabathia, even though they knew any contract would, at minimum, exceed Giants pitcher Barry Zito's seven-year, $126 million deal. Yet Sabean faulted reporters for reading too much into a cryptic situation.

"When did we say we were going after Sabathia?" Sabean said. "When did we say we were going to make an offer? When did we say we were going to give him $100 million or $160 million? That's your problem. You created it. So because you created it, and it's in my lap, now I've got to respond to the fans. That's what's wrong with the process."

While it had been reported widely that the Giants were Sabathia's first choice, Sabean questioned whether the Vallejo native's interest was genuine.

"He said he was interested. Do I know that?" Sabean said. "I never met with the player."

Before abruptly ending the session, Sabean said it's false to assume the club has the money to pursue a big-name hitter such as Mark Teixeira because they didn't sign Sabathia.

"So now it's our fault that we weren't going after Teixeira when everybody in the press has got us going after Sabathia," said Sabean, who's entering the final year of his contract and hasn't received any public assurances from new managing partner Bill Neukom. "That's what you guys created. I never created that. Enough's enough. Go on to something productive."

It doubtless added to Sabean's raw nerves that the trade front has been fruitless at the winter meetings. Unless something drops into Sabean's lap, it appears the Giants will rely on incremental growth from young hitters to improve one of the league's least potent lineups.

The Giants would like to sign a free agent starting pitcher but only to a one-year contract. They reportedly have talked about Brad Penny if they can't come to terms with Randy Johnson.

In other news involving former Giants, shortstop Omar Vizquel is getting an earnest look from San Diego, and pitcher Kevin Correia is generating interest from the A's on a minor-league deal, according to sources.

Contact Andrew Baggarly at abaggarly@mercurynews.com