He flirted and cast enough knowing glances to make jealous his wife and the woman he palled around Toronto with earlier this month.

As calculating a businessman as Alex Rodriguez is, the New York Yankees' third baseman knew exactly what he was doing when he praised San Francisco and its bayside yard so effusively last weekend.

That is, he would dig it if the Giants became a major player for his talents this winter, should he opt out of his contract.

And the Giants should oblige. Do back flips and belly flops into McCovey Cove. Rename the walkway under the giant Coke bottle and glove in left field the "A-Rod Arcade." Do whatever it takes — like, yesterday, or the second it becomes legal.

"I love San Francisco," Rodriguez said, and can't you imagine T-shirts with such a slogan, complete with an orange and black heart and Rodriguez's smiling visage? "I love the vibe of the city. It's a West Coast New York, with better weather in the summer."

News flash to Mark Twain, who is claimed to have said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

"I love this stadium, where it is in the city," Rodriguez said. "It's one of my favorite stadiums."

He owns it, so no wonder the jewel of the recent wave of ballparks is so high on his list.

After his AT&T Park tour de force last weekend, in which he went 9 for 13 with one home run, four RBIs, three walks, no strikeouts and one steal, Rodriguez is batting .625 (15 for 24) at China Basin.

Yes, it's a small sample, but are you salivating yet, Giants fans, over what those numbers could translate to over an 81-game home slate? No, it won't be easy to secure the services of the $252 million man, but it's doable.

The market is not the same as when Rodriguez signed that 10-year deal with Texas in December 2000, so the bidding could start at less than $25 million per season.

Not exactly chump change for a notoriously thrifty franchise, except when it comes to paying its Barrys.

Still, the Giants could have more than $37 million in base salary coming off the books next season in eight players, including Barry Bonds ($15.8 million) and Pedro Feliz ($5.1 million). Matt Morris and the $9.5 million owed him also could become expendable.

And with eight others with backloaded contracts, the Giants will owe an additional $15 million-plus in bumps next season, giving them some $22 million with which to play.

Of course, it's never that simple to make the figures jibe, and the Giants would have to surround Rodriguez with cheap and unproven talent. But the albatross that is Bonds would be gone, preferably after passing Hank Aaron.

Rodriguez, a two-time MVP and 11-time All-Star, would become the face of baseball's post-Steroids Era, thereby replacing its poster child. A-Rod's pursuit of BALCO Barry's homer record would continue in Giants gear while Bonds maintains his chase of 3,000 hits as a designated hitter, in some exotic locale such as Oakland, Anaheim or try this the Bronx.

Beyond that, Rodriguez, who turns 32 on July 27, could get a fresh start in a new league and return to shortstop. He could find peace and tranquility in the Bay Area not afforded him in the maelstrom that is the Big Apple while giving a well-deserved, one-fingered salute to the Gotham haters on his way out of town.

No tabloid fodder here to amuse the mouth-breathers.

The days of being harangued because he sunbathed topless in Central Park with his family the morning of a game and getting hassled because he was hanging in a Toronto topless club with a woman not his wife? Gone.

There is no more socially accepting market in the game than San Francisco. Remember, Bonds is revered here and reviled just about everywhere else.

It makes too much sense for the Giants not to get involved with the All-Star Game's leading vote getter.

"I was really looking forward to making the team," he said of returning to San Francisco for the Midsummer Classic. "It's one of the most beautiful settings of any ballpark."