Top News:
Rob Bradford / Boston Herald:
Papi: Johan not coming — Sox DH doesn't see trade for good friend happening — FOXBORO - It wasn't the holiday message Red Sox [team stats] fans were looking for. — Although David Ortiz [stats]' infectious smile and trademark hugs were spread throughout Gillette Stadium during his visit …
Discussion:
MetsBlog.com, Seven Train to Shea Mets Blog, SOX & Dawgs, Peter's Red Sox Forever and Over the Monster
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Phil Rogers / Chicago Tribune:
NL not ponying up for horse Santana — Can't match offers of Yanks, Red Sox — The absence of a serious NL option remains one of the ongoing mysteries in Minnesota's deliberate efforts to trade Johan Santana. The Twins surely would rather deal him to the Mets or Dodgers than to the Red Sox or Yankees …
Discussion:
Purple Row
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Perry cuts to the chase — Today's ‘cheaters’ will pass Hall test — Everyone always suspected Gaylord Perry threw a spitter or a greaser, or cut the ball. He was a master at it. He was the safecracker. He perfected what so many others in his generation tried but couldn't pull off nearly as well.
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
McNamee open to chatting with Roger — Brian McNamee hasn't talked to Roger Clemens since the personal trainer's explosive testimony in the Mitchell Report fingered the Rocket as an abuser of steroids and human growth hormone. — But McNamee, whose work Clemens credited for years …
RELATED:
NY Daily News:
Rocket reeks of desperation — So Roger Clemens has taken his case to the people via the path of least resistance, with a two-minute video that he posted on his Web site. He does his best to win your sympathy, describing the hurt his family has endured from the Mitchell Report …
ESPN.com:
Clemens ‘almost numb’ to steroid accusations — Clemens Defends Himself Against Steroid Allegations — In a video posted on his official Web site, Roger Clemens said that he has become “almost numb” to the steroid accusations against him in the Mitchell report and that he has granted …
Ken Mandel / MLB.com:
Phils sign Taguchi to one-year deal — Outfielder gets $1 million contract, with option for 2009 — PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies completed some last-minute holiday shopping Sunday, signing outfielder So Taguchi to a one-year contract with an option for 2009.
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Time is not right to decide on Steroid Era players — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX. — I am staring at my National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, looking at the box next to Mark McGwire's name.
Phil Rogers / Chicago Tribune:
MLB whispers — ESPN's stable of baseball reporters linked 14 teams to the pursuit of Mark Prior, but that list drops when teams check out his medical reports. Texas was the latest to back out. San Diego makes the most sense, but the Padres ended trade talks with the Cubs after looking at the medical file.
Jayson Stark / ESPN:
The wild and wacky from 2007 … Once again this year, the amazing sport of baseball was stranger than fiction, stranger than a Britney Spears trip to the hair salon, stranger even than the Jonathan Papelbon School of Dance. — So before the 2008 sign flashes in Times Square, let's look back at the Strange But True Feats of the Year:
Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
The Top Player in This League? It May Be the Sports Reporter — A few teams are rich and getting richer, hunting more avidly than ever for talent, raiding the less-endowed leagues, poaching free agents and bidding the prices of star players to unheard-of heights.
Joe Brescia / New York Times:
Guidry Hopes He's Wearing Pinstripes in the Spring — Ron Guidry, dismissed as the Yankees' pitching coach after two seasons, has been sitting home in Louisiana, waiting for a job offer. — From whom? How about the Yankees. — “I would imagine probably I'll get a call and maybe …
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Dejan Kovacevic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Hot Stove: Payroll disparity a Central issue — Maybe the Pirates' fate in 2008 might be different if, a couple days from now, a gift card in the amount of, oh, $50 million were to show up under their tree. — As it is ... The $50 million or so that they do plan to spend next season …
Mike Imrem / Daily Herald:
Time to tear down Wrigley — Here's a solution to the latest Wrigley Field crisis: Save the name, dump the dump. — Yes, I'm playing demolition derby again because the crusty, creaky old joint doesn't need to be renovated or renamed. — It needs to be replaced.
Discussion:
The Progenitor …