Coco Crisp Traded To Royals?  —  By Tim Dierkes [November 19 at 10:23am CST]  —  10:23am: SI.com's Jon Heyman confirms the deal.  —  10:02am: Red Sox exec Ben Cherington was on XM's MLB Home Plate radio station recently.  He says “the report is premature.”

When will he convert awards into cash?  —  Pedroia adds MVP to his trophy haul  —  First two years in the bigs, Rookie of the Year and MVP.  —  Where do you go from here if you're Dustin Pedroia and the Red Sox?  —  The Sox don't think the hardware changes anything about their contractual approach to Pedroia.

Cubs go Dempster crazy  —  After settling mound concerns by giving Dempster 4-year, $52M deal, team set to address lineup worries  —  Having accomplished their top offseason priority more than a week before Thanksgiving, the Cubs start turning their attention today to the left-handed-hitting …

Don Wakamatsu will be Mariners' manager  —  Oakland Athletics bench coach Don Wakamatsu is to be introduced to Seattle on Wednesday as the new manager of the Mariners.  —  Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik this afternoon told the six other candidates for the job that he was going in a different direction.

Mets have choice of either K-Rod or Fuentes  —  The Mets have many goals and many choices in this baseball offseason, but as they take in the lay of the land now, they think they know this:  —  Acquiring a closer will be first on their list of accomplishments.

Wakamatsu to Mariners, Dempster contract info  —  It was eight days ago that reality intervened with vacation.  I was supposed to be on vacation when Matt Holliday was traded to the Oakland Athletics.  It brought to mind not Dante Bichette, but Dante from “Clerks.”

Commentary: Valverde, Wigginton have to go  —  Goodbye, Jose Valverde.  You, too, Ty Wigginton.  Pick up your lovely parting gifts at the door.  —  The Astros seem likely to trade both of them in the next few weeks.  You won't like the reason.  Don't shoot the messenger.

Braves shift offseason pitching strategy  —  Even with hurlers coming off market, Atlanta still optimistic  —  ATLANTA — Now that the starting pitching options have started to dwindle on the free-agent market, it's even easier to understand why the Braves worked so hard in an attempt to acquire ace Jake Peavy.

Tigers interested in lefty Beimel  —  Dombrowski would like to have two southpaws in bullpen  —  DETROIT — Add Joe Beimel to the list of left-handed relievers the Tigers have explored.  The club has been in touch with his agent and shown interest, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Peanuts, Cracker Jack and Some Illegal Juice  —  “Back Back Back,” a new play by Itamar Moses about baseball's steroids scandal, could actually use a little juicing itself.  Mr. Moses' disappointingly drama-free drama does little more than skim the surface of the protracted controversy …

BERNIE: I'M NOT DONE YET  —  Musician Bernie Williams said last night he has a new CD coming out in April called “Moving Forward.”  —  Just in case any GMs like Brian Cashman are interested, Williams also said he has not shut the door on his baseball career.  Williams, 40, is not totally ready to move forward away from baseball.

Jays need to be dealers if money is tight  —  The dismal North American economy may be a precursor to the ‘09 Jays’ payroll being reduced from its year-end $97 million (all figures U.S.), as was hinted by outgoing president Paul Godfrey last week.  But don't look for any big announcement from Rogers ownership.