Top News:
Tony Massarotti / Boston Globe:
Expect Sox to break bank for Teixeira — Here's a prediction: By the time this is over, win or lose, the Red Sox effectively will have made Mark Teixeira the largest contract offer in the history of your storied franchise. — Preposterous, you say? Clearly, you have not been paying attention.
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Dick Kaegel / MLB.com:
Red Sox deal Crisp to Royals — Boston receives reliever Ramirez in return for center fielder — KANSAS CITY — The Royals acquired center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in exchange for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez. — The deal was announced by the Royals at 11 a.m. CT.
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
Coco Crisp Traded To Royals — By Tim Dierkes [November 19 at 11:09am CST] — 11:09am: The deal is official, according to a Royals press release. — 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.
Dick Kaegel / MLB.com:
Royals shift focus to depleted bullpen — KC dips into relievers to make deals, but has chips to replenish — KANSAS CITY — Now Royals general manager Dayton Moore has another project: rebuilding the bullpen. — Moving to increase run production, Moore has obtained fleet center fielder Coco Crisp …
Chad Finn / Boston Globe:
Crisp dealt to Royals for Ramirez — Ramon Ramirez, the righthanded relief pitcher the Red Sox acquired from the Kansas City Royals this morning for center fielder Coco Crisp, might be a mystery to Boston fans right now. But if general manager Theo Epstein proves correct …
Discussion:
Center Field, The Bottom Line, Baseball Insider, SOX & Dawgs, Baseball Musings and Walkoff Walk
New York Magazine:
Leitch: The Unfortunate Legacy of Pedro Martinez — Remember when Pedro Martinez was to be the savior of the Mets? Now the Mets don't even want him back. Pedro's contract, signed in 2004, is off the books, and while he claims he wants to come back, the Mets don't seem to have room for him in the rotation.
Discussion:
NJ.com
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN.com:
Burnett's agent: Red Sox reach out to free agent
Burnett's agent: Red Sox reach out to free agent
Discussion:
The Joy of Sox
Michael Silverman / Boston Herald:
Red Sox acquire Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp
Red Sox acquire Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp
Discussion:
Keep Your Sox On
Dan Graziano / New Jersey Online:
Yankees-Sabathia: What's the holdup? — Things don't move as quickly this time of year as we all hope they would or think they should. The Yankees offered CC Sabathia $140 million for six years last Friday, and the popular question now is: “What's taking him so long?”
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George A. King III / New York Post:
JOHNNY: GIMME A CC, GIMME AN A.J. ...
JOHNNY: GIMME A CC, GIMME AN A.J. ...
Discussion:
MLB.com, The Big Lead, Bombers Beat, Hot Stove Blog, YanksBlog.com and bronxbanterblog.com
Jayson Stark / ESPN.com:
Source: Yankees RHP Mussina decides to retire — As expected, New York Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina has decided to retire, according to a baseball source with knowledge of the situation. Mussina informed the Yankees last week he would give them a decision by the end of this week.
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Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Tribe names Hernandez bullpen coach — Spent past three seasons as pitching coach in Detroit — CLEVELAND — The Indians are still sorting through their bullpen options for next season, but they have settled on a coach for the relief corps. — As announced Wednesday …
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Thomas Boswell / Baseball Insider:
MVPs: Howard & K-Rod, Not Pujols & Pedroia — Thirty years ago, I created the statistic Total Average. Now I'm almost ashamed to have been one of the original baseball geeks. Where did we go wrong? — This week, Albert Pujols won the NL MVP Award. Why?
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Tom Boorstein / SNY.tv:
A modest proposal — How the Yankees can solve their third-base problem — The Yankees need a plan at third base. What they have now isn't working. — Things were so much better when Scott Brosius was around. That's a third-base plan. Third basemen who put up on-base percentages …
David Lennon / Newsday:
Bernie still not ready for the retired life — Bernie Williams, part-time musician and now actor, still won't commit full-time to retirement. Williams, who will have a featured role in the upcoming movie, “Keeper of the Pinstripes,” remains hopeful that his baseball career is not quite over.
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Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Teixeira interested in playing for Nats — Maryland native intrigued by idea of returning home — WASHINGTON — It has been reported several times that the Nationals have interest in signing free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. MLB.com has learned that the feeling is mutual …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
Prominent hitters who may swing it in '09 or call it a career … The Hot Stove season is off to a fine start for Ryan Dempster, Jeremy Affeldt and Eri Yoshida, the 16-year-old female knuckleballer who was drafted by a Japanese League club this week. And life is good if your name happens to be CC Sabathia …
Jason Beck / MLB.com:
Zumaya's rehab affects Tigers' moves — Club looking for relief help with righty's status for '09 uncertain — DETROIT — Joel Zumaya gave the Tigers a triple-digit fastball route to respectability when he went from the Minor Leagues to the back end of Detroit's bullpen at age 21.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Nick Zaccardi / MLB.com:
Astros' 40-man roster grows by three — Houston purchases contracts of Bogusevic, Manzella and Sutton — The Astros purchased the contracts of outfielder Brian Bogusevic, shortstop Tommy Manzella and second baseman Drew Sutton on Wednesday, adding the Minor League prospects to the 40-man roster …