Top News:
Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times:
Angels' attention shifts from Mark Teixeira to CC Sabathia — Club is in discussions with the free-agent pitcher and could offer him a contract that approaches the $140-million offered by the New York Yankees. Source says the Angels are reluctant to guarantee more than seven years to Teixeira.
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Corey Brock / MLB.com:
Padres' plans being put on hold — Peavy situation keeping Towers from addressing team's needs — SAN DIEGO — The lack of progress in a deal involving pitcher Jake Peavy has had a significant effect on the Padres' ability to address their other roster needs this offseason.
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Sean McAdam / ESPN:
McAdam: Padres in state of disarray — Sometimes, Kevin Towers, the longtime general manager of the San Diego Padres, catches himself thinking about the most recent important game his team played and wondering: What if? — What if the Padres had been able to close out the Colorado Rockies …
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Yankees Expect Big Things From Canó and Rodriguez — Joe Girardi will not be filling out the first lineup card of the new Yankees' season for more than four months. But Kevin Long, the hitting coach, can peek ahead to April and tell which two hitters will be difference makers.
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George A. King III / New York Post:
CANO WORKING HARD, DROPPING WEIGHT — While they wait for CC Sabathia to decide if $140 million is worth the headaches created by the spotlight that always scorches the Yankees, the club is jazzed about Robinson Cano's new body. — “I was as impressed with what he looks like as I have ever …
Bruce Golding / New York Post:
LENNY GETS A WALK — EX-MET DYKSTRA SETTLES 139G LAWSUIT — Former Met center fielder Lenny Dykstra worked himself out of a jam yesterday, settling a lawsuit over an unpaid $139,000 bill from a Midtown accounting firm. — The scrappy former leadoff hitter known as “Nails” …
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Thomas Zambito / NY Daily News:
Dykstra settles bill with accountants, runs mouth — Ex-Met star Lenny Dykstra - chewing nonstop on a Twizzler licorice stick - walked out of court Monday after reaching a deal with an accounting firm that claimed he reneged on a $138,872 bill. — Dykstra hammered out the settlement …
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
Novice pitchers from India sign with Pirates — Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, cricket players who had not picked up a baseball until April, on Monday became the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts, agreeing to deals with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Troy E. Renck / Denver Post:
Hurdle tabs Baylor to fix hitting woes — The Rockies got their “Groove” back Monday. — Don Baylor, nicknamed “Groove” for a quote given when he was a 21-year-old prospect with the Orioles, returned to Colorado as the club's hitting instructor. — This isn't a public relations ploy, manager Clint Hurdle insisted.
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New York Post:
MADGE A-ROD'S TURKEY CHOICE — ALEX Rodriguez has his priorities - and they are not his children. — The Yankee slugger, who ditched his wife of six years, Cynthia, after becoming besotted with Madonna, is a “soul-less” man who is “abandoning” his kids on Thanksgiving for his lover, according to what Cynthia is telling friends.
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Nick Zaccardi / MLB.com:
Astros' lone move could be at catcher — If rotation comes together, team would have few holes to fill — If the Astros can re-sign pitchers Randy Wolf and Doug Brocail, they may be satisfied with making nothing more than a small splash in the offseason market.
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
St. Louis Cardinals talk with free agent Arthur Rhodes — The Cardinals may not have an immediate heir in place for closer Jason Isringhausen's role, but they continue to woo relievers who will handle the innings leading up to the ninth. — As they iron out a deal with lefty reliever Trever Miller …
Cyril Morong / Cybermetrics:
Should Ryan Howard Try To Strikeout Less? — You might think so. In both 2006 and 2007 he led the major leagues in “contact average.” I define that as hits divided by (AB - K + SF). His contact average in 2006 was .448 and in 2007 it was .421 (although it fell to .372 in 2008).
NY Daily News:
Brian NcNamee and lawyers give evidence in Roger Clemens probe — Agents from the FBI came to New York in September to collect cheek-swab DNA samples from Brian McNamee and his lawyers as part of the ongoing investigation into whether Roger Clemens perjured himself before Congress.
Larry Stone / Seattle Times:
Mel Stottlemyre, Lee Elia not returning to Mariners coaching staff — Mel Stottlemyre and Lee Elia will not be part of the coaching staff of new Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu, The Seattle Times has learned. — Stottlemyre, 67, served the 2008 season as Mariners' pitching coach after a 10-year stint with the Yankees.