Top News:
Sports Illustrated:
Sabathia, Ramirez, Burnett offered arbitration — NEW YORK (AP) -Star pitcher CC Sabathia and slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez headlined a group of 24 players offered salary arbitration Monday by their former teams. — Starters A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez also were offered arbitration …
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Mark Sheldon / MLB.com:
Reds make pitch for Rhodes — Agent confirms Cincinnati's offer to free-agent left-hander — CINCINNATI — Lefty relief help became a primary need for the Reds once Jeremy Affeldt departed for the Giants as a free agent. — Could that need be filled by veteran Arthur Rhodes?
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Mark Bowman / MLB.com:
Braves don't offer Smoltz arbitration — Club declines to make option available for only classified free agent — ATLANTA — As expected, the Braves didn't offer arbitration to any of their free agents. All Major League teams had until midnight ET on Monday to make arbitration offers to their respective free agents.
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com:
D-backs offer arbitration to trio — Arizona declines to extend offers to Dunn, Johnson — PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks offered salary arbitration to three of their five free-agent players hours before Monday's deadline. — Second baseman Orlando Hudson and relievers Juan Cruz …
Matthew Cerrone / MetsBlog.com:
News: These People will officially Cost Draft Picks
News: These People will officially Cost Draft Picks
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
24 Free Agents Offered Arbitration — By Tim Dierkes [December 2 at 12:40am CST] — All of the arbitration offers are in. Here's a list of which free agents were offered arbitration. If these players decline the offer and sign elsewhere, the original club will get one or two draft picks.
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Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Fuentes will talk with Mets, maybe at winter meetings — Brian Fuentes intends to meet face-to-face with the Mets, either in Las Vegas during next week's winter meetings or afterward in New York. — Fuentes, 33, went 1-5 with 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.73 ERA for the Rockies last season.
Discussion:
24 Hours From Suicide
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Carrie Muskat / MLB.com:
Grace just kept hits comin' in his career — First baseman takes 2,445 career knocks to Hall of Fame ballot — When Mark Grace was called up to the Cubs in May 1988, it was to replace a struggling Leon Durham and platoon at first base with Manny Trillo. — “This is something a kid dreams …
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Scott Miller / CBS SportsLine.com:
Rice should make Hall in final at-bat; Rickey in first — Tell Scott your opinion! — Don't ask me why some guys are forced to wait for years before they're finally voted into the Hall of Fame. It's baseball's version of evolution. As you may have noticed, a player's statistical line doesn't change when he retires.
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
The Yankees offer ... nobody — That's right, nobody. So forget those draft picks. — More to come ... UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: It came down to economics. The Yankees did not want to risk going to arbitration with any of their players given the salaries they made last season. To refresh your memories:
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Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
No talks with Abreu — Brian Cashman said today the Yankees are “engaged” with Bobby Abreu and Andy Pettitte. That's news to Abreu's people. — “We haven't heard from them once since the end of the season,” said Chris Leible, one of Abreu's agents. “I'll be honest with you, Bobby isn't happy about it.”
Discussion:
NJ.com, New Jersey Online, For the Record, Hardball, Lady At The Bat, iYankees, MLB Rumors and Newsday
Fred Mitchell / Chicago Tribune:
Reds' Dusty Baker wants to manage Kerry Wood again — Kerry Wood answered the call from the bullpen last season for the Cubs, reinventing himself as a capable closer with 34 saves. — Will he pick up the phone when Dusty Baker from division foe Cincinnati calls him?
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Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs don't offer Wood arbitration
Cubs don't offer Wood arbitration
Discussion:
Hire Jim Essian!
Chris Dutton / Hardball Times:
Batters and BABIP — What we did — Batting average on balls in play—the rate at which batted balls other than home runs become hits—is commonly used as a measure of pitching performance. However, precious little work has been done to explore BABIP from the hitter's perspective.
Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Texas Rangers offer Bradley salary arbitration — egrant@dallasnews.com — The Texas Rangers are prepared for Milton Bradley to sign elsewhere as a free agent, but if he goes the club will at least receive a memento of his time in Texas. — By offering Bradley, a Type B free agent …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
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Tom Krasovic / San Diego Union-Tribune:
To surprise of no one, Padres decline to offer salary abitration to Hoffman — The Padres, as expected, declined to offer salary arbitration to closer Trevor Hoffman on Monday. — As a result, another club can sign Hoffman without forfeiting a draft pick, and the Padres can negotiate …
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Philly.com:
No arbitration offers to Moyer, Burrell — Paul Hagen reporting ... Conventional wisdom had it that, if nothing else, the Phillies would offer salary arbitration to at least lefthander Jamie Moyer. — Conventional wisdom whiffed. — National League sources confirmed to the Daily News …
Discussion:
Philly.com, Phillies Nation, crashburnalley.com, MLB Rumors, The Good Phight, The700Level.com and MLB.com
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
Sources: Hampton agrees to contract with Astros … Pitcher Mike Hampton has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Houston Astros pending a physical exam, two baseball sources told ESPN.com. — The contract will pay Hampton a base salary of about $2 million plus incentives, a source said.
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Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
Astros Sign Mike Hampton
Astros Sign Mike Hampton
Discussion:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, myfoxhouston.com, MetsBlog.com, MLB.com, Mets Fever and Mets Merized Online
Chris Haft / MLB.com:
Giants decline to offer arbitration — Club doesn't extend any invitations, continues eyeing Renteria — SAN FRANCISCO — Giants officials surely were interested observers Monday as the Tigers declined to offer salary arbitration to shortstop Edgar Renteria, who San Francisco has considered signing in free agency.
Discussion:
Bugs & Cranks