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 …
RELATED:
Lachat / Inside the Dodgers:
Arbitration offers going out today... Some good news for all of you...we will announce very shortly that we are offering arbitration to Manny, Derek Lowe and Casey Blake. What this means is that if they accept, we will have them back for 2009 and if they decline and choose to sign elsewhere …
JSOnline:
Sabathia, Sheets, Shouse offered arbitration — By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel — The Brewers have decided to offer salary arbitration to three of their free agents — CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse. They will not offer arbitration to Eric Gagne.
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:Cubs don't offer Wood arbitration
Discussion:
Hire Jim Essian!
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.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
RELATED:
Yahoo! Sports:
Angels offer arbitration to Teixeira, K-Rod — ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) —The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday protected themselves should any of their coveted free agents decide to leave this winter. — The Angels announced that they have offered salary arbitration …
Discussion:
Halos Heaven
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.
RELATED:
Alyson Footer / MLB.com:Hampton returning to Astros
Discussion:
Ken Davidoff's baseball …, Can't Stop The Bleeding, MLB FanHouse, SportsJustice and Bucs Dugout
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:
RELATED:
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.”
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
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
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
RELATED:
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?
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, crashburnalley.com, MLB Rumors, The Good Phight, The700Level.com and MLB.com
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.
Discussion:
The Crawfish Boxes
Mychael Urban / MLB.com:
A's letting deadline pass on arbitration — Club declines to offer any of its four eligible free agents — OAKLAND — As expected, the A's on Monday night announced that they will not offer arbitration to any of their four free agents: left-hander Alan Embree, righty Keith Foulke …
Discussion:
Athletics Nation
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
