Source: Reds deal Bailey for White Sox slugger  —  Jermaine Dye, a 12-year veteran with a .278 career average, would give team a proven right-handed batter.  —  With baseball's annual winter meetings unfurling this week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, rumors run rampant.

Winter meetings updates  —Las Vegas isn't just a mecca for gamblers (my Florida minus-2 gambit against Florida State failed in college hopes tonight) but closers, too.  Free-agent closers Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman are all in town to meet face-to-face with clubs …

More boom or recession for baseball?  —  Will tough economic times keep pitcher CC Sabathia and sluggers Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira from mega-millions as expected?  So far, yes, but this is the week of baseball's winter meetings, when the big bucks usually start to flow.

Las Vegas dealers  —  Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin runs a baseball team in middle America.  The economy is tough, yet he waits to hear whether CC Sabathia will accept their $100 million offer or whether he'll have to move on to Plan B.  —  As baseball's winter meetings …

Sabathia's agent to meet with Red Sox  —  The much-ballyhooed face-to-face meeting between Yankees GM Brian Cashman and CC Sabathia was finally scheduled to kick off Sunday night in Las Vegas, according to a baseball source with knowledge of the meeting.  But it wasn't Cashman who requested this close encounter.

Tigers and Rangers making significant progress on possible trade  —  LAS VEGAS - The Tigers and Texas Rangers have made significant progress toward a trade that would send catcher Gerald Laird to Detroit and pitching prospect Guillermo Moscoso to the Rangers.  —  It's not clear if the Tigers would include other prospects in the deal.

Varitek to decline salary arbitration from Red Sox  —  LAS VEGAS - A source close to Sox catcher Jason Varitek confirmed that Varitek would decline salary arbitration from the Red Sox before the midnight deadline.  This will allow Varitek to pursue his free-agent market without being tied exclusively …

Ready to roll the dice in Las Vegas … “In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number.”  —  So did you hear the one about the guy from Houston who walks into a Las Vegas casino, sits down at the blackjack table and says, “Deal me in?”

Mariners and Raul Ibanez part ways again  —  Raul Ibanez will decline binding salary arbitration today and, for the second time in his career, leave the Seattle Mariners.  —  The first time was even less appetizing - the Mariners simply let Ibanez go after the 2000 season, and Kansas City signed him as a free agent.

Rangers Cutting Payroll?  —  By Nat Boyle [December 7 at 12:10pm CST]  —  While not making any drastic reductions, the Rangers may be shedding payroll says Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.  This could make available Gerald Laird, Hank Blalock, Kevin Millwood, and Vincente Padilla.