Fuentes may land in offseason bargain bin  —  • The Rays remain cautiously optimistic about picking up a proven hitter this winter, writes Marc Topkin.  —  • Heard this from a party who has been in recent contact with the Nationals' front office: They absolutely do not expect to win the bidding for Mark Teixeira.

Olney: Market forces at work  —  Brian Fuentes began the offseason as, theoretically, the most second-most coveted reliever, after a season in which he earned 30 saves and accumulated a 2.73 ERA, and held left-handed batters to a .184 average, with 20 strikeouts in 49 at-bats.

Yankees on fringes of Teixeira talks  —  Despite agent Scott Boras' efforts to get the Yankees involved in the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, the Yankees remain on the periphery of the bidding, sources said yesterday.  —  Early yesterday, SI.com's Jon Heyman reported that in the wake …

Boras calls Yankees on Teixeira  —  So the Yankees talked to Scott Boras Friday about Mark Teixeira, as I first learned by reading Jon Heyman's story on SI.com.  But what I learned yesterday from talking to multiple sources is that Boras reached out to the Yankees.

WITH SAWX STEPPING ASIDE, BOMBERS MAKE SMART PLAY  —  NOW that the Red Sox have frozen their Mark Teixeira assets in the high- stakes poker game with super-agent Scott Boras, it creates an opening for the Yankees.  —  The Yankees are in this game, make no mistake.

Olney: Latest On Fuentes  —  By Alex Walsh [December 21 at 10:55am CST]  —  Buster Olney has an update on the future of Brian Fuentes.  Fuentes will likely not be receiving the 3-year/$30MM deal he was recently hoping for, says Olney, and could expect something closer to $15-18MM over the same 3-year period.

Creating a Market  —  Scott Boras called the Yankees about Mark Teixeira: … This could be an interesting game of passive chicken between the Yankees and Red Sox.  With neither of them bidding at this point, the Nationals and Angels can keep their prices low (if $20 million a year is low).