Marlins ready to make major noise  —  The meetings with Buehrle and Reyes will take place in South Florida, one source said.  The meeting with Cespedes, which will include Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, will take place in the Dominican Republic.  —  The Marlins' No. 1 priority is upgrading their rotation.

Red Sox Targeting Carlos Beltran  —  The Boston Red Sox have reportedly targeted outfielder Carlos Beltran, according to Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman.  A baseball executive reportedly told Heyman that the All-Star free-agent could get a two-year deal.  —  Beltran, 34, just finished …

Notebook: Oswalt looking good; Pap, too  —  The Nationals plan a major push for free-agent right-hander Roy Oswalt, viewing him as the perfect veteran complement to Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan and Chien-Ming Wang, major-league sources said.

Giants news and notes on Melky Cabrera's new role, Pablo Sandoval's winter plans and how today's trade sets up the rest of the offseason  —  Just finished the conference call with Brian Sabean, Bruce Bochy and Melky Cabrera.  Here are the main news points, including some offseason news on Pablo Sandoval.

Ballplayers fear induction into ‘Get Smart Club’  —  Significant statistics ending in ‘nine’ can haunt players, careers  —  A highly-anticipated movie entitled “Nine” — with the subtitle, “Be Italian” — opened during the holiday season in 2009.  —  Had that flick been about baseball, the subtitle would have been, “Be Frustrated.”

Orioles' Simon cleared of manslaughter charge  —  SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Baltimore Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon has been acquitted of an involuntary manslaughter charge.  —  Simon  —  Defense attorney Dinora Dilone said Simon was acquitted Tuesday in the New Year's Eve shooting death …

McCourt might still try selling Dodgers' TV rights  —  Frank McCourt soon could ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to let him sell the Dodgers' television rights along with the team, a strategy that could violate his sale agreement with Major League Baseball and revive his dormant litigation with Fox Sports.

Buehrle could become Yankees' top target  —  C.J. Wilson is considered the best pitcher on the free agent market in most circles.  Yet, when it comes to fitting inside the often hectic Yankees' universe, several major-league talent evaluators believe Mark Buehrle might be the better fit.

Paulsen, Arenado lead Rafters to win  —  Rockies prospects combine to plate five runs in Salt River rout  —  Ben Paulsen has struggled to find his groove this fall.  He found some new moves Monday.  —  The Rockies prospect was 2-for-4 with three RBIs as Salt River defeated Scottsdale, 9-4.

Prospect Gose working on consistency at plate  —  Centre fielder aiming to live up to expectation of ideal leadoff man  —  Prized center-field prospect Anthony Gose, fresh off taking part in the Arizona Fall League's esteemed Rising Stars Game, has long been coveted by the Blue Jays.

Money Wins: Is There Enough Parity In Baseball?  —  Yesterday afternoon, Jayson Stark considered the question, “Is the MLB's competitive balance a joke?”  His answer was a rather blunt no: … Stark's method of proving it — plucking facts from the recent playoff series and comparing …

Twins fire general manager Bill Smith, name former GM Terry Ryan as interim replacement  —  Minnesota gave zero indication that general manager Bill Smith's job was in jeopardy despite a 99-loss season, with ownership publicly issuing a vote of confidence last month, but today the Twins fired Smith …

Phillies Making Strong Push For Ryan Madson  —  9:26pm: The Phillies have also had talks with Jonathan Papelbon and seem determined to sign him or Madson, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).  —  8:18pm: Talks are “advancing, but not complete,” a source told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links).

Cards hope to have manager by next week  —  Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said he remains “hopeful” the club will have a new manager hired before the start of next week's general manager meetings but added he didn't want to artificially hasten the process.