Top News:
Chad Finn / Boston Globe:
Report: Sox acquire Mark Melancon from Astros — The Red Sox have made a significant addition to their bullpen, acquiring righthanded reliever Mark Melancon from the Astros for infielder Jed Lowrie and reliever Kyle Weiland. — Melancon, a hard-throwing 26-year-old had a 2.78 earned run average …
RELATED:
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
Red Sox Acquire Melancon For Lowrie, Weiland — The Red Sox acquired reliever Mark Melancon from the Astros for shortstop Jed Lowrie and starter Kyle Weiland, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick first tweeted that Weiland was traded to Houston in a deal that involved a reliever going to Boston.
Alex Speier / Full Count:
Kelly Shoppach agreement spells likely end for Jason Varitek with Red Sox
Discussion:
Surviving Grady
CBSSports.com Blogs:
Rockies, Cards, Jays among those in on Beltran — The market for Carlos Beltran is heating up, with at least five clubs and possibly more seriously talking with the free agent outfielder. Among them, according to sources: The Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals and …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, Bluebird Banter, SI Tracking Blog, Drunk Jays Fans and Baseball Nation
RELATED:
Thomas Harding / MLB.com:
Rockies in the mix for free agent Beltran — DENVER — Two Major League sources with knowledge of the situation say the Rockies are trying to sign free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran. — A six-time All-Star, Beltran is coming off a 2011 in which he hit a combined .300 with 22 home runs and 84 RBIs for the Giants and Mets.
Discussion:
MLB Daily Dish
Jim Breen / FanGraphs Baseball:
Re-Evaluating the Rasmus Trade
Discussion:
Drunk Jays Fans and Al's Ramblings
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Darvish bidding process is cloak-and-dagger affair — The Yu Darvish sweepstakes is turning into a spy novel. An international man of mystery. Exorbitant amounts of money. Suspense. Lies. Subterfuge. The only things missing are a shifty mole and a double cross.
RELATED:
Paul White / USA Today:
Baseball buzz turns to imports Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes
Discussion:
LA Times Sports Blog
John Harper / NY Daily News:
MLB is banking on Mets woes and may jump to take control as Wilpons will soon feel the financial squeeze — Source says cash crisis on club may go beyond control of Bud & Co. — On the day after word was leaked of the Mets taking out yet another loan, here is what you heard Tuesday …
Discussion:
Mets Cetera, MetsBlog.com, Amazin' Avenue, ESPN, baseballmusings.com, MLB.com and Bats
RELATED:
DanDotLewis / Amazin' Avenue:
An In-Depth Look at the Mets' Finances — (Bumped from FanPosts. —Eric) — The Mets' financial situation is worse than we thought. I've written a few things over the last week or so, and during the process, I keep finding new facts alleged by the media about the dollars and cents — or lack thereof — which make this team run.
Discussion:
Forbes, HardballTalk, Deadspin and BBTF's Baseball Primer …
Fox Sports:
Who's still in Fielder market, who's not — Albert Pujols will turn 32 next month. It's very possible that his best seasons are behind him. He just signed a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Angels. — Prince Fielder, 27, is entering his prime. He had the better 2011 regular season.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, Drunk Jays Fans and Yahoo! Sports
RELATED:
Jerry Crasnick / MLB:
Crasnick: “The Book” on Fielder
Discussion:
Baseball Nation, DRaysBay, Deadspin, Drunk Jays Fans, HardballTalk and MLB Rumors
Phil Mackey / 1500 ESPN SportsWire:
Role still being finalized, but Bill Smith likely returning to Twins — 4:05 p.m. Twin Cities Sports Update - with John Heidt — SportsWire Twins Role still being finalized, but Bill Smith likely returning to Twins — Former general manager Bill Smith appears to have rejoined the Minnesota Twins' organization.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and HardballTalk
Jfay / Cincinnati Reds:
Jocketty is still frustrated — Walt Jocketty's progress report on the trade front: — “It's all I've been working on — trying to improve our pitching,” he said. “It's been an extension of the winter meetings. But we're still not close on anything. It's very frustrating.”
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Jeff Jacobs / Hartford Courant:
The Agony Of Filling Out A Hall Of Fame Ballot — Does Jeff Bagwell belong in the Hall of Fame? (Courant file photo) — While leaving an empty box next to Jeff Bagwell's name ... Lots of folks have a bucket list, or at least that's the term they assign to it after the 2007 movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
Discussion:
HardballTalk, The Yankee Analysts and Bluebird Banter
Marc Topkin / St. Petersburg Times:
Ranking the pitchers the Tampa Bay Rays are most likely to trade — The Rays have one of those good kinds of problems, with an excess of starting pitching. They insist they're not seeking to trade one and would be fine going to spring training with all eight.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and DRaysBay
