Top News:
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Rangers win Darvish rights with record bid — The Texas Rangers won the rights to negotiate with star Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish by placing a record $51.7 million bid in a posting auction, sources told Yahoo! Sports. — Darvish's team in Japan, the Nippon Ham Fighters, will accept the bid …
RELATED:
Fox Sports:
Determined Texas wins rights to Darvish — The night the Rangers lost the World Series, general manager Jon Daniels stood just outside the clubhouse and told me quietly, “We've got to get better.” — I thought, better? C'mon. Nelson Cruz catches David Freese's drive in Game 6, and the Rangers win the Series.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and MLB Daily Dish
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Massive Darvish bid worth the risk for Rangers — Yu Darvish celebrated the announcement that the Texas Rangers had spent $51.7 million just to talk with him by doing what he does often: He worked out. There is a training ethic in Japanese baseball, one passed down from previous generations …
Discussion:
MLB.com, Lone Star Ball, Purple Row and MLB Daily Dish
Mark Zwolinski / Toronto Star:
Yu Darvish sweepstakes: Blue Jays no sure bet to win
Yu Darvish sweepstakes: Blue Jays no sure bet to win
Discussion:
Bluebird Banter
Fox Sports:
Nats working hard to land Gonzalez — The Nationals, continuing their quest to add a left-handed starting pitcher, are pushing hard to land the Athletics' Gio Gonzalez, according to major-league sources. — Gonzalez, 26, is perhaps the hottest pitcher available on the trade market …
Discussion:
Federal Baseball, MLB Daily Dish, NESN.com and MLB Rumors
RELATED:
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Nationals Pushing Hard For Gio Gonzalez
Nationals Pushing Hard For Gio Gonzalez
Discussion:
Federal Baseball and MetsBlog.com
Andy Martino / NY Daily News:
Gio Gonzalez to Mets unlikely
Gio Gonzalez to Mets unlikely
Discussion:
Beaneball, MLB Daily Dish, MLB Rumors, MetsBlog.com and River Avenue Blues
Tim Brown / Yahoo! Sports:
Loyal Kuroda too expensive for Dodgers — The Los Angeles Dodgers hoped to sign Hiroki Kuroda, a good man and a good pitcher who once returned to the Dodgers in part because he felt like he owed them more. — Weird, I know. — The problem was, Kuroda is one of the better starters on the market …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, Bronx Baseball Daily and The LoHud Yankees Blog
MLB.com:
Luhnow chats with season ticket holders — New general manager fields questions online — During a live web chat with Season Ticket Holders, Astros new General Manager Jeff Luhnow fielded questions about his goals for the 2012 season and beyond. — Jeff Luhnow: Hello everyone.
Discussion:
Getting Blanked and THE BOOK
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Oswalt Seeks One-Year Deal; Interest Picks Up — Roy Oswalt was looking for a three-year deal earlier in the offseason, but he has since told teams he only wants a one-year contract, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The right-hander wants to prove that his back is healthy …
Discussion:
River Avenue Blues, Bronx Baseball Daily, NESN.com and Twinkie Town
Freakonomics:
A Free Market Solution (from Europe) to the Labor Problems in North American Sports — The following is a guest post by David Berri, a Professor of Economics at Southern Utah University. He is also the lead author of Stumbling on Wins, the general manager of the sports-economics blog Wages of Wins …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Michael Baron / MetsBlog.com:
Today is David Wright's birthday — Today is David Wright's 29th birthday. — I am very much looking forward to watching Wright in 2012. It's a big season for him in a lot of ways, and he has numerous incentives to have a strong year for both himself and the team.
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Associated Press:
Phillies re-hire former GM Ed Wade — PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies have hired former general manager Ed Wade as a special consultant. — Wade was a GM for parts of 13 seasons for the Phillies (1998-2005) and the Houston Astros (2001-11). He was fired last month …
Discussion:
Associated Press
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Pirates Sign Jeff Clement — Here's where we'll keep track of today's minor moves... - The Pirates announced that they have signed first baseman Jeff Clement to a minor league contract. Clement, 28, posted a .201/.237/.368 line for the 2010 Pirates, but didn't appear in the Major Leagues in 2011.
Nick Prill / The Brewers Bar:
Looking at Aoki/Braun scenarios — In a little over a week, the Brewers outfield has gone from a relatively — hell, perfectly — stable situation to a full-blown mess rife with question marks and uncertainty. Ryan Braun's positive drug test and the winning bid for Norichika Aoki …