Top News:
Jayson Stark / MLB:
Stark: New CBA, luxury tax affecting free-agent market — Why the Yankees and Red Sox aren't spending big on free agents this offseason — Here's a little offseason quiz for you. The biggest-name free agent the Yankees have signed this winter from outside their organization was:
Discussion:
Sports of Boston and Seattle Times
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Baseball Insider:
Red Sox invite Varitek to camp; hes weighing it — Respected longtime Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek has been invited by the team to come to camp as a non-roster player with only an outside chance to make the team, and Varitek seems likely to decide between accepting that invitation or retiring, people familiar with his situation said.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, HardballTalk and Eye on Baseball
Rob Bradford / Full Count:
Theo Epstein talks decision to join Cubs, Carl Crawford, compensation and all things Red Sox collapse
Discussion:
BoSox Injection, The Soxaholix, Multimedia Feed … and Boston Globe
Nick Collias / MLB Rumors:
Red Sox, Vicente Padilla Moving Toward Deal
Discussion:
Full Count, Over the Monster, Boston Globe and FenwayNation
Marc Topkin / St. Petersburg Times:
Tampa Bay Rays won't limit search for another bat to first basemen — Andrew Friedman prefers a deep pool of options. — ST. PETERSBURG — With Luke Scott signed and set for everyday duty, the Rays are now focused on adding another hitter to complete the planned upgrade of their offense.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and MLB Rumors
ESPN:
Report: Police talk to Castro about sex assault — Chicago Cubs All-Star shortstop Starlin Castro was questioned by Chicago police Thursday night and into Friday morning over allegations of sexual assault, according to WBBM Newsradio in Chicago. — A woman accused Castro, 21 …
Discussion:
SI Tracking Blog
Gerry Fraley / Rangers Blog:
Roy Oswalt on Rangers' radar; Ryan optimistic Darvish will sign — ARLINGTON — The Rangers could add two more starting pitchers. — As what team president Nolan Ryan labeled promising negotiations with Japanese righthander Yu Darvish continue, the Rangers have also made inquiries …
Discussion:
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, HardballTalk, MLB Daily Dish, Lone Star Ball, MLB Rumors and mlbbuzz
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Richard Durrett / ESPN:
Rangers CEO ‘optimistic’ about signing Darvish
Discussion:
USA Today, Federal Baseball, Baseball Nation and Yahoo! Sports
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Asking Price Drops For Oswalt, Kuroda, Jackson — The asking prices for top free agent starters have dropped significantly, ESPN.com's Buster Olney tweets. Roy Oswalt is said to be asking for $8MM, Hiroki Kuroda's asking for $10-11MM and Edwin Jackson's asking price has also dropped.
Major League Baseball News:
Question of the Day: Who wants Manny? — The magical season of 1992 was also the last year Major League Baseball played without Manny Ramirez on the field. It still remains to be seen whether 2012 will be the first one since then, or whether any club will take a chance on him.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
Jonathan Bernhardt / Baseball Prospectus:
Jack Morris in Motion — The broadcast is about him from the very first moment: as soon as the CBS logo has disappeared from the screen, the hosts are talking about his postseason success so far in the games leading up to this, Game 7 of the World Series, the biggest night on the grandest stage of his career.
Discussion:
HardballTalk, Baseball Nation and THE BOOK
Joe Christensen / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Blaine's Dan Johnson: From major-league spotlight back to shadow — Despite many injuries, former Blaine star Dan Johnson has had some big moments in an 11-year baseball career. But now he's looking for a job. — As the events of last Sept. 28 unspooled for baseball fans across the country …
Discussion:
Baseball Nation and The Heater Feed
Jon Paul Morosi / mlbbuzz:
Cespedes playing in games, for reasons unclear — Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, the talented and sought-after Cuban defector, has joined Aguilas of the Dominican Winter League. He played Thursday in a round-robin playoff game. — Cespedes went -for-3 with three strikeouts and was hit …
Discussion:
HardballTalk and MLB Rumors
Juan C. Rodriguez / Miami Marlins:
Miami Marlins have not changed stance on Fielder; Cepedes remains top target — In spite of the buzz out there about owner Jeffrey Loria meeting Scott Boras, who represents unsigned free agent Prince Fielder, the Marlins' position on the slugging first baseman has not changed.
Discussion:
Federal Baseball, FanGraphs Baseball, Fish Stripes, SI Tracking Blog, MLB.com, Eye on Baseball, HardballTalk, MLB Rumors and Baseball Nation
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Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com:
Reynolds to handle hot-corner duties for O's — BALTIMORE — Assuming the Orioles don't make any impact corner infielder additions in the next month, Mark Reynolds will head into Spring Training as the team's starting third baseman. — While there was thought to keeping Reynolds at first base …
Discussion:
Camden Chat
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Brewers, Parra Avoid Arbitration — FRIDAY: The sides agreed to a $1.2MM salary for 2012, MLBTR has learned. That's the exact salary Matt Swartz projected heading into the offseason. — THURSDAY: The Brewers announced that they avoided arbitration with left-hander Manny Parra.
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