Top News:
Mark Polishuk / MLB Rumors:
Yankees Agree To Terms With Hiroki Kuroda — The Yankees have agreed to a one-year contract with Hiroki Kuroda, pending a physical, tweets Jack Curry of the YES Network (Twitter link). The deal will pay Kuroda $10MM, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. Kuroda is represented by the Octagon agency.
Discussion:
HardballTalk, The Yankee Analysts, MLB Daily Dish and River Avenue Blues
RELATED:
C. Trent Rosecrans / Eye on Baseball:
Yankees agree to trade Montero for Pineda — So much for that quiet Yankees winter. New York has finally made its move for a pitcher, agreeing to trade for right-hander Michael Pineda from the Mariners in exchange for top prospect Jesus Montero, CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reports.
Discussion:
Hardball Times, Boston Globe, Yahoo! Sports, Lookout Landing, Pinstripe Alley, Baseball Insider, U.S.S. Mariner and WasWatching.com
Greg Johns / MLB.com:
Mariners, Yanks nearing Pineda, Montero swap — SEATTLE — A quiet offseason for the Mariners and Yankees is about to get a lot louder as the teams are in the process of finalizing a four-player trade that would swap two of the Major League's top young prospects — power-hitting catcher Jesus Montero …
Discussion:
Seattle Mariners blog and Lookout Landing
Associated Press:
Source: Yankees trade Montero to M's for Pineda — SEATTLE (AP) — A person familiar with the deal tells The Associated Press the Seattle Mariners have agreed to trade right-hander Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees for catcher Jesus Montero in a deal involving two of baseball's top young talents.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
Tim Booth / Globe and Mail:
Source: M's trade Pineda to Yanks for Montero — The Seattle Mariners agreed to trade right-hander Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees for catcher Jesus Montero on Friday, a swap involving two of baseball's top young talents. — A person familiar with the deal confirmed the trade to The Associated Press.
Discussion:
U.S.S. Mariner and baseballmusings.com
Mark Polishuk / MLB Rumors:
Mariners, Yankees Swap Pineda For Montero — The Mariners needed hitting, the Yankees needed pitching. The two teams addressed each other's needs in a blockbuster trade of young stars, as right-handers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos will go to the Bronx in exchange for catcher/DH Jesus Montero and righty Hector Noesi.
Discussion:
NESN.com, River Avenue Blues, baseballmusings.com and FenwayNation
Baseball Insider:
Red Sox invite Varitek to camp; he's 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:
NESN.com, Boston Globe, HardballTalk, MLB Rumors and Eye on Baseball
RELATED:
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:
Yahoo! Sports, Sports of Boston and Seattle Times
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
RELATED:
Bruce Levine / ESPN:
Kerry Wood, Cubs agree on 1-year deal
Discussion:
Associated Press, Yahoo! Sports and MLB
Mark Polishuk / MLB Rumors:
Braves Avoid Arbitration With Martin Prado — The Braves have agreed to a one-year, $4.75MM contract with Martin Prado, avoiding arbitration with the infielder, reports MLB.com's Mark Bowman (both Twitter links). The $4.75MM figure was slightly higher than the $4.4MM projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz as Prado's 2012 salary.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, HardballTalk and Talking Chop
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
Prince Fielder meets Friday with Texas Rangers about deal — The Texas Rangers are having a face-to-face meeting Friday afternoon with free-agent slugger Prince Fielder at a Dallas-area hotel, USA TODAY has learned. — Fielder and Jon Daniels were both in the hotel lobby together …
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports, JSOnline and Federal Baseball
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.
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
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, MLB Daily Dish, HardballTalk, Lone Star Ball, MLB Rumors and mlbbuzz
RELATED:
Richard Durrett / ESPN:
Rangers CEO ‘optimistic’ about signing Darvish
Discussion:
Baseball Nation and Yahoo! Sports
