Top News:
Michael Silverman / Boston Herald:
Gagne signing gives Sox extra pick — Milwaukee inks righty … The Red Sox [team stats] will gain an extra pick in the June draft thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers' decision to sign reliever Eric Gagne to a one-year deal. — Gagne's deal is worth a reported $10 million …
Discussion:
SOX & Dawgs
RELATED:
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Bradley agrees to deal with Rangers — LIKE THIS STORY? — Free-agent outfielder Milton Bradley has reached preliminary agreement on a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers, according to a major-league source. — The deal, pending a physical, will give Bradley the chance to serve …
Nick Canepa / San Diego Union-Tribune:
Peavy may have to fan 27 per game — O come now, all ye Padres faithful. Have yourself a merry little Faith Cocktail, on the rocks, with a dash of bitters. An acquired taste, granted, but maybe not so harsh on the throat. — We'll have to see how it goes down. Meanwhile, pull up a stool.
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Yankees close to signing reliever Hawkins — LIKE THIS STORY? — The Yankees, rebuilding their setup corps, are close to signing free-agent right-hander LaTroy Hawkins to a one-year contract believed to be worth approximately $3.75 million, according to major-league sources.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Report: Hawkins, Yanks agree to one-year deal — NEW YORK — Moving to shore up their weak middle relief, the New York Yankees reached a preliminary agreement on a $3.75 million, one-year contract with right-hander LaTroy Hawkins. — Hawkins' deal is subject to him passing a physical …
Gordon Edes / Boston Globe:
The Okaji Interview: "Anxious and Uncomfortable" — Daigo Fujiwara, the Globe's graphic designer who does a great job of monitoring Japanese media for stuff about Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima and other stories of interest in Japanese baseball, translated a recent radio interview Sox reliever Okajima gave in Japan.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Chris Jaffe / Hardball Times:
Ten Best Game Fours in World Series History — Picking up where I left off, let's look at Game Fours. — While plenty of mesmerizing Games 1 through 3 occurred, few remained in the public consciousness. Looking at this list, any student of baseball history worth his or her salt should know about four or five of these battles.
Mike Petraglia / MLB.com:
Sox host Christmas at Fenway — Players, coaches, fans spread annual holiday cheer — BOSTON — In the middle of Fenway Park's EMC Club on Saturday, some 20 boys and girls gathered around a stage decorated with holiday poinsettias to ask questions. — They weren't making requests to Santa Claus …
Discussion:
Red Sox Monster
Troy E. Renck / Denver Post:
Huge payrolls putting AL in league of its own — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pulling a piece of black luggage almost as big as himself, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman rushed out of the Opryland Resort on Thursday, pulling the curtain on the winter meetings. — If baseball had a sense of humor …
Discussion:
ShysterBall
Joe Posnanski:
Talking with the Prez — I always thought Groucho Marx went a few words too far when he said, "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." I believe he could have just said: "I don't care to belong to a club." Left it there.
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Larsen's Feat Lives in Amateur Movies — On Oct. 8, 1956, Saul Terry took his 8-millimeter camera to Yankee Stadium, where he and his wife settled into seats in the right-field bleachers, which would cast occasional clouds of darkness onto his film. — Terry was not the only amateur cinematographer at Game 5 of the World Series.
