Cubs may be raising stakes for Fukudome  —  Offer thought to be close to $50 million  —  The Padres are facing determined competition from the Cubs for Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome.  Growing indications yesterday had the Cubs willing to guarantee Fukudome close to $50 million.

MATSUI MAY 'WAIVE' BYE  —  The Yankees haven't asked Hideki Matsui to waive his no-trade clause and accept a deal to San Francisco, but there were strong indications last night he wouldn't stand in the way of a deal if presented to him.  —  When the Giants asked the Blue Jays …

Ellsbury seems key in any deal with Red Sox  —  There's still no imminent trade involving Twins ace Johan Santana, but Boston's young center fielder keeps coming up in discussions.  —  The Twins continued exploring potential trade options for Johan Santana on Monday, picking up where they left off at last week's winter meetings.

Review: Diamond Dollars & The Baseball Economist  —  Review essay on Vince Gennaro, Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball.  —  Hingham, Ma.: Maple Street Press, 2007, 253 pp.,  —  J.C. Bradbury, The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed.  —  New York: Dutton, 2007, 336 pp.

Mariners have best three-year offer on table for Hiroki Kuroda  —  Reports out of the winter meetings in Nashville that the Mariners had offered a four-year contract to Japanese starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda were incorrect.  —  A well-placed source in the Mariners organization said Monday night …

Pavano Weighing His Options  —  Carl Pavano is still mulling a Yankees proposal to release him and then re-sign him to a minor league contract.  He said Monday he is not close to a decision.  —  "I'd be giving up a lot of options if I signed a minor league deal," Pavano said.

Timo Perez re-signs with Tigers; Brandon Inge trade talks  —  Outfielder Timo Perez has elected to remain with the Tigers, by signing a one-year major-league contract worth a maximum of $525,000.  —  The deal is similar in structure to those signed by Detroit infielder Ramon Santiago …

Read: MetsBlog Interview with Omar Minaya  —  Mets GM Omar Minaya and LHP Oliver Perez were guests during last night's Mets Hot Stove Report on SNY.  —  To watch a clip of Minaya's appearance, click here.  —  ...i was able to run down to the studio and ask him a few questions …

Wise designated for assignment  —  As predicted in my story in the JS this morning, the Brewers have designated reliever Matt Wise for assignment to make room for newly signed closer Eric Gagne on the 40-man roster.  —  The Brewers have 10 days to trade Wise or release him.

Bryant: Conflicts and missteps undermine Mitchell report  —  With the highly anticipated Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball expected to be released within the coming days, scores of baseball employees who were interviewed by former Senator George Mitchell's investigators …

Red Sox owners buy the Avalanche  —  Deal lets them put their stamp on a minor league team  —  Less than a year after they invested in stock-car racing, the owners of the Red Sox have struck closer to home, becoming one of the few Major League Baseball operations to pursue a minor league franchise.

Searching for Mr. Clutch  —  I'm sure many of you read the recent (SI calls it "provocative") piece by Bill James on Sports Illustrated.com titled "Mr. Clutch: Big Papi, Chipper, Pujols come through when it counts".  I was reminded of the piece when I found my copy of the 2008 Hardball Times …

Proportion, perspective missing ingredients in news coverage … Sometimes in this column, I call out ESPN for journalistic practices or problems unique to it, such as the conflict of interest issues arising from rights ownership and other business ties to the leagues it covers.