Top News:
Fred Mitchell / Chicago Tribune:
Reds' Dusty Baker wants to manage Kerry Wood again — Kerry Wood answered the call from the bullpen last season for the Cubs, reinventing himself as a capable closer with 34 saves. — Will he pick up the phone when Dusty Baker from division foe Cincinnati calls him?
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Mychael Urban / MLB.com:
A's letting deadline pass on arbitration — Club declines to offer any of its four eligible free agents — OAKLAND — As expected, the A's on Monday night announced that they will not offer arbitration to any of their four free agents: left-hander Alan Embree, righty Keith Foulke …
Discussion:
Athletics Nation
Mark Sheldon / MLB.com:
Reds make pitch for Rhodes — Agent confirms Cincinnati's offer to free-agent left-hander — CINCINNATI — Lefty relief help became a primary need for the Reds once Jeremy Affeldt departed for the Giants as a free agent. — Could that need be filled by veteran Arthur Rhodes?
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
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Sports Illustrated:
Sabathia, Ramirez, Burnett offered arbitration — NEW YORK (AP) -Star pitcher CC Sabathia and slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez headlined a group of 24 players offered salary arbitration Monday by their former teams. — Starters A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez also were offered arbitration …
Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
24 Free Agents Offered Arbitration — By Tim Dierkes [December 2 at 12:40am CST] — All of the arbitration offers are in. Here's a list of which free agents were offered arbitration. If these players decline the offer and sign elsewhere, the original club will get one or two draft picks.
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:Cubs don't offer Wood arbitration
Discussion:
Hire Jim Essian!
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Fuentes will talk with Mets, maybe at winter meetings — Brian Fuentes intends to meet face-to-face with the Mets, either in Las Vegas during next week's winter meetings or afterward in New York. — Fuentes, 33, went 1-5 with 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.73 ERA for the Rockies last season.
Discussion:
24 Hours From Suicide
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Carrie Muskat / MLB.com:
Grace just kept hits comin' in his career — First baseman takes 2,445 career knocks to Hall of Fame ballot — When Mark Grace was called up to the Cubs in May 1988, it was to replace a struggling Leon Durham and platoon at first base with Manny Trillo. — “This is something a kid dreams …
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Scott Miller / CBS SportsLine.com:
Rice should make Hall in final at-bat; Rickey in first — Tell Scott your opinion! — Don't ask me why some guys are forced to wait for years before they're finally voted into the Hall of Fame. It's baseball's version of evolution. As you may have noticed, a player's statistical line doesn't change when he retires.
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com:
D-backs offer arbitration to trio — Arizona declines to extend offers to Dunn, Johnson — PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks offered salary arbitration to three of their five free-agent players hours before Monday's deadline. — Second baseman Orlando Hudson and relievers Juan Cruz …
RELATED:
Matthew Cerrone / MetsBlog.com:News: These People will officially Cost Draft Picks
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
The Yankees offer ... nobody — That's right, nobody. So forget those draft picks. — More to come ... UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: It came down to economics. The Yankees did not want to risk going to arbitration with any of their players given the salaries they made last season. To refresh your memories:
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Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
No talks with Abreu — Brian Cashman said today the Yankees are “engaged” with Bobby Abreu and Andy Pettitte. That's news to Abreu's people. — “We haven't heard from them once since the end of the season,” said Chris Leible, one of Abreu's agents. “I'll be honest with you, Bobby isn't happy about it.”
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, For the Record, Hardball, Lady At The Bat, iYankees, MLB Rumors and Newsday
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
Sources: Hampton agrees to contract with Astros … Pitcher Mike Hampton has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Houston Astros pending a physical exam, two baseball sources told ESPN.com. — The contract will pay Hampton a base salary of about $2 million plus incentives, a source said.
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Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Texas Rangers offer Bradley salary arbitration — egrant@dallasnews.com — The Texas Rangers are prepared for Milton Bradley to sign elsewhere as a free agent, but if he goes the club will at least receive a memento of his time in Texas. — By offering Bradley, a Type B free agent …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
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Chris Dutton / Hardball Times:
Batters and BABIP — What we did — Batting average on balls in play—the rate at which batted balls other than home runs become hits—is commonly used as a measure of pitching performance. However, precious little work has been done to explore BABIP from the hitter's perspective.
Tom Krasovic / San Diego Union-Tribune:
To surprise of no one, Padres decline to offer salary abitration to Hoffman — The Padres, as expected, declined to offer salary arbitration to closer Trevor Hoffman on Monday. — As a result, another club can sign Hoffman without forfeiting a draft pick, and the Padres can negotiate …
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Philly.com:
No arbitration offers to Moyer, Burrell — Paul Hagen reporting ... Conventional wisdom had it that, if nothing else, the Phillies would offer salary arbitration to at least lefthander Jamie Moyer. — Conventional wisdom whiffed. — National League sources confirmed to the Daily News …
Discussion:
Philly.com, Phillies Nation, crashburnalley.com, MLB Rumors, The Good Phight, The700Level.com and MLB.com
Chris Haft / MLB.com:
Giants decline to offer arbitration — Club doesn't extend any invitations, continues eyeing Renteria — SAN FRANCISCO — Giants officials surely were interested observers Monday as the Tigers declined to offer salary arbitration to shortstop Edgar Renteria, who San Francisco has considered signing in free agency.
Discussion:
Bugs & Cranks
