Top News:
Chris Haft / MLB.com:
Unit wants to savor time with Giants — Johnson realizes 2009 could be swan song to his Hall of Fame career — SAN FRANCISCO — If 2009 is Randy Johnson's final Major League campaign, he intends to cherish it. — The “Big Unit,” known through most of his 21-year career as a glowering …
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
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San Francisco Chronicle:
A Giant step for Johnson — (12-26) 19:52 PST — Randy Johnson will be wearing a Giants cap again. Last time it happened publicly, he picked up a black and orange cap and momentarily wore it on April 16, 1999, during a Giants-Diamondbacks donnybrook, mistakenly thinking it was his.
R.J. Anderson / FanGraphs Baseball:Giant of a Steal — Brian Sabean needs to do something silly soon.
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:Giants Sign Randy Johnson
Discussion:
McCovey Chronicles, Lookout Landing, Royals Review, MLB.com, Yahoo! Sports and The Crawfish Boxes
Hal McCoy / Dayton Daily News:
Reds sign Willie Taveras — The Cincinnati Reds filled their leadoff hole by signing free agent outfielder Willy Taveras to a two-year deal. — Taveras, who turned 27 on Christmas Day, hit only .251 with a .308 on base average with the Colorado Rockies, but stole 68 bases in 75 tries.
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Mark Sheldon / MLB.com:
Reds ink Taveras to two-year deal — CINCINNATI — The Reds on Saturday signed free-agent center fielder Willy Taveras to a two-year contract. — Financial terms of the contract weren't immediately known. — Taveras, 27, spent the past two seasons with the Rockies.
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Yankees may go with Phil Hughes if Andy Pettitte balks — Before the Yankees signed Mark Teixeira, they told Andy Pettitte's camp that the pitcher's chances of rejoining the Bombers would be in jeopardy if they signed another big free agent. Now that the Yanks have landed their new first baseman …
Jose Mota / Yahoo! Sports:
Andruw Jones seeks contact in the D.R. — Buzz up! — SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic - Andruw Jones' search for solid contact has landed him in the heartland of a baseball-crazed country that isn't his own, accumulating at-bats in the dead of winter. — The skills that made Jones a five …
Susan Slusser / San Francisco Chronicle:
A's target Abreu, Angels' Anderson — (12-26) 21:01 PST — Jason Giambi is the A's next free-agent target, but there are others on Oakland's list, too. — The Chronicle has learned that the team has had preliminary conversations about free-agent outfielders Bobby Abreu and Garret Anderson …
Discussion:
Zell's Pinstripe Blog, Athletics Nation, DRaysBay, River Avenue Blues, SFGate and MLB Rumors
Andy Martino / NY Daily News:
The End Zone: Joba at the crossroad — It takes Joba Chamberlain a few moments to realize that the boys are in awe of him. It is mid-December and the Yankee righthander is sitting behind a long table in the back of Last Licks, an ice cream and memorabilia store on the upper East Side.
John Sickels / Minor League Ball:
New York Yankees Top 20 Prospects for 2009 — He was NOT the next Bobby Bonds. . . New York Yankees Top 20 Prospects for 2009. — All grades are EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY and subject to change. Don't get too worried about exact rankings at this point, especially once you get out of the top 10.
Discussion:
Pinstripes, Pa., WasWatching.com, River Avenue Blues, Sliding Into Home and Mike Silva's NY Baseball …
Richard Durrett / TEXAS RANGERS:
No offer (yet?) for Ben Sheets — Rangers general manager Jon Daniels was on The Ticket with Norm Hitzges on Friday and said that the club has not made an offer to Ben Sheets. He didn't indicate when or if the Rangers would do so, but said he's in communication with Sheets' agent.
Amalie Benjamin / Boston Globe:
Red Sox consider Plan B — So Mark Teixeira got his wish, a new home by Christmas. The Red Sox? Well, they're not out $170 million. — That might be all that can be said about the developments of recent days, in which the Sox lost out to the Yankees for the first baseman they had been pining …
