Source: Torn thumb ligament derails Texas Rangers' deal with Boston Red Sox for Mike Lowell  —  The proposed trade between the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox involving Mike Lowell is off, according to a source.  —  The reason: Lowell has a torn radial collateral ligament in his right thumb and will have surgery after Christmas.

Rolen signs extension  —  The Reds and 3B Scott Rolen have restructured his contract and have extended him for two more guaranteed seasons.  Rolen's new contract will pay him $23.625 million through the 2012 season with a $5 million signing bonus that is deferred over the next three seasons without interest.

New York Mets appear to be lone team set to pay free agent Jason Bay  —  The Mets' competition for free agent outfielder Jason Bay dropped by one team Friday when the Mariners traded for Milton Bradley.  Now it remains to be seen if the Mets and Bay can come to an agreement that would bring the outfielder to Flushing.

In Signing Nick Johnson, Yankees Turn Johnny Damon Away  —  The fourth game of the World Series was tied, 4-4, with two outs, no base runners and a 1-2 count on Johnny Damon in the top of the ninth inning last month in Philadelphia.  With one more strike, the Phillies would have come to bat …

‘Evaluating Baseball Managers’: Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda  —  Evaluating Baseball Managers: A Comprehensive History and Performance Analysis, 1876-2008 is going to be as big as it sounds.  Author, history instructor and Hardball Times veteran Chris Jaffe sent me sample …

Anthopoulos chats with Blue Jays fans  —  Toronto GM discusses Halladay trade, prospects and more … Alex Anthopoulos: Glad to be communicating one on one with the fans.  Excited to hear your questions.  Looking forward to answering some of your questions.

If The Yankees Were Serious, They Would Put Gardner In CF  —  Way back in the day, I used to write the blog Fire Joe Torre.  My argument was basically (with some hyperbole thrown in): the Yankees can do better than Torre, even if they won a lot of games with him.  They're slowly losing their dominance.

Source: Blache already has interviewed for Redskins job  —  Unless they conducted a search even faster than they recruited Albert Haynesworth, the Redskins interviewed multiple candidates for General Manager at a time when they already had someone doing the job.

MacPhail satisfied for now  —  But O's still interested in pitchers Chapman, Hendrickson  —  Andy MacPhail likely made his biggest splashes of the offseason over the last couple of weeks, when he traded for Kevin Millwood, signed Mike Gonzalez to a two-year deal and reached agreement on a one-year pact with Garrett Atkins.

Blyleven: Health Silva's biggest question  —  Which Carlos Silva are the Chicago Cubs getting in the Milton Bradley trade?  —  Is he the one who was a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter with the Minnesota Twins, who averaged 193 innings from 2004-07?  Or will he be the Silva of the past …