Rest of AL East should just give up now  —  How would you like to be the Tampa Bay Rays?  The Baltimore Orioles?  The Toronto Blue Jays?  —  Now pitching for the Yankees in 2010: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez.  —  Now pitching for the Red Sox: Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

Delgado's return to action delayed  —  Without seeing him play, club may have less interest in veteran  —  NEW YORK — The Mets' interest in Carlos Delgado, an interest that was not shared by all members of the club hierarchy after the season, may begin to wane now that the free agent has postponed his return to active baseball.

Sources: Nats near 1-year deal with reliever Guardado  —  Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com.  He previously covered baseball for the Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  He began his journalism career at the Bay City Times in his native Michigan.

Source: Angels, Rodney negotiating  —  The Los Angeles Angels are in serious discussions with free-agent right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney, a source familiar with the negotiations told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Tuesday.  —  Rodney, 32, posted 37 saves in his first full season …

Fred McGriff belongs in baseball's Hall of Fame  —  Beginning this year, Tampa native Fred McGriff joins the Hall of Fame numbers discussion.  —  One of the quickest ways I know to start an argument is with three simple words: Hall of Fame.  —  In Chicago, those are fighting words.

Minor League Transactions  —  Transactions reports may be sporadic during the holiday season, so we leave you with a gift.  —  Check out the Transactions Glossary for the key to deciphering the various inactive lists presented here.  —  Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Signed: RHP Rodrigo Lopez

AP source: Mets nearing agreement with R.A. Dickey  —  NEW YORK — The New York Mets are nearing agreement on a minor league contract with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.  —  The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the deal was not yet complete.

A Decade of Growth: Examining MLB Player Payroll  —  Late Monday, data was released by MLB that showed a total of $2.91 billion was spent on final player payroll for the 2009, an increase of 1.2 percent from the year prior when $2.87 billion was doled out.  It was a slowing of growth - the chilly economy taking a chunk out of spending.

The price you pay  —  The AP collected the final 2009 payroll numbers.  You can figure the payroll out in a number of ways.  They go with the 40-man roster and include pro-rated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses, non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions.