Top News:
Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Wang agrees to deal with Nationals — Right-hander will be coming back from shoulder surgery — The Nationals have agreed to terms with right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, a baseball source has confirmed to MLB.com. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
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Nationals Journal:
Nats reach deal with Wang — Throughout the first portion of the offseason, the Washington Nationals remodeled their team by signing a half-dozen free agents, each serving a particular purpose and place. But the Nationals, on Tuesday, opted for a far different strategy in making what is likely …
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Nationals To Sign Chien-Ming Wang — The Nationals have agreed to sign Chien-Ming Wang to a one-year $2MM deal that includes up to $3MM in performance bonuses. The team hasn't confirmed the agreement, but they have a press conference scheduled for Friday. We heard last week that the Nationals were the favorites to sign the righty.
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Fack Youk, FanGraphs Baseball, Bronx Baseball Daily, SBNation.com, HardballTalk, River Avenue Blues and YFSF
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Alex Speier / Full Count:
Papelbon looks to start a new streak — FORT MYERS, Fla. — Prior to the 2009 playoffs, Jonathan Papelbon wore his 0.00 career postseason ERA like a tattoo on his forehead. The Red Sox closer talked freely about how he held the number dear, how much pride he took in his run of 26 consecutive innings without permitting an earned run.
Fox Sports:
Sources: Mets make push for Barajas — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on MLB on FOX. — The Mets are making “a hard push” for free-agent catcher Rod Barajas and negotiating with him on a one-year deal, according to major-league sources.
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Brian Costa / New Jersey Online:
Countdown to spring training: Omir Santos, Josh Thole will compete for NY Mets starting catching job … COUNTDOWN TO SPRING TRAINING — Today: A look at the Mets' catching situation — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — When the Mets signed Henry Blanco in early December, they figured …
Discussion:
New York Post, TedQuarters.net, MetsBlog.com, Seven Train to Shea Mets Blog and HardballTalk
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Gagne looking for a return to Dodger Blue — Scouts have watched club's all-time greatest closer throw — LOS ANGELES — Eric Gagne wants to be a Dodger again. — General manager Ned Colletti said that his scouts have seen Gagne throw but that the club has not made an offer or decided whether it would.
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MLB Rumors
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Dave Cameron / FanGraphs Baseball:
Granderson and Left Field — Ever since Curtis Granderson revealed that the Yankees asked if he'd be willing to move to left field this weekend, various people have weighed in on the merits of such a move. My take? It really doesn't matter much at all. Whether you have Brett Gardner …
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Fox Sports:
Sources: White Sox still in Damon hunt — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on MLB on FOX. — Johnny Damon to the White Sox? The idea certainly is not dead. The question is how alive it might be.
Sports Illustrated:
10 for '10: Young aces among those at risk of Verducci Effect … Nothing is more inspirational this time of year than the pop of a well accelerated fastball into the cavern of a catcher's mitt — so welcome after a long, cold winter that the fastball's usual antagonist, the hitter, is unnecessary to its drama.
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Yanks invite five more players to camp — Two infielders, three pitchers will join Spring Training list — TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees extended five additional invitations to Major League Spring Training on Tuesday, bringing the total number of players scheduled to be in camp to 65.
Discussion:
Bottom9 Baseball
Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Indians extend offer to Branyan — Left-handed hitter would provide depth at corner positions — CLEVELAND — Looking for depth at the corner infield and outfield spots, the Indians have an offer on the table to free agent Russell Branyan, though it was unclear on Tuesday if it's …
Bob Kimball / USA Today:
Bringing Negro Leagues into the digital age — Baseball fans who love statistics - now there's a redundancy - are about to get a jolt of satisfaction courtesy of two historians. — Chicago limousine dispatcher Scott Simkus, 39, and North Carolina book editor Gary Ashwill,42 …
Tommy Bennett / Baseball Prospectus:
Expanded Horizons — Thomas and Glavine — Come on, Honey, Let's Play the Match Game — This week, both Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas announced their retirement. Though neither played in a major-league game last season, their retirement provides a useful opportunity to assess how they will be remembered.
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Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Here we go again with Dice-K? — Daisuke Matsuzaka refused to speak to American reporters today, which is a fairly consistent mode for him. — But he did grant an audience with a handful of Japanese journalists and told them that he had a sore back. That is apparently the reason Matsuzaka …
