Top News:
Jerry Crasnick / MLB:
Sources: New York Yankees, Texas Rangers unlikely Zack Greinke fits — The stakes are high as the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers wait for free agent Cliff Lee to decide where he'll be pitching in 2011 and beyond. The winner of the Lee sweepstakes will have an ace left-hander to plug in at the top of its rotation.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and ESPN
RELATED:
Sports Illustrated:
Royals keep eye on Lee talks while mulling Greinke's fate … Royals general manager Dayton Moore is sitting and watching the Cliff Lee negotiations, and the price for Moore's own Zack Greinke has to be rising with each new bid for Lee, the best October pitcher in the game and the top free-agent still available.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Texas Rangers
MLB:
Sources: A's, Hideki Matsui close to deal — Designated hitter Hideki Matsui and right-hander Brandon McCarthy are close to agreements with the Oakland Athletics, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. — One of A's general manager Billy Beane's priorities this offseason was to find …
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, MLB Rumors and ESPN
Joe Eskenazi / The Snitch:
Will Hideki Matsui Bring Porn Collection to Oakland? — The imminent possibility of the Oakland A's signing Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui could certainly fill some holes in the Athletics' lineup. — We'll refrain from recycling the above phrase to make the obvious pun regarding Matsui's other claim to fame: his extensive porn collection.
Mike Axisa / MLB Rumors:
Athletics, Hideki Matsui Could Be Close To Agreement
Discussion:
San Francisco Chronicle, HardballTalk, Fanhouse MLB Blog and NESN.com
Susan Slusser / SFGate:
Matsui signing could come Monday, press conference Tuesday
Discussion:
MLB Daily Dish
Rob Bradford / Full Count:
Sources: Mariano Rivera initiated contact with Red Sox — According to multiple major league sources, Mariano Rivera's representatives were the ones to initiate contact with the Red Sox in an attempt to get the team interested in the closer. While the Red Sox would ultimately make a two-year offer …
Discussion:
Fanhouse MLB Blog, HardballTalk, baseballmusings.com, Fenway West, FenwayNationWorld and Subway Squawkers
Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Nationals targeting Lee for first base — WASHINGTON — The Nationals continue to look for a first baseman and they have expressed interest in free agent Derrek Lee, a baseball source confirmed to MLB.com. — If Lee were to go to Washington, it would mean that the team …
Discussion:
HardballTalk, The Nationals Enquirer and MLB Rumors
RELATED:
Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Nationals are out of Lee sweepstakes — WASHINGTON — The Nationals are out of the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, a baseball source told MLB.com on Sunday night. No reason was given as to why the left-hander passed on Washington. — Published reports have indicated that Lee will decide on his baseball home sometime this week.
Discussion:
Nationals Inquisition, Federal Baseball, MetsBlog.com and NESN.com
Fox Sports:
Gauging the value of Garza vs. Greinke — Matt Garza is a sexy trade option for other teams this offseason. — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on MLB on FOX. Follow him on Twitter.
Discussion:
JSOnline, MLB Rumors, HardballTalk, Mets Merized Online, Rays Index, Memories Of Kevin Malone and The Big Lead
Craig Calcaterra / HardballTalk:
The Rangers are going after Adrian Beltre. Have they lost out on Cliff Lee? — Karl Ravech — via a tweet from Buster Olney — reports that the Texas Rangers are “moving aggressively” on Adrian Beltre. Which suggests that they think they're not going to get Cliff Lee, as there is no way Texas can sign both of them.
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com, Lone Star Ball and Texas Rangers
RELATED:
George A. King III / New York Post:
Yankees will not increase offer to Lee
Discussion:
It's About The Money, New Jersey Online, HardballTalk, River Avenue Blues, NESN.com and The LoHud Yankees Blog
Brian Costa / Wall Street Journal:
Cliff Lee and Texas Tax Rates
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Al's Ramblings
Anthony DiComo / MLB.com:
Wilson, Oberkfell among new Mets coaches — NEW YORK — Sandy Alderson has his manager. Now, Terry Collins has his staff. — The Mets officially announced their 2011 coaching staff Monday, naming Dave Hudgens their new hitting coach, Ken Oberkfell bench coach, Mookie Wilson first-base coach and Jon Debus bullpen coach.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Not everybody met with success this past week — OK, Cliff, how about it? — You're holding up the works. Baseball awaits your decision so that Carl Pavano and the rest of the free agents can start making theirs. — As one general manager said as he was leaving the winter meetings …
RELATED:
Buster Olney / ESPN:
Carl Crawford and a new playoff format
Discussion:
New York Mets Fan Blog, DRaysBay, ESPN, NY Daily News, Mike Silva's …, Projo Sox Blog and HardballTalk
La Velle E. Neal III / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Looking ahead to the next phase for the Twins
Discussion:
JSOnline and MLB Rumors
Matt Forman / Baseball America:
Scouting reports for the Top 10 Prospects (How to subscribe) — For a team that has lost more games than any other in major league history, the Phillies are in heady territory. Though they fell short of their third straight National League pennant in 2010, it would be hard to argue that this isn't the best era in franchise history.
Discussion:
The Good Phight
MLB.com:
Apple names MLB.com At Bat highest grossing application of 2010 — MLB.com At Bat 2010 for iPhone and iPod touch was named the highest grossing application by Apple in its second annual iTunes Rewind for the App Store. At Bat, which delivered the first full season of live video for every game …
Discussion:
NotGraphs Baseball
ESPN:
Stats behind the Winter Meetings moves — J.J. Hardy, Shaun Marcum and Ty Wigginton were among the under-the-radar players on the move last week. — With more than $750 million committed by major league teams, plus a slew of significant trades, it's been a busy offseason.
