Top News:
Jayson Stark / ESPN.com:
Sources: Stanton's $325M deal backloaded — If Giancarlo Stanton opts out of his new 13-year, $325 million contract with the Miami Marlins after the first six seasons, he'll be walking away from a staggering $218 million over the final seven seasons, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.com Tuesday.
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Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
Stanton's record deal just isn't right
Discussion:
FanGraphs Baseball, USA Today, Fish Stripes, The Good Phight and ESPN
Dan Jenkins / Golf Digest:
My (Fake) Interview With Tiger* — When Tiger Woods returned to golf from his back surgery, the national media saw it as the greatest news flash since D-Day. This energized me so much I immediately tracked down Tiger and asked if we could do the interview we should have done years ago.
Discussion:
SBNation.com, Sportsnet.ca and ESPN
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The Players' Tribune:
Not True, Not Funny … Did you read Dan Jenkins' interview with me in the latest Golf Digest? I hope not. Because it wasn't me. It was some jerk he created to pretend he was talking to me. That's right, Jenkins faked an interview, which fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fueled piece of character assassination.
Discussion:
SBNation.com, Deadspin, Sporting News Feed RSS and NESN.com
Gordon Edes / ESPN:
Red Sox offer on table for Jon Lester — BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox made a contract offer to pitcher Jon Lester when he met with the team's owners earlier this week, according to a major league source. — The terms of the offer were not disclosed, and the source said he did not expect Lester to make a quick decision.
Discussion:
MLB Trade Rumors, Over the Monster, Bleed Cubbie Blue and MLB
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Michael Silverman / Boston Herald:
Pablo Sandoval tour hits Boston Pablo Sandoval tour hits Boston
Discussion:
HardballTalk, Union-News and Over the Monster
Rob Bradford / Full Count:
Sources: Blue Jays continue to show interest in Jon Lester
Discussion:
Union-News, Phillies Nation, NESN.com, MLB Daily Dish, Over the Monster, Hot Stove, CBSSports.com, SBNation.com and MLB Trade Rumors
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
White Sox Sign Zach Duke — 12:36pm: The White Sox have announced the signing of Duke to a three-year, $15MM contract. Duke will earn $4.5MM in 2015, $5MM in 2016 and $5.5MM in 2017, according to the team's release. — 11:45am: Duke's contract is a multi-year deal, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
Discussion:
Facebook, South Side Sox, Brew Crew Ball and MLB Daily Dish
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Matthew Cerrone / Metsblog:
Do the Mets and White Sox match up for Alexei Ramirez? — The White Sox are open to dealing SS Alexei Ramirez, “but it's certainly not something we're pursuing on our end,” their GM Rick Hahn said last week (Kane, Nov. 8). — Are the Mets and White Sox a match? — Matthew Cerrone: Maybe.
Discussion:
CSN Chicago, CBSSports.com and MLB Daily Dish
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Notes: Seattle shops for bat, Philly scouts Boston's system, more — Notes from around baseball, according to information gathered from major-league sources: — *As the Mariners continue their search for a right-handed hitter, they are more interested in signing free agent Nelson Cruz …
ESPN.com:
Billy Butler, A's agree to 3-year deal — Free agent Billy Butler has agreed to a three-year, $30 million deal with the Oakland Athletics, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. — The Kansas City Royals previously paid Butler a $1 million buyout rather than exercise …
Discussion:
Kansas City Star, ESPN, MLB Trade Rumors, MLB Daily Dish, Lone Star Ball, Athletics Nation and Sporting News Feed RSS
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
JAMES SHIELDS INTERESTS ARIZONA — BUT CAN IT AFFORD HIM? — So far, we've heard very little about the market for free-agent right-hander James Shields. — Well, here is one interested team: — The Arizona Diamondbacks. — The D-Backs tried to trade for Shields and Wade Davis …
Discussion:
Fish Stripes, AZ Snake Pit, HardballTalk, SBNation.com, MLB Daily Dish, CBSSports.com and Hot Stove
Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Tigers may be weighing ‘Scherzer or Price?’ — President and GM Dave Dombrowski discusses the Tigers' offseason agenda including the latest on Max Scherzer, Joel Hanrahan and Torii Hunter — We can all agree (I think) that Max Scherzer is the top arm available in free agency.
Discussion:
Beck's Blog
Nick Piecoro / Arizona Republic:
Diamondbacks tab Ed Lewis to head analytics department — In hopes of improving his organization's fluency in advanced statistics, Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa turned to the man who first introduced him to those concepts years ago, officially naming Ed Lewis the team's director of analytics on Monday.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Matthew Cerrone / Metsblog:
Relationship between Harvey and Mets management is important — Matthew Cerrone, MetsBlog.com: Matt Harvey has an amazing amount of talent. He also has a powerful and attractive personality, which will continue to make for buzz-worthy moments when playing in New York City, the largest media market in the world.
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
