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They just announced that the GMs from the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers will be up on the stage in front of us all at 4:30 “for an announcement.” I’ll totally tell you what they say.  Word on the street is that there was a trade or something. Aren’t you glad you have me here to…

I’ll give you three guesses what this guy was asking Mike Scioscia.

This is what happens when Scott Boras shows up right outside the media room and starts talking.  The crowd wasn’t even this big at the free buffet the other day. No, I did not hear exactly what he was saying. It was something like “Johnny Damon is like a better looking Ted Williams, and I…

Announcement in the media room: “Folks, we’re aware of the Internet problems here in the room.  We’re working on it. But if you could, please try to refrain from streaming any audio or video for the time being.  Thanks.” I’ve got a Verizon card that’s going at about a million miles an hour, so it…

Randy Wolf just signed for $29.75 million over three years.  Jayson Stark is reporting that Joel Piniero thinks the he’s the No. 2 starter on market behind Lackey.  That means that he wants more than Wolf, which sets him up at about $10 million bucks a year. You have to figure he wants three years…

Jim Leyland just sat for his press conference and had a couple of good lines. When asked about what losing Placido Polanco to the Phillies means, Leyland said “He’s like an old shoe. You know, sometimes you wanna go out and get some shiny new shoes, but you’re not gonna have anything more comfortable than…

UPDATE:  The Brewers have signed LaTroy Hawkins. It’s a two year deal. Not sure on the money yet, but it’s all done but for the physical. 11:29 A.M. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (and others) are reporting that the Brewers are getting close to signing setup man LaTroy Hawkins.  Nightengale says that the Brewers have a…

Question: What did you think of Hideki Matsui’s World Series performance? Another question: Would you like to have a player like Hideki Matsui in your lineup? That’s a question my buddy from the Japanese press corp. is going to be asking Bob Geren soon based on this report from John Shea about Matsui maybe going…

An hour or so ago Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman said that the Mets were talking to John Lackey, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay “with renewed hopes to sign 1 of big 3.”  This contrasts with the general consensus here in Indy — especially among the New York writers – that the Mets aren’t really players…

Ever since his famous falling out with Scott Boras, Gary Sheffield has acted as his own agent.  He informed the Globe’s Pete Abraham this morning that four teams have contacted him with interest for 2010. Sheffield thinks he can still play the field a bit, and he seems to think that he can hang around…

It’s not super serious yet — Smoltz is talking to a lot of teams — but his people did meet with the Phillies contingent here at the Marriott this morning. And of course, in light of Jamie Moyer’s health problems, Philadelphia does have an opening for an ancient-swingman.

UPDATE:  The deal is now confirmed at $11.75M Heyman tweets that the Yankees are about to sign Andy Pettitte to a one-year, $12 million deal (UPDATE: Joel Sherman says it’s actually $11.75m — we’ll see who’s right later).  The deal will be finalized today.  $12 million is about what he got last year once all…

If the rumors and tweets and deals aren’t your cup of team lar at Wezen-Ball has a fun feature up today. He went back through contemporaneous newspaper accounts of every single person who was considered the highest paid player in baseball, if even he only held that status for a day or so like Mark…

Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus is the first person I’ve seen defend the Pudge Rodriguez deal: But it many ways, this deal isn’t about Pudge at all. If you are the Nationals, who is the most important player on your roster? It’s Stephen Strasburg, and it’s by a country mile. Could there really be anything…

There has been varying amounts of chatter regarding a possible Luis Castillo trade this week, but it’s probably time to put the kibosh on it.  The Post’s Joel Sherman: [The Mets] told agt for 2B they were interested in that they now think dealing Castillo unlikely: “Don’t hold your breath” was the exact term. If…

Just because they gave up some prospects in the Granderson deal doesn’t mean that the Yankees are out of the Roy Halladay bidding. Far from it, actually.  So says Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who seems to be having more conversations with Mets and Yankees people with anyone this week: Even while finalizing…

A lot of you responded to the Peter Gammons news yesterday by saying something like “Good! Now that Boston homer can do his Boston homer stuff!”  Well, you’re not 100% wrong.  Gammons, speaking to Chad Finn of the Boston Globe: “A big part of it is that I just want to be home more .…

. . .  have to Include listening to Ozzie Guillen talk about Tiger Woods’ problems.  I can’t repeat any of it, partially because it was in an informal off-the-record setting, but mostly because NBC would fire me, the Marion County, Indiana authorities would arrest me for trafficking in extreme obscenity and I’m pretty sure my…

So tweets Buster Olney. At this point you’d have to figure Crisp as a backup outfielder/pinch runner type for the Red Sox, though other teams have expressed interest in him in a more substantial role. Crisp had his season cut short by shoulder surgeries last year, but thanks to the crappy Royals medical staff he…

How do we know this?  They’re now willing to include Erick Aybar in a trade, which had previously been considered verboten. The Blue Jays asked for Aybar during negotiations last summer.  If he’s on the table now, it’s much more likely that the Jays would consider sending Doc west.

John Lackey is reported to want something better in terms of money and years than A.J. Burnett got last winter.  A.J. Burnett got five years and $82 million. That puts Lackey’s demand in the six-year range, with total dollars approaching $100 million. Guess what: he ain’t gettin’ that from the Angels, reports Mike DiGiovanna of…

With Houston apparently giving Miguel Tejada the kiss off yesterday, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that Tony La Russa may be interested in bringing him in.  It’s more of a “personal interest” on La Russa’s part, Strauss says, but that he has been discussed by others in the Cardinals organization. But as…

Each night the bar and lobby scene at the Winter Meetings lasts a bit longer, which in turn means that the morning starts a bit later. It takes a bit longer for the press room to fill up and the tweets to start flying. The line at Starbucks is deeper and deeper.  I bet I…

We’ve had all day to assimilate it, but no one around here has yet to make sense of the Nationals giving Pudge Rodriguez two years and $6 million.  So someone finally decided to ask the Nats about it.  The response, not for attribution apparently, is that Pudge had offers – note the plural — from…

MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that Rafael Soriano gave Braves’ GM Frank Wren the OK to trade him immediately after accepting arbitration, and that the Braves have already had discussions with “multiple teams.“ Sorta makes J.C. Bradbury’s scenario I linked this morning seem all the more plausible.