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Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels is saying that the Mike Lowell-for-Max Ramirez trade is not as imminent as is being reported in some places. As of now, though, there is nothing to suggest that it’s not happening. Heyman is reporting that Boston would send between $8-9 million to Texas in the deal.  With that kind of…

Continuing where we left off earlier . . . The Jays pick Zech Zinicola from the Nationals; The Brewers pick Chuck Lofgren from the Indians; The Cubs take Mike Parisi from the Cardinals; The Rays take Armando Zerpa from the Red Sox; The Mariners take pitcher Kanekoa Texeira from the Yankees.  How many dim Yankees…

OK, so the Sox did one thing before they left town: they got Boof Bonser, the pitcher who was DFA’d by the Twins the other day. As Aaron mentioned the other day, Bonser was a starter who ultimately lost his job due to not being a very good starter in 2008.  Then he had rotator…

I know. I’m as shocked as you are.  John Shea at the San Francisco Chronicle has the scoop: Barry Bonds’ agent finally acknowledged Wednesday that the home run king is done playing baseball. “It’s two years since he played his last game, and if there was any chance he’d be back in a major-league uniform,…

The Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin — who probably doesn’t sleep given that she was tweeting at, like, 3AM but was walking around here working when I got here at 8:30 A.M. this morning — notes that most of the Red Sox front office contingent has already left Indianapolis. Thus endeth a rather quiet Winter Meetings…

In the interests of completeness: The Pirates take John Raynor from the Marlins. The Orioles take Benjamin Snyder from the Giants and ship him to Texas to complete the Kevin Millwood deal. The Royals take Edgar Osuna from the Braves. The Indians take Hector Ambriz from the Diamondbacks. The Astros take Jorge Jiminez from the…

I and everyone else around here figured this was dead, but Rosenthal says that the Cubs and Marlins Rays (man, scotch is a helluva drug) are still trying to figure out how to do a Milton Bradley-Pat Burrell deal, having talked about it into the wee hours this morning.  Everyone else was drinking and having…

I’ll level with you: I don’t know most of the guys in the Rule 5 draft. But you don’t either, so we’re all in this together. I’ll pass along what people who know more than us say about whatever goes down. First up: the Yankees — picking first because the Nats sent them the pick…

Adam Rubin of the Daily News is reporting that the Mets will make Bengie Molina a contract offer before they head to the airport today.  No deal is expected to be done today, however. I’m still trying to confirm reports that they’ll make offers to Todd Pratt, Paul Bako, Johnny Wockenfuss, Duffy Dyer, Jorge Fabregas,…

Mark Feinsand of the Daily News is reporting that it’s a possibility. Rosenthal is saying we’re more likely to see J.A. Happ in a package for Halladay, along with either Michael Taylor or Domonic Brown. Either way, it’s now sounding like the Roy Halladay sweepstakes is shaping up to be a battle between Anaheim and…

Buster Olney is saying the Red Sox think so: Heard this: There are concerns within the Boston organization about whether Jason Bay would hold up physically through a multi-year deal. I suppose that’s always a concern when you sign a guy to a long deal — and Alex Speier at WEEI.com is reporting that it’ll…

There’s not much left on the official agenda here in Indianapolis, but none of the fun stuff happens on the official agenda anyway.  For what it’s worth: The Rule 5 draft takes place at 9 A.M. this morning. Even the prospect junkies I’ve talked to here aren’t terribly excited about it. There’s no Josh Hamilton,…

I’ve had a little bit of fun at the expense of our friends in the Japanese media over the past couple of days, but it’s time to be a little more fair.  Don’t worry, I’ll skip back to snarky and flip soon enough. There’s a reason why that guy I keep talking about keeps asking…

Josh Byrnes, Dave Dombrowski and Brian Cashman were just brought before us to “announce” the Granderson trade.  I think I could rip into about 2,000 words on the metaphysics of it all (i.e. has the trade really happened if no one has yet to announce it?) but I’ll save that for the bar and my…

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.