The Mike Lowell-for-Max Ramirez deal is off, with the Rangers canceling the trade after a physical determined Boston’s third baseman would need surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament. The surgery has a recovery timetable of 6-8 weeks, so Lowell should be fine for the start of spring training. Still, the Rangers didn’t want to…

The Boston Herald’s Mike Silverman tweets that Mike Lowell needs thumb surgery and that the deal with the Rangers is dead. Rob Bradford of WEEI — not subject to 140 characters because he blogged it rather than tweeted it — says that it’s a torn radiall colateral ligament, that surgery will happen after Christmas, and…

Because Steve Phillips’ mock press conferences weren’t cringe-inducing enough, ESPN will feature a series of “Santa Kruk” segments during SportsCenter next week, in which he will present gifts to some major league teams (watch them all here, if you dare). Among them, a “goat catcher” for the Cubs, a rocket scientist for the Astros and…

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com writes that the Nationals are making a “strong push” for free agent right-hander Jon Garland. According to the report, Garland wants a three-year deal while the Nationals would prefer two years. Garland, 30, was 11-13 with a 4.01 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 33 starts this past season, earning $6.25 million.…

With the Reds hurting for payroll relief, Scott Rolen has agreed to restructure his contract with an extension that will carry him through the 2012 season, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports. Rolen, who turns 35 in April, was set to earn $11 million next season, but under the terms of the new agreement, he will…

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com reports that Mike Lowell will fly to Texas on Saturday to meet with the Rangers’ front office and take a physical. The Rangers have a preliminary agreement to trade catcher Max Ramirez to the Red Sox in exchange for Lowell and cash considerations, however the trade has been on hold for…

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Matt Holliday should learn a lesson from Johnny Damon’s negotiations with the Yankees: As this drags on, we can only wonder if or when the Cardinals will withdraw from the Holliday auction and redirect their money to other players. Will Holliday lose out in St. Louis…

Here’s a surprising tidbit. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com writes that Mike Cameron, Andruw Jones and Jason Michaels are the only outfielders to sign major league contracts this winter. He doesn’t count Ken Griffey Jr. since he re-signed with the Mariners before hitting the market, nor does he include Hideki Matsui, who didn’t play a single…

He thinks the Mets should let other GMs know that Johan Santana is available: Of course, the Wilpon family will do no such thing. They invested $137.5 million in the great lefthander and aren’t about to admit failure. But the current Mets core is beginning Year 5 of a golden era that wasn’t and considering…

Adam LaRoche batted .325/.401/.557 with 12 home runs, 40 RBI and a .957 OPS in 212 at-bats after being scooped up from the Red Sox on July 31, playing a huge part in the Braves’ late playoff run. Sure, we’re all accustomed to LaRoche’s second-half surges — .909 OPS lifetime, as opposed to .773 before…

The Cubs finally got off their collective butts on Friday by pulling the trigger on the Milton Bradley-Carlos Silva deal and closing in on an agreement with Marlon Byrd, but let’s face it, they were better off when they were doing nothing. The offseason’s proceedings have only made it increasingly clear that Jim Hendry is…

I hope Bert Blyleven makes the Hall of Fame this year. I’m happy Bert Blyleven writes for NBC Sports.com.  I also wish I had some of what Bert Blyleven was smoking when he went on the radio this afternoon and gave us the Carlos Silva scouting report: “What the Cubs got is, if he’s healthy,…

It’s early to be doing this, but $8.5 million for Rollins is a really good deal, even if he’s not the player he was a couple of years ago. FanGraphs’ magic-player-value-contraption has him being worth north of $10 million in 2009, and that was probably his worst year since he became a regular, at least…

Chicago had been waiting to move Milton Bradley before bringing in someone else to take his place in the outfield. Now they’ve moved Bradley, and according to Dallas Morning News blogger Evan Grant, they’re close to signing Marlon Byrd. Grant says what a lot of others have said: the Cubs were interested in both Byrd…

Outside of the Big Bust Challenge Trade, there isn’t a lot happening in baseball today, so let’s look at little stuff. Stuff like Firestone becoming the Official Tire of Major League Baseball.  I just left the business world, so I don’t care about the synergies and cross-promotional opportunities involved here, but there were still a…

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that the Diamondbacks have officially made an offer to Kelly Johnson and speculates that it’s worth around $2 million for one season. Johnson has been linked to quite a few teams since being non-tendered by the Braves last week, with Piecoro noting that the Cardinals, Nationals, and Astros…

Due to the vagaries of geography and time zones and stuff, we easterners don’t get to hear a lot about what happens in Seattle. Oh, we get the big stories: Ichiro is good, Steve Largent has sure hands, the Denny Party has found a new place to settle — but the little stuff often escapes…

Jose Arredondo is having a rough week. First it was announced that he’ll need Tommy John elbow surgery, which will keep him out for the entire 2010 season. Following that news the Angels non-tendered him, dropping Arredondo from the 40-man roster. And now he’s apparently been stabbed. Seriously. Prior to being non-tendered Arredondo angered the…

Anyone who has a strong enough constitution to be able to follow the Washington Nationals on a day-in-day-out basis knows that the only nice thing about it is getting to read Chico Harlan, who covers them for the Washington Post. He writes one of your better big-paper-affiliated baseball blogs, and always seems to have his…

I’m now fairly convinced that Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik is some sort of magician. In his first year on the job he overhauled Seattle’s defense, cut dead weight from the previous regime, brought in nice low-cost pickups, and watched the team go from 61-101 to 85-77. Not satisfied with that 24-game improvement Zduriencik began…