Welcome to non-tender day, everybody. Yes, today is the deadline for teams to decide whether to tender contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man roster. It’s usually done with a player between three and six years of service time coming off injury or a team simply doesn’t feel the player is worth a new contract.…

Indications are that the Brewers are just about out of cash after signing Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins for their pitching staff at the meetings. They do have an offer out to Craig Counsell, but they could well be done adding significant free agents. Except they clearly don’t need to be. According to MLB.com’s Adam…

*Jose Arredondo will have Tommy John surgery and miss the 2010 season, a source told ESPN”s Jorge Arangure. That explains his struggles. Arredondo burst onto the scene with 10 wins and a 1.62 ERA out of the pen in 2008, but he came in at 6.00 in 45 innings during a dreadful 2009. With Arredondo…

We’re not going to be without Peter Gammons. Indeed, if anything, we’re going to see a better, more comfortable Peter Gammons next season covering beats he truly loves for NESN and MLB.com.  But his departure from ESPN is notable given that, for many of us, it is only though ESPN that we know of him…

The Royals got 31 homers and 101 RBI in 618 plate appearances from their two primary catchers on their way to finishing 65-97 last season. Now they’re going to someone who had two homers and 43 RBI in 526 plate appearances. That’s the way it is in Kansas City. Dayton Moore’s two biggest priorities after…

Rich Harden’s new deal gives him $11.5 million reasons to want to stay healthy. This piece at MLB.com talks about what he’s doing to make that elusive goal come to pass: Harden has been searching for answers and believes he is getting there. He works with a private physiotherapist in Phoenix and has worked hard…

It’s a common occurrence for contenders to go for the sure thing, rather than trust the youngster. When it comes to surety versus ceiling, surety often prevails with teams that already expect to win 90 games. But what about with the teams all set to lose 90 games? When the Nationals signed Ivan Rodriguez, the…

This morning Morosi at FOX had the Mariners interested in John Lackey and Jarrod Washburn.  Now he’s got them looking at Jason Marquis as well. Or, as Morosi puts it, Seattle is looking at “virtually every free-agent starter, it seems.” He adds Ben Sheets and Doug Davis too. So, John Lackey, Jarrod Washburn, Jason Marquis,…

Sources told FOXSports.com that the Indians and Blue Jays are looking at free agent Marcus Thames. Thames, who was released by the Tigers after six seasons in Detroit, would likely sign cheap if it meant getting a chance to play regularly. The soon-to-be 33-year-old has a career 797 OPS in 1,549 at-bats and he’s an…

Well, an old-new group, as Houston businessman Jim Crane had previously been mulling an offer before dropping out a month ago.  Now he’s back, reports MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan.  That makes three in the bidding: Crane, Pittsburgh sports lawyer Chuck Greenberg and Beverly Hills insurance man, former agent, and alleged inventor of free agency, Dennis Gilbert.…

Tomorrow is the deadline for teams to decide whether or not to tender their non free-agent players a contract for next year.  If the player is non-tendered he is granted free agency. Teams can still negotiate with a player that is non-tendered, however, and often do. This won’t be the case with Chien-Ming Wang, according…

Yesterday the Rockies signed Chris Iannetta to a three-year, $8.3 million contract with an option for 2013, but they’re apparently not done handing out multi-year deals to catchers. Iannetta actually lost his starting job to Yorvit Torrealba down the stretch and Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that the Rockies have offered Torrealba a…

Don’t freak out — you’ll still be able to get  your Luther Burger at Gateway Grizzlies games — this is about the players eating better: At baseball’s just-concluded winter meetings in Indianapolis, major and minor league strength and conditioning coaches devoted 12 hours on Saturday–about half of their total meeting time–to discussing matters such as…

Assuming that the Mike Lowell trade to Texas goes through as planned Casey Kotchman will temporarily move atop Boston’s depth chart at first base, with Kevin Youkilis taking over for Lowell at third base. That alignment doesn’t figure to last long, with the Red Sox reportedly making a serious play for Adrian Beltre that would…

Via MLB Trade Rumors comes word that St. Louis has made Matt Holliday a formal offer.  No terms were mentioned. The team gave Boras 48 hours to respond.  I take it that this means that the Cardinals are trying to get the hell on with their offseason. How much you wanna bet that Boras (a)…

Phil Coke served as a left-handed specialist for the Yankees over the past two seasons, working strictly out of the bullpen while logging just 74.2 innings in 83 appearances. He pitched well, with a 3.74 ERA, 63/22 K/BB ratio, and .199 opponents’ average, but that success came while being matched up against left-handed hitters 60…

Paul Sullivan of the Tribune tweets that the Sox and Putz have reached a one-year deal (Update: it’s for $3 million; Update #2: Another $3 million in games-finished incentives too).  Putz was an elite closer a couple of years ago but declined big in 2008 and even bigger in 2009, ending the season with a…

The Royals were pretty quiet at the Winter Meetings. I guess staying at a Hampton Inn out in Mooresville will do that (‘Hey, it’s cheap and it’s got a spiffy name! Let’s stay there,” Dayton said). Aside from some mild pursuit of Jason Kendall and Brett Gardner, the biggest news involving Kasnas City dealt with…

I guess that stuff about the Yankees playing hardball with Johnny Damon is legit.  According to Heyman, the team and the player are currently two years and $34 million apart, with Damon wanting $52 million for four years and the Yankees offering $18 million for two years. Heyman asks “doesnt this have to get done…

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette asks why baseball even bothered having winter meetings: One wonders what the purpose of these winter meetings really is at this point. As Neal Huntington and other executives acknowledged, the timing of the non-tender deadline Saturday works very much against teams making moves. Who wants to trade for…