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[jch3]

Much thanks to anybody who can post this:

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blo.../blog/index?entryID=4736597&name=olney_buster

 

[baballer]

1. Where will Roy Halladay be traded?


Halladay
We talk all the time about how certain pitchers possess mound presence, whether it be Chris Carpenter or Roy Oswalt or Johan Santana. Well, new Blue Jays GMAlex Anthopoulos clearly possesses executive presence. His peers came away from the meetings in Indianapolis chattering about how much energy he has, and whilewe still don't know if the Blue Jays ownership will actually approve a Halladay trade, the other GMs got the distinct impression that Anthopoulos isaggressively preparing to move him. If the Phillies ever get fully invested in the notion of trading for Halladay, they'll get him -- and this was the casebefore the July 31 trade deadline, too -- but unless that happens, the best fit seemingly remains the Angels.
2. How quickly will the Cardinals move on to Plan B?

The Cards made an offer to Matt Holliday for less than $18 million per year, writes Joe Strauss, and they want an answer by early in the week.

If they're bluffing about their hard line, then the Cardinals are showing an excellent poker face, but executives with other teams are convinced that St.Louis isn't going to create a problem for itself by giving Holliday more money than what they're paying Albert Pujols now. We'll see.

3. Who will the Red Sox target?

The Red Sox are working through the final details in the Mike Lowell trade, writes Michael Silverman. Within this piece, the possibility of a Nick Johnsonsigning, with Kevin Youkilis moving to third base, is mentioned. Adrian Beltre is a great fit, given Boston's philosophical investment in defense; thequestion is whether it would consider giving a whopper of a deal to a player with such mediocre offensive production. Beltre's on-base percentage in eachof his five years with Seattle: .303, .328, .319, .327 and .304. The guess here is that the Red Sox will have very firm limits on what they will be willing topay Beltre.

If Holliday's negotiations with the Cardinals are fruitless, the Red Sox may theoretically have the Holliday/Boras camp somewhat at their mercy, becausethe slugger doesn't appear to have a high number of bidders. The Red Sox might re-sign Jason Bay.

But keep this in mind: It's pretty clear that the Red Sox don't necessarily view any of the aforementioned free agents as gotta-have-himdifference-making players. They probably aren't going to extend themselves much to acquire one of them in particular beyond what they perceive thatplayer's value to be.

4. What else will the Mariners do?

Their fan base is inspired these days, the team has money to spend and the Mariners could use a starting pitcher, a corner outfield/DH type and a firstbaseman. They have interest in re-signing Beltre and perhaps shifting Chone Figgins to third base, but it's hard to imagine them being willing to payBeltre as much as they gave Figgins (4 years, $36 million), and so far, Beltre's agent has been telling teams he wants an eight-figure salary. They likeJohn Lackey, and have measured interest in Bay.

5. What will the Mets do?

There has been speculation that the Mets' pursuit of Jason Bay is something of a PR gambit, but it's hard to see that; their offer to the corneroutfielder appears to be near or at the top of the market, and to offer him a fifth year at $16 million -- when Bay is 31 years old -- would seem foolhardy.There are signs they may have made a significant offer to John Lackey, as well, so it's apparent they will get some player who will help them. Will it be apitcher? A corner outfielder? A couple of second-tier players? We'll see.

The Mets will focus on Bay or Lackey, but not both, writes Ben Shpigel. Bay is a good fit for Citi Field, writes Peter Botte. Steve Popper runs through thepros and cons of Bay, Lackey and Holliday for the Mets.

6. How will the Braves upgrade their offense?

They came through the whole Rafael Soriano thing generally unscathed, and now can focus on adding a veteran corner outfielder and a first baseman. Totallyagree with what Keith Law wrote about the Soriano episode.

The Braves like Jesse Chavez a lot, says Frank Wren.

7. When will the Cubs trade Milton Bradley?


Bradley
There is some speculation that with Rudy Jaramillo taking over as the Cubs' hitting coach, it's possible the team will choose to re-unite him andBradley rather than dumping the player in a one-sided deal.
Well, that's always an option for Cubs GM Jim Hendry. And he has the option, too, of standing under a wall of dripping five-foot icicles and waiting to seeif they'll crash down on his head.

The Cubs need to trade Bradley. To keep him would be to guarantee that the Cubs' entire spring training would be all about waiting to see if the MiltonBradley time bomb is going to erupt, with daily temperature-taking from the media. It's a deal the Cubs have to get done.

With the Rays extending themselves to acquire Rafael Soriano, the Cubs may have lost their chance to trade Bradley to Tampa Bay, writes Paul Sullivan. The Raysare still open to a Bradley-for-Pat Burrell swap, but only on their terms, writes Marc Topkin.


Damon
8. What will Johnny Damon do?

Scott Boras, Damon's agent, has talked about his player being in line for a four-year deal. The Yankees have indicated to Damon that they're ready togive him a two-year deal for something around $19 million, tops.

If Damon has a four-year offer on the table, he should take it. Today. But it's hard to see how that's possible. What team is going to give a $50million deal to a 36-year-old outfielder whose defense is perceived to be in decline? Not the Mets. Not the Mariners. Not the Red Sox. The Yankees are notgoing to wait long for Damon, so he should use this weekend -- like, today and Sunday -- to press Boras for the precise nature of the offers he has receivedand make his decision. The guess here is that no other team would compensate Damon the way the Yankees -- the team with the most money, after all -- arewilling to compensate him. We'll see.

9. What will happen to the many job-seeking vets?

Look, there is clearly a robust market for Mike Cameron, Mark DeRosa and some other veterans. It remains to be seen where these players will be when the gameof musical chairs stops: Carlos Delgado, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Kevin Millar, Jim Thome, Matt Stairs, Mark Loretta, Khalil Greene, Joe Crede, TroyGlaus, Melvin Mora, Mike Redmond, Garret Anderson, Rocco Baldelli, Brian Giles, Gary Sheffield, Randy Winn, Bartolo Colon, Mike Hampton, Danys Baez, ChadBradford, Tom Gordon, Juan Rincon and many others will be.

10. When will the Dodgers be able to spend?

The Dodgers signed Josh Towers for $700,000, but the question remains: If the season started today, who would make up the L.A. rotation? Clayton Kershaw, yes.Hiroki Kuroda. Chad Billingsley, assuming he's healthy. And then … Bueller? Bueller? It seems a lot of their business is along these lines: There ispossible legal action involved with the ex-employee who has been linked to Jamie McCourt, writes Bill Shaikin.

I touched on this in a column earlier this week, but subsequent conversations with talent evaluators in both leagues reinforced what I was hearing before aboutthe three-team Curtis Granderson trade: This is a deal that is not viewed as a slam-dunk, rock-solid trade for any of the three teams. It could work out wellfor the Tigers, or the Diamondbacks, or the Yankees, or maybe even all three. But there really is a ton of risk all the way around, given the various concernsabout each of the players involved, and given the holes that are created by the moving parts in this deal. The Yankees just traded one of their best youngprospects and cut a deep gash into their player development, and Granderson is perceived to have distinct flaws. The overwhelming consensus among scouts Ispoke with in Indianapolis is that Max Scherzer is seen as a pitcher who will likely have injury issues throughout his career because of his unusual delivery,and yet there is great promise in what he and Austin Jackson might bring to Detroit. And the Diamondbacks traded two young power arms, while perhaps puttingthemselves in a better position to win in 2010.

You know what? This is the way trades should be: potential risk on all sides, potential reward on all sides.

Moves, deals and decisions

1. Heard this: A decision is due on the Rangers' ownership Tuesday. Whether there will actually be resolution remains to be seen, because Tom Hicks hasbeen fighting to maintain control of the franchise while at the same time being sustained financially by Major League Baseball. Central baseball wants to seeresolution, but it's unclear whether Hicks is prepared to accept an offer from Chuck Greenberg or Dennis Gilbert, who have both submitted bids.

2. Tonight is the deadline by which teams must decide whether to tender contracts to players for 2010. The Yankees are unlikely to offer Chien-Ming Wang acontract, writes Tyler Kepner; the Phillies are expected to give deals to their arbitration-eligible guys, writes Andy Martino; the Padres have some decisionsto make about Kevin Kouzmanoff and Kevin Correia, as Dan Hayes writes.

3. Within this piece, there is word that the Pirates worked out a pre-arbitration deal with Ronny Cedeno.

4. The Royals signed Jason Kendall, as Bob Dutton writes.

5. The deal for Ivan Rodriguez and others could help Yorvit Torrealba in his negotiations with the Rockies, writes Troy Renck.

6. Ivan Rodriguez wants to win the starting job. I think his two-year, $6 million contract gives him a pretty good leg up in the competition.

7. The Phillies are inviting a bunch of young veterans to camp.

8. Missed this during the week: The Indians added Charles Nagy to their coaching roster in the minors.

9. Joe Mauer will be surrounded by Yankees at an upcoming event, and Charley Walters wonders if he will become one of them.

10. The White Sox signed J.J. Putz.

11. Opportunity led to a change in the Rays' plans, writes Roger Mooney. The trade for Soriano might lead to a payroll recoiling in years to come, writesMarc Topkin.

12. The D-backs worked out a couple of pre-tender deals.

Other stuff

• Jeremy Jeffress, a top Brewers' prospect, swears he will stay clean; he is one more suspension away from a lifetime ban. I've never met him, andreally don't know anything about him, but he sounds, from the way he spoke to Tom Haudricourt, as if he is trying to work through his issues.

• A high school baseball coach is in the fight of his life, writes Richard Justice, and friends will get together today to tell stories about him.

• Here are ten things learned at the winter meetings, courtesy of Bill Plunkett.

• Rich Harden hopes to be a workhorse for the Rangers, writes Anthony Andro.

• Bobby Crosby is excited to have a chance to play with the Pirates.

• The Tigers' fans can expect leftovers the rest of the winter, writes Lynn Henning.

• +*%*%! Herzog and Albert Pujols will share the spotlight later this winter in St. Louis.

• Stephen Strasburg made a significant donation to the San Diego State baseball program. Not a surprise, given what folks say about him as a person.

• Thanks for the feedback on Friday's column; the volume of responses is a tremendous reflection on Peter Gammons. Chris Sprow, who usually edits thiscolumn, sent an e-mail early Friday morning asking what we should use as a headline, and we settled on "One of Many," because we both know that whileI've been fortunate enough to work with Peter, he and his work have come to mean as much to many others as to me. Many of the comments reflected that, withfolks telling tales of seeking out Peter's work in the Boston Sunday Globe. I got a phone call Friday, after the column was posted, from someone whorecalls driving around Dallas in the mid-80s looking for stores selling the Globe so he could read Peter's words: Omar Minaya, the general manager of theMets.

• I have written here the sad Buffalo Bills-like history of my fantasy football team, the Vermont Granite. This is Year 9 of our league, and it's a fairguesstimate that of those seasons, I've had the league's best team -- on paper -- in at least five. And I've never won the title, while losing thechampionship game three or four times (It's all a blur). Worse than that, my wife's team has won it twice, and this situation has not improved ourmarriage. I do not have the best team this year, but the Vermont Granite is fully capable of winning. It would really be nice if Adrian Peterson and/or LTcould find the end zone.

 

[jch3]

I appreciate it. Thank you sir.