ESPN's Buster Olney reports that A.J. Pierzynski's one-year deal with the Red Sox is for $8.25 million.
The deal is pending a physical. Pierzynski likely could have received two years elsewhere, but it appears that the Red Sox paid more to get him at one year. The 36-year-old earned $7.5 million in 2013 while batting .272/.297/.425 with 17 home runs and 70 RBI over 134 games with Texas.

McGehee give release by commissioner's office

TOKYO, Dec. 3 (20:15) Kyodo


Infielder Casey McGehee, who contributed in leading the Rakuten
Eagles to their first Japan Series championship this season, has been
granted a release, the commissioner's office said Tuesday.

McGehee was among the commissioner's list of protected players
retaining negotiating rights for next year, but the team has granted
him a release since the 31-year-old Californian is contemplating a
return to the major leagues.

The Eagles plan to continue talks with McGehee and have already
proposed sweetening the offer with a substantial pay raise in a
multiyear deal.

Hiroshi Abei, the Eagles' scout in charge of signing foreign
players, said he received a phone call from McGehee's agent early on
Tuesday morning. "We accepted his request because that's what he
desires," said Abei.

Should McGehee decide to continue playing in Japan, he has said
he would like to remain with the Eagles.

In his first year in Japan, the former New York Yankees player
who spent most of his time at third base with the Eagles, hit a
team-high 28 home runs with 93 RBIs in all 144 games.

Padres acquired OF Seth Smith from the Athletics for RHP Luke Gregerson.

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal was the first to report word of the swap. Smith, 31, batted .253/.329/.391 with eight home runs and 40 RBI in 117 games this past season for Oakland. He's the owner of a respectable .798 career OPS and should give San Diego some much-needed offense. Gregerson is a setup man with a 2.88 career ERA. He'll be pitching in front of new A's closer Jim Johnson in 2014.

Source: Jeff Passan on Twitter Dec 3 - 4:35 PM

Astros acquired OF Dexter Fowler and a PTBNL from the Rockies for RHP Jordan Lyles and OF Brandon Barnes.

The announcement was first made on the Rockies' official Twitter feed Tuesday evening. Fowler has been dangled by Colorado for several months and is now finally headed to Houston, where he will start in center field. The 27-year-old hit .263/.369/.407 with 12 homers and 19 steals in 119 games this past summer. He is under contract through 2015.

Source: Colorado Rockies on Twitter Dec 3 - 5:24 PM

Jim Bowden of ESPN and SiriusXM is hearing from sources that the Reds will trade Brandon Phillips by the end of next week's Winter Meetings in Orlando.

The writing has been on the wall since the end of the season and Phillips was recently left off the player appearances schedule for the annual Redsfest in Cincinnati. Phillips posted a weak .706 OPS in 2013 and is owed $50 million over the next four seasons, but the 32-year-old is still an elite defensive second baseman and the Reds should be able to find a suitor for him as the hot stove heats up.


Source: Jim Bowden on Twitter Dec 3 - 4:32 PM

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports that Shin-Soo Choo is the Tigers' "top target" as they seek a left-handed hitting outfielder.


It's become apparent that with the Prince Fielder and Doug Fister trades, the Tigers were clearing some payroll space for their next big move. Choo would certainly qualify, as he's surely going to command a contract over $100 million. The Yankees, Rangers and Mariners are three other teams known to have interest in the OBP machine.

Related: Tigers

Source: Jacoby Ellsbury, Yanks agree
Updated: December 3, 2013, 8:55 PM ET
By Jerry Crasnick | ESPN.com

Free-agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has reached agreement on a seven-year contract with the New York Yankees pending a physical exam, a baseball source told ESPN.com.

Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em!


Jacoby Ellsbury is just the latest in a long line of Red Sox heroes who have defected to the Bronx. Photo Gallery

The source confirmed a CBSSports.com report that Ellsbury's deal exceeds Carl Crawford's seven-year, $142 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in December 2010.

Ellsbury was on his way from his home in Arizona to New York on Tuesday night to take the physical, the source said.

CBSSports.com first reported that a seven-year deal with Ellsbury appears to be close. ESPN.com's Buster Olney reported the Yankees have an aggressive offer to Ellsbury.

In recent days, the Yankees have become increasingly pessimistic that they will be able to retain second baseman Robinson Cano, feeling as if a team such as the Seattle Mariners would outbid them and top $200 million for Cano.

Information from ESPNNewYork.com's Andrew Marchand and ESPN.com's Buster Olney was used in this report.

What's the news for the Minor League Cleveland Indians?

Wait!!!!!!!

Breaking News!!!!!!

James Quinlan replaces Lonnie Soloff as the Indians head athletic trainer. Soloff held the job for 10 years.

That makes more sense than classic NY overpayment for 7 years of Ellsbury-- when will Yankees ever learn?

1. The Yankees will be paying Jacoby Ellsbury $20 million a year until he’s 37

So the Yankees just went through a nasty ordeal in which they needed a league suspension to (hopefully) get out of paying a declining superstar (Alex Rodriguez) a massive amount of money every year. So, let’s say they are granted this incredibly lucky reprieve — before it’s even finalized they turn around and offer a another massive contract to a guy entering his 30s? Um, what?

2. Ellsbury is known for his speed, something that typically declines in human beings when they are in their late 30s

Yankees fans lamented Alex Rodriguez’s decline, and the massive amount of money he was owed, when his bat speed slowed down a bit. Know what deteriorates faster than bat speed in guys as they age? Speed speed. Ellsbury is a phenomenal hitter, but he relies as much on his legs as anything, both on offense and defense. We’ll see how fast he is when he’s 35, and how happy Yankees are that he still has two years left on his deal.

3. The Yankees already have Brett Gardner

Wait, the Yankees already have a speedy, 30-year-old center fielder who’s stolen 50 bases in a season before? Yes, yes they do. Now, Ellsbury is a better player than Gardner. No one is arguing that. But is he that much of an improvement to justify spending $150 million over seven years? To the people who respond: “But Gardner is injury prone!” um, have you met Jacoby Ellsbury?

4. The Yankees have not learned from the mistakes of others

Two years ago, the Angels spent huge bucks to sign Albert Pujols. Last year, they spent huge money signing Josh Hamilton. Both were in their early thirties, and had produced big numbers up until that point. Both immediately fell off from their peak production, and now the Angels are saddled with two massive contracts, when all they want to do is build around their young phenom Mike Trout.

Everyone thought those two deals made the lessons clear: Don’t pay guys for past performance. Don’t overpay for guys entering the tail end of their careers. Don’t get stuck with long-term deals with aging superstars that you’ll regret later.

The Yankees apparently learned nothing from these deals. They threw big money at Ellsbury, and they’ll probably throw big money to keep Robinson Cano, who is 31. If they can win a title in the next couple years with Ellsbury and Cano at the heart of their lineup, then they made a good call. If they miss that window, though, it might be a rough few years in the Bronx.

So Omar is now the 1B coach for the Tigers.

Ain't that nice!!

After retiring as a player following the 2012 season, Vizquel went to work for the Angels as a roving minor league instructor.

“I called the Indians first, but they didn’t have an opening,” said Vizquel


Didn't have an opening???? All those irreplaceable coaches in the minors??

What a joke!

I wasn't aware of any rift, but I'm guessing the Indians brass didn't want Omar on board. Maybe Francona doesn't like him?

Worried about too big of a distraction between Sandy and Omar. Too many hookers hanging around the team and hard to keep track of their numerous cell phones for different girl friends.

Mariners offer Cano nine years, $225 million in Seattle meeting
December 5, 2013 5:24 pm ET



Robinson Cano traveled to Seattle Thursday, and sources told CBSSports.com that the Mariners offered the superstar second baseman a nine-year, $225 million contract in hopes of forging a deal with the top free agent and setting themselves up for a big winter.

The Yankees are said by sources to be willing to go only to $175 million for seven years, if they're not there yet, and Yankees people have suggested many times they have no plans to top $200 million (or even $175 million). So Seattle appears at least to have by far and away the best offer unless a third team comes out of the woodwork.


The Mariners, for years offensively weak, were said by a source to have "bumped" a first bid of around $200 million, and one person familiar with the talks said they intended to be $50 million above the Yankees, who are known to be drawing the line at around $175 million, with a willingness to increase a recent bid of about $158 million about 10 percent but not much more. The Yankees are regretful about the Alex Rodriguez contract, and fear a repeat of a big-bucks deal for a star who will age. Cano is 31.

Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes first reported the Mariners were willing to go to $230 million or even $240 million, so perhaps there was hope from the Cano camp the Mariners might boost their $225-million idea. However, Mariners sources were suggesting they likely couldn't go much higher than $225M, as ownership had its limits.

A $225-million, nine-year bid would still give Cano an average annual value (AAV) of $25-million, which is equal to Josh Hamilton, slightly more than Albert Pujols and among the biggest in baseball history -- though not quite the record $27.5 million average salary of his good friend and longtime teammate Rodriguez, the financial record-holder.

The Mariners understand they have to be well above the Yankees to get Cano to move nearly 3,000 miles, but they are said to have some limits, so they aren't expected to hit the $260-million figure Cano asked of the Yankees.

Still, $225 million is among the very top in baseball history.

"I think they've got to blow him away,'' one connected Mariners person said. "They've got to make an offer he can't refuse."

Cano was said to have flown up from Los Angeles with his relatively new agent Jay Z to join the lead agent Brodie Van Wagenen, who handled the initial Mariners meeting, as Rojas and Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reported Cano was on the way to Seattle.

One source said the Mariners, who are talking about acquiring a few other big stars, are intent on accomplishing something major before the Winter Meetings, which begin Monday in Orlando.

While Cano is surely upset that the Yankees are still at least $85 million shy of his $260-million request, it is hard to imagine him surrendering his Yankees dream for a mere $25 million extra to $200 million. So the Mariners understood they had to do something attention grabbing.

While second base isn't the Mariners' first area of need, it's no surprise they may be the one willing to break the bank. They've tried hard for big stars in recent winters such as Josh Hamilton, Justin Upton and others, only to come up empty. They showed strong interest this winter in Jacoby Ellsbury, a native of the Northwest, before he went to the Yankees for $153 million over seven years.

The Mariners have to overcome a lot to win Cano, so they need to open their wallet big time. And it's not just that they're the Mariners and the Yankees are the Yankees. Consider ...

• It is well known that the new Cano agent Jay Z badly wanted Cano in New York, where he can presumably take full advantage of his marketing ideas, whatever they may be, and where Cano can be close to him.

• Cano's father Jose Cano, who played for the Houston Astros, and who's something of a stage father, badly wanted Cano in New York, too, and Cano listens to his father.

• Seattle is a long way from the 40-40 club and other New York City haunts Cano loves to frequent (and it isn't even known if he's a coffee drinker).

• Seattle is a long way from New York, and an even longer way from the Dominican Republic.

• Safeco Field historically has been one of the worst parks for hitters in the majors (though they lowered the fences and moved them in a bit last year). One baseball person wondered whether he could jeopardize his Hall-of-Fame chances by going from a 30-homer guy to 20.

• The Mariners still couldn't offer him much in the way of lineup protection.While they are trying for other big players such as Matt Kemp and Nelson Cruz, their best player at present is Kyle Seager.

• They are the Mariners. They've been crummy four straight years and have never made a World Series, contrasting with the Yankees, who have only missed the playoffs twice since 1995 and averaged 96 wins in that period.

So, it's no surprise the Mariners have to make a big play to have a chance.

Most would take a deal for $50 million, even if came from a longtime losing team with some inconveniences. Alex Rodriguez went to Texas for his first record deal of $252 million, when he wanted to be a Met.

The Yankees have long suggested they plan to go no higher than $175 million, and while that's a decent negotiating strategy, it sets the bar for other interested teams. The bar should be about $225 million, or perhaps even higher for Seattle, which has had difficulty luring players to the Pacific Northwest.

The Mariners are desperate to change their story. Their attendance has fallen off a cliff. They have a new big-bucks TV deal coming. So it's no wonder they have big plans.

They are talking to the Dodgers about at least Kemp. They have been in contact with free agent outfielder Nelson Cruz.

But they want Cano most of all. And if it takes a major expenditure, they do seem willing to do it. But the question remains: Will Cano take it?

?!?!?!?!!? Outragious!!!