MLB Offseason Winter News Recap for 2010/11

Here are some of the hot Major League baseball topics. This was originally a post about the hot stories surrounding the winter meetings so you will find those archinved down below. Just remember that some of that information from the winter meetings is outdated. I'll put the most recent newsworthy events at the top and this will serve as a short story news blog and some random musings.

Albert Pujols to end talks with the St. Louis Cardinals

Sources are saying that St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols has rejected the Cardinals latest contract offer and that he will end talks with the team Tuesday. Pujols is in the last year of his contract, which expires after the World Series. Reports are saying that Pujols is seeking a contract in the neighborhood of 10 years and worth $30 Million a year. Good luck Albert. That's a lot of bling bling.

RIP Chuck Tanner

Who could forget the "We are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates, who went on to win the 1979 World Series? The man who guided that team to victory head coach Chuck Tanner passed away today at his home in New Castle, PA. Tanner, who was 82 years old, also coached for the Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox and the Oakland A's. Check out Pittsburgh's Post Gazette article on him here .

Michael Young of the Texas Rangers is in the news again for demanding a trade. In his own words "I want to be traded because I've been misled and manipulated and I'm sick of it". You can check out the story here . It would be nice to know how and/or why the Rangers have misled and manipulated him. Otherwise on paper, Young comes off sounding like sour grapes.





A lot of action happens around the annual MLB winter meetings and this year has been no exception. We've already had some free agents sign on the dotted line and we have a few big fish swimming in the free agent market.

Bob Feller

On a sad note, Hall of fame Cleveland Indians pitching great Bob Feller, who is 92 years old, has been moved to hospice care in Cleveland, Ohio. Here is a detailed story on his condition by Paul "Ask Hoynsie" Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Initally, a story ran in the The Morning Journal by a long time Indians beat writer who wrote that Feller had passed away sparking RIP tweets to come streaming across Twitter. The rumours of his passing were false. The story was removed by the paper and they apologized for the confusion.

Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee is expected to land a large deal. He is looking for some financial security in the form of a longer deal because Cliff's peak demand for him at this point in his career as a player is probably the highest it will get. Now is the time for him to cash in. ....and he will. He is looking for a longer term contract with guaranteed money and he will get it. He's already talked to a few teams, but it's no secret the Yankees want him. 9 times out of 10 what the Yankees want is what the Yankees get. His former teammate C.C. Sabathia has even been enlisted to try to recruit Lee to the big apple. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cliff in pinstripes come the end of the winter meetings. But, on the flipside having been around Cliff for years while he was a Cleveland Indian something tells me that he might shy away from the big apple. That's just a gut feeling though.

On Tuesday it was being reported that Cliff was offered a couple of 7 year deals by two unknown teams. The Texas Rangers are believed to be in the running to bring Lee back. In other Texas news, Nolan Ryan has gone on record saying that the team is not actively shopping Michael Young, but they will listen to any inquiries made on all players. The Angels have also joined in the race to sign Lee.

As for Lee, they listened to offers and on Wed. his agent Darek Braunecker left the winter meetings and said that he may or may not be back. When asked about where Lee would end up all Darek would say was "We're going somewhere". The meetings end Thurs. so it remains to be seen if Lee will have a new team by the end of the week. It is believed that the Yankees offered Lee a 6 year contract worth $140 million to wear the pinstripes. The Red Sox also were being thrown around as one of the teams that may have been one of the teams to offer a 7 year deal. After the Yankees caught wind of the Crawford signing in Boston, they upped their bid to Cliff Lee. They increased their offer to 7 years and for $160 Million Dollars! Lee is expected to make an announcement this weekend.

The closest report I can find out of Texas is this here .

As the waiting on Sat. goes into the night hours Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington has gone on record saying that "That he'll be here" "I think everything that needs to be done has been done. ... We just have to wait". Whatever the offer is on the table from Texas, Washington seems to be confident he will have Cliff Lee back. The Rangers traveled to Arkansas Friday and presented multiple offers to Lee for his consideration.

Carl Crawford

Heading into the last day of the winter meetings, the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford to a big 7-year deal worth $142 million.

Paul Konerko

Paul Konerko re-signed with the Chicago White Sox on Weds. He signed a 3 year deal worth $37.5 million. That was the second biggest deal of the day. The first was First baseman Carlos Pena, who had been the target of numerous teams in the free agent market and late Tuesday night the Chicago Cubs met with his agent to discuss the possiblities of becoming a Cub. The Cubs walked away agreeing to a 1 year deal with Pena reportedly worth $10 million.

Yankees

The Yankees have been busy this offseason with their own free agent players as they resigned Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera to new deals to keep them in New York. I think these 2 deals were a priority for the Yankees to get done so that would free them up to focus on making their free agent pitch to Cliff Lee. However, it has come to light that negotiations were not easy with Jeter and he is not happy about how the negotiations went. The Yankees all time leader in hits with 2,926 was reportedly told to test the free agent market. Jeter said "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't angry how some of this went" when he was announcing the 3 year deal worth $51 million on Tuesday Dec. 7th.

Jayson Werth

Ex-Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth signed on a huge contract with the Washington Nationals that created a buzz amongst other MLB teams. The reports have said that many of the teams aren't happy with the length and amount of the contract he signed as it will be a benchmark for which other free agent players will now use when they are negotiating their own deals. The contract he signed was for 7 years and an astonishing 126 million dollars guaranteed. Werth is good, but not that good. What makes the deal even more interesting is that the Nationals don't seem to be a contending team any time soon so why did they waste all that money on a veteran like Werth when they could have used that money to develop their minor league system? The deal just doesn't make sense.

This blog will be an ongoing blog throughout the winter meetings and throughout the offseason as well so check back frequently for updates.