Still no word on Matsuzaka, and no word on whether the rumors of a monster Boston bid have any basis in reality.
Evan Grant offers a rundown of the Rangers' offseason shopping list. Two starting pitchers, a centerfielder, and a corner outfield/DH bat are being sought, and Grant runs down the various options.
Brad Townsend has a profile piece on Ron Washington, going through his entire baseball career. And Kat O'Brien has a piece on how well liked Washington is throughout baseball.
The Newark Star-Ledger has an item predicting where the various prominent free agents will land. They predict Barry Zito will go to Texas -- which I don't think will happen -- with Vicente Padilla and GMJ landing with the Mets and Dodgers, respectively. They also have Moises Alou ending up in Texas, which I'd like to see happen, and which would make a lot of sense.
The Boston Globe looks at the teams likely to be most active this winter, with Texas one of those mentioned:
8. Texas: Tom Hicks thinks he's one stalwart pitcher away from being a strong playoff team, which is why he bid on Matsuzaka. With new manager Ron Washington, the feeling is the Rangers will play looser. There's a belief first baseman Mark Teixeira might be shopped, and although Michael Young's name has also come up, don't hold your breath on that one.
I wouldn't hold your breath on Teixeira being shopped, either...
The Chicago Sun-Times mentions the possibility of the ChiSox targeting Michael Young, but again, I can't see a Young trade happening this winter.
Jaret Wright, a massive disappointment for the New York Yankees, is being dealt to the Baltimore Orioles, along with $4 million, for reliever Chris Britton. The $4 million is what the Yanks would have paid to buy out the remainder of Wright's contract, and there was no way they were going to keep him around, so getting Britton -- a pretty decent reliever -- for him is a nice move by Cashman.