With the g.m. meetings coming up soon, things are relatively quiet on the news front today...
Kip Wells is now a Cardinal, getting a 1 year, $4 million deal. Not a bad signing, but given the Rangers' situation, not a deal I think I would have wanted them to make. The Cards, unlike the Rangers, have a dearth of guys within the system who could step in at the back of the rotation, and they also have a pitching coach who is known as something of a miracle worker in terms of taking talented pitchers who are coming off of injuries and fixing them, so this seems like a good fit.
There are a couple of reports out of Boston this morning saying that the Rangers are among the teams talking to the BoSox about Manny Ramirez, and that Boston is willing to take a prospect/young player mix, but while things are getting closer, there's still no acceptable package on the table.
The Yankees won the bidding on Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa, with a $26 million bid that seems rather excessive...keep in mind, that's twice what the Mariners bid to get Ichiro, a player who was much more appealing and more likely to succeed in the U.S. than Igawa, who is viewed as a back of the rotation guy. Interestingly, the Rangers also put in a bid on Igawa, although there's no word on how much that was.