Only November 2, and we already have Rangers mentioned in possible trade talks...
The New York Daily News lists Hank Blalock (and, oddly enough, Adrian Beltre) as third basemen who the Yankees could acquire via trade this offseason. I've seen nothing to suggest either of those guys are available, and I'd have to think that if the Rangers were interested in shopping Blalock, they'd wait until later in 2008, after he'd shown he was back from his surgery, so they could maximize their return...
And before anyone suggests it, no, Travis Metcalf would not be an acceptable replacement at third base.
Galloway has a column up about the ARod opt-out and some thoughts from Tom Hicks on same, with Hicks saying he didn't think ARod could get $30 million per year, and that the Rangers weren't going to be involved in the bidding.
Here's something important to remember, though...I believe it is going to be important for Boras and ARod to maximize the total dollar figure on this deal, if only for appearances sake. I absolutely believe ARod will get at least $30 million per year, if not more.
However, I also fully expect the deal to be structured with a lot of deferred money, making the actual value of the deal a fair amount less than the announced value. Boras isn't a dummy, and he and ARod want to have this be the first $30 million per year deal in baseball. If that means getting a team to pay $27 or $28 million per year, but deferring money so the gross dollars are more than $30 million per year, they'll do it.
And T.R. Sullivan reports that the Rangers have Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand on the top of their list of potential free agents, with Jon Daniels saying they've already talked to the agents for Hunter and Rowand.
Of course, Hunter and Rowand are at the top of the list for a bunch of teams...