Rosenthal and Morosi say that Baltimore is now pursuing Millwood. But this part caught my eye:

"According to one source, the Rangers' motivation in moving Millwood would be to clear money off the payroll to sign free agent slugger Jermaine Dye."

So there you have it. According to some source, Texas wants to trade Millwood so we can have the payroll flexibility to sign a 35 year old "outfielder" who posted a .793 OPS last season, is abysmal defensively, and posted a .590 OPS after the all-star break.

Really well written explanation on why she chose Andrus. Great write up. Sorry if this was posted somewhere else.

According to Joel Sherman, Granderson is available as the Tigers are in cost-cutting mode.

If the Rangers really are uncertain if Borbon can play CF, then I'd hope they are in on Granderson. He is about a 4 WAR player who plays good defense in center and is reasonably patient at the plate. He is under contract through 2013. He would be a terrific addition. I'd also have some interest in Jackson, although I'd imagine his perceived value is much higher than his real value.

As I think most people predicted, the Rangers are primarily targeting a right-handed bat this off-season. But I think some of the quotes are pretty funny. Namely:

"'I would say we're looking for a middle-of-the-order bat,' Daniels said."

Followed by:

"Other right-handed bats on the free-agent market that could be of interest to the Rangers include Vladimir Guerrero, Gary Sheffield, Troy Glaus and Fernando Tatis."

Awesome. The Rangers finally feel they have most of the pieces necessary to contend. What they really lack is a true "middle-of-the-order" bat like Fernando Tatis, or a quickly declining Sheffield/Dye. Not that Tatis (for instance) would be a bad guy to add to the bench. But, surely this organization doesn't view Sheffield, Tatis, or Glaus as the kind of final piece necessary to put them over the top.

I really hope Daniels and company have their sights set a little higher when it comes to improving this ball club over the winter. Otherwise, we might be in for 2005 redux.

I'm not sure if this has already been posted, but CNNSI has several Rangers stories on the front page of their website right now. Pretty neat stuff... one article discusses Holland and Feliz and a separate article goes over the Rangers playoff hopes.

According to Washington, CJ Wilson and Brandon McCarthy have been the most impressive pitchers in camp thus far. I think Jeff Wilson is right; these two are the most important pitchers for the Rangers in 2009. I know Adam also pointed this out in the most recent podcast: McCarthy is probably the Rangers best shot to develop a top of the rotation starter, at least until Holland and Feliz reach the majors. Here is to hoping he can stay healthy and remain impressive.

The A's seem to view the division as winnable since they are looking to add Furcal soon after adding Holliday. To me, this is only further evidence that Beane didn't just acquire Holliday to flip at the deadline; rather, the A's appear to think the Angels aren't that dominate of a team, especially after the possible loss of Teixeira and K-Rod. (not to mention their 89-73 ExWL record last season)