Odds and Ends: Dice-K, Varitek, Rolen

Links for Monday…

• Tim Brown and Peter Abraham offer their takes on the top free agents.
• A note from Abraham – if Daisuke Matsuzaka finishes top three in the AL Cy Young vote, he’ll get an extra $2MM in each of the ’09 and ’10 seasons.
• The Mariners could hire their new GM as soon as tomorrow.  Geoff Baker discussed the merits of the four candidates in two recent posts.
• Jason Varitek was mum on his future last night.
• Joe Frisaro has the Marlins’ 2009 payroll in the $30-35MM range.  They have 15 arbitration-eligible players.
• I came across an interesting note about B.J. Upton.  Back in 2004, Devil Rays GM Chuck LaMar wanted to sign Upton to an unprecedented eight or nine-year contract before he reached the Majors.  The new Rays regime eventually succeeded with a similar deal for Evan Longoria.
• The Diamondbacks signed a Korean high school catcher named Kim Jae-yoon for $150K.
• Jordan Bastian would be stunned if Scott Rolen exercises his right to opt out of his contract or demand a trade.
• T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers are not in the running for C.C. Sabathia.
• SI.com’s Jon Heyman looks at how the Phillies were built.