With Mike Napoli headed to Boston, one suitor was removed for the equation for Adam LaRoche. While that should improve the Nationals' leverage a little, there are still a handful of teams in the mix for the slugging first baseman. Here's the latest on LaRoche, with new updates added to the top throughout the day:
- The Rangers are not involved on LaRoche, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.
- Despite an earlier report that the Orioles are in "hard" on LaRoche, MLB.com's Britt Ghiroli hears the team's interest is minimal at best, as they're instead focused on trades.
Earlier updates:
- The Nationals believe the Rangers are the biggest threat to sign LaRoche, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
- The Orioles are in "hard" on LaRoche, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark hears from an executive from one interested team (Twitter link).
- Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com had written earlier today that the Orioles, like the Nationals, didn't seem willing to go up to three years for LaRoche at this point.
- After Napoli didn't get a fourth year from the Red Sox, Jim Bowden of ESPN and SiriusXM expects LaRoche to have to settle for a two-year deal (Twitter link).
- Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post tweeted this morning that the Rangers and Mariners seemed to be the Nats' top competitors for LaRoche.
