It took the Red Sox quite a while to finalize their agreement with Mike Napoli this offseason over concern about a potential hip issue. Fortunately, his doctor says that the hip problem was detected early enough to prevent it from getting worse over time, writes Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. The two sides wound up re-working their three-year, $36MM pact into a one-year, $5MM deal with incentives that could boost it to $13MM in total. Here's more from around baseball..
- A source tells Marc Carig of Newsday (on Twitter) that the MLBPA could file a grievance on the Michael Bourn/compensatory draft pick issue, even if the Mets don't agree to terms with the outfielder first. There has been talk of the players union supporting the Mets if they choose to argue against having to surrender a first-round pick to sign a free agent like Bourn.
- It appears that the Mets will face some stiff competition in the NL East as they vie with the Nationals and Braves, but GM Sandy Alderson says that he isn't sweating it too much, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "I would agree that the Nationals and the Braves appear to be very good teams for '13 and beyond," Alderson said. "But many teams have been described as set up well for the long haul, and it hasn't always worked out as described.
- The Marlins have made former West Virginia football standout Pat White an offer to get back into baseball, but the quarterback and one of his associates told Orlando Alzugaray of 640 AM that baseball is only a Plan B if football doesn't work out, writes Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. White won't completely rule out going to spring training with Miami, but he is also considering a two-year contract offer the Canadian Football League and has spoken to representatives for at least eight NFL teams.
- The Royals now have three catchers on the 40-man roster after claiming George Kottaras earlier today, but GM Dayton Moore isn't sure how many backstops will make the cut for Opening Day, writes Pete Grathoff of The Kansas City Star. The 29-year-old Kottaras will earn $1MM this season and will remain under team control as an arbitration eligible player through 2015.
