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AL East Links: Wakefield, Varitek, Ross, Orioles

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Pitchers and catchers for the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays are scheduled to report on February 18th, 19th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, respectively. Here's the latest from the AL East…

  • Both Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek have received interest from other teams, but Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com says (on Twitter) that the two are expected to decided between the Red Sox or retirement. Boston has extended minor league offers to both players.
  • "This offseason was definitely tough," said new Red Sox outfielder Cody Ross to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. "There were a lot of teams I though would be interested that weren't. There were teams that were interested that I didn't think would be … I knew something was going to happen, and something good was going to come of it, and it did." 
  • MASNSports.com's Roch Kubatko looked at all the turnover on the Orioles' 40-man roster this offseason. He counts 13 new players brought in from outside the organization. Check out our Transaction Tracker for a recap of all of Baltimore's moves under new GM Dan Duquette.

Lucchino On Payroll, Ortiz, Wakefield, Varitek

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Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino appeared on SiriusXM Sports radio today to discuss a handful of topics, including payroll and David Ortiz's impending arbitration hearing. WEEI.com provided a transcript of his quotes, so let's dig in.

  • Not surprisingly, Lucchino scoffed at recent criticism that the Sox have been too frugal this offseason: Now, this year, if you want to talk specifically about 2012, we will have the highest payroll in the history of the Boston Red Sox in 2012. Will we eclipse the luxury tax threshold? To be sure, we will — once again. So I think the talk of us not spending needs to be viewed in the context of real facts and in comparisons to real dollars.
  • There will be no hard feelings against DH David Ortiz regarding his arbitration hearing, Lucchino said, adding that the sides will "move on" after the hearing barring an unforeseen settlement before then. Check out MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker for details on Ortiz's case.
  • Regarding outstanding offers of minor league contracts to Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek: "The decisions are now kind of in their hands as to what they’d like to do in this particular season.”
  • Lucchino has no regrets about signing Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142MM contract last offseason: "Don’t take a still photograph of year one of a seven-year deal and use it to conclude that the deal has been a success or been a failure."

AL East Notes: Uehara, Reyes, Red Sox

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The Yankees are discussing a possible A.J. Burnett trade with Pittsburgh and the Orioles agreed to terms with Luis Ayala on a one-year deal earlier today. Here are some more AL East updates…

  • The Orioles maintain interest in Koji Uehara of the Rangers, even after adding Matt Lindstrom and Ayala this week, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.
  • Ayala and Dennys Reyes grew up together in a small town in Mexico, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets. Both Paragon Sports International clients signed with the Orioles this offseason.
  • The Red Sox have not avoided arbitration with David Ortiz, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney clarified this morning (Twitter link).
  • ESPN.com's Jayson Stark suggests the Red Sox are still in play for Roy Oswalt, even though the right-hander doesn’t seem to want to sign in Boston.

Red Sox Notes: Oswalt, Wakefield, Varitek, Ortiz

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Last year this time considerable hype surrounded the Red Sox, who had just traded for Adrian Gonzalez and signed Carl Crawford. Gonzalez and Crawford are still around, but the hype has disappeared. Here’s the latest on the Red Sox as they prepare for Spring Training 2012…

AL East Links: Red Sox, Chavez, Ibanez, Soler

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The Yankees inked Bill Hall to a minor league contract earlier today, creating some competition in Spring Training. Here's the latest from the AL East…

  • The Red Sox signed 17-year-old Australian Daniel McGrath, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes. The left-hander will visit Boston's Spring Training camp for a week before returning to finish high school in Australia. Bradford hears 15 MLB teams had interest before Boston completed the deal.
  • Even after signing Hall, the Yankees continue to be focused on Eric Chavez and Raul Ibanez according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Last night we learned that they were in serious talks with Ibanez, and Heyman says the Yankees are in excellent position because all of their targets have interest in playing for a contender.
  • Meanwhile, Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that the Yankees are not offering more than $2MM for a DH-type and might not even want to spend more than $1MM.
  • Orioles executive director of international recruiting Fred Ferreira will watch Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler in the Dominican Republic when he travels to watch Yoenis Cespedes play, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports.

Roy Oswalt Rumors: Tuesday

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 The latest on free agent righty Roy Oswalt…

Outrighted To Triple-A: Scott Atchison

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The latest outright assignments from around MLB…

  • The Red Sox outrighted Scott Atchison to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, Maureen Mullen of CSN New England tweets. The Red Sox had designated the 35-year-old for assignment late last month. He posted a 3.26 ERA with 5.0 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 30 1/3 innings for the 2011 Red Sox and logged 61 1/3 more innings at Triple-A with a 2.64 ERA, 10.6 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9. 

Cafardo On Lannan, Bourjos, Cespedes, Vazquez

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Jason Varitek is facing a very difficult decision, and the catcher has been considering the very difficult reality of retirement, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  Varitek, who turns 40 in April, would seem to be a good fit in Minnesota.  The Twins will likely carry three catchers as Joe Mauer will need time to DH and rest and Ryan Doumit will mostly DH while also backing up Mauer.

Varitek isn't the only veteran wondering about his baseball future.  Ivan Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez, and Vladimir Guerrero also hope to continue playing in 2012.  Here's more from Cafardo..

  • There is a lot of speculation that the Nationals will deal John Lannan to the Angels for Peter Bourjos, with the Halos putting Mike Trout in center field.  The Nats beat Lannan in arbitration last week and were said to be aggressively shopping the left-hander.  
  • Alternatively, the Nats could move Jayson Werth to center and sign a right fielder.  Cafardo adds that it now appears that Yoenis Cespedes is not in their plans and they have cooled on B.J. Upton.
  • Javier Vazquez is retired for now, but Cafardo wonders if a team could convince him to play.  An AL GM remarked that Vazquez would be a perfect fourth or fifth starter on a contending team and believes that the pitcher looks as good as he's ever been.
  • Scott Boras is no longer representing Manny Ramirez.  Ramirez signed on with Boras in early 2008 and the agent negotiated the slugger's two-year, $45MM contract with the Dodgers the following year.
  • Boras wound up receiving eight offers in total for Prince Fielder, including the winning bid from the Tigers.
  • A couple of agents are frustrated after dealing with the Red Sox front office/ownership lately as compared to what they were used to in the past.  However, there has been quite a bit of praise for GM Ben Cherington.
  • Right-hander Brandon Webb hasn't given up on pitching and according to one American League executive, the plan is for the 32-year-old to throw for teams sometime in March.
  • Mark Prior is also looking to attempt one more comeback.  The right-hander, who spent some of last season with the Yankees, had surgery for a sports hernia and the problem isn't completely corrected.  Like Webb, Prior could work out for teams as early as March.
  • Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger was supposed to be in Red Sox minor league camp but instead ripped up his elbow long-tossing over the winter.  The veteran will unfortunately miss the season.
  • Cafardo feels that the Red Sox missed an opportunity to sign Edwin Jackson to a good value deal at one year, $10MM and shouldn’t let Roy Oswalt slip away now.

Red Sox, Aceves Agree To One-Year Deal

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The Red Sox and Alfredo Aceves have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.2MM deal with $100K in bonus incentives, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  In addition to the $1.2MM base, Aceves will receive $25K for 5, 10, 15 and 25 starts or 55, 60, 65 and 70 appearances, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

The two sides settled right around the midpoint as the Red Sox offered $950K and the right-hander was seeking $1.6MM, according to MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker.  The O'Connell Sports Management client has just over three years of service time to his credit and isn't set to hit the open market until after the 2014 season.

With Aceves signed, Boston has just one arbitration case left to tackle in David Ortiz.

Quick Hits: Ortiz, Garza, Angels, Anibal, Cook, Ayala

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Eight years ago today, the Cardinals and Albert Pujols avoided arbitration by agreeing to a seven-year, $100MM contract. It's the largest contract ever given to a player with between 3-4 years of service time. Here's the latest from around the league…

  • David Ortiz told Javier Maymi of ESPN Deportes that he still wants to avoid an arbitration hearing and sign a multiyear deal, but acknowledged that he's left it up "to the agents and the team to deal with it." Earlier this week we heard that he and the Red Sox were likely headed to a hearing. Ortiz filed for $16.5MM while the team countered with $12.65MM, as our Arbitration Tracker shows.
  • One executive told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that he expects the Cubs to trade Matt Garza at the deadline and not before Opening Day (Twitter link). The two sides recently avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $9.5MM contract for 2012.
  • The Angels would still like to add another reliever if the price is right, reports Morosi (on Twitter). They reportedly have an offer out to Luis Ayala, though the free agent relief market is dwindling.
  • Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel hears that Anibal Sanchez's arbitration decision is expected to be announced on Monday (Twitter link). Sanchez filed for $8MM while the Marlins countered with $6.9MM. The hearing was yesterday.
  • Aaron Cook told WEEI.com's Alex Speier that several teams were willing to give him a Major League contract, and that two clubs even made such offers. He took a minor league deal from the Red Sox because he liked the fit better, and because he knows pitching coach Bob McClure from his days in the minors.
  • Ayala is currently pitching for Mexico in the Caribbean Series like last year, hoping it will land him a job again writes MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. "I haven't had any good offers but I'm confident that, God permits, I will get a chance to pitch for a team that will allow me to show my abilities," he said.
  • In an article for The Los Angeles Times, Mike DiGiovanna lists the best and worst free agent signings at each position this offseason.
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