A Red Sox writer states that three other teams are into Bay right now, alongside his own Sox.  He bases this on "a source familiar with the negotiations."  That's Bay's agent, in writer-speak.  Apparently, news of the death of the M's interest in Bay has been overstated.

Red Sox - pole position, though also supposedly hot on Holliday

Mariners - jemanji is hopin'

Angels - Sending signals that they have other priorities, but would be ok with a bargain

Mets* - Could be, but with the Mets specifically, this is often Eastern media

...........

Epstein gave an annoyed quote that implied that the Red Sox badly want Jason Bay, but that the agents are kinda stiffing them.  Wowza!  Because Bay has directed his agents to pursue Seattle first, perhaps?

The Angels want Bay at a discount, but Bay has already said that he wants to come to Seattle -- and therefore any discount he'd give the Angels, he'd give the M's as well ...

Sounds like Bay is the M's for the taking, particularly that Epstein quote.  But who knows -- perhaps Zduriencik's strong interest in Bay is akin to his strong interest in Harden.

..............

We don't know what the budget is for 2010.  We don't know how Figgins' contract would be backloaded, or not.  And we don't know whether the Glam Rock offseason of Lackey-Bay-Figgins is theoretically possible...

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=== John Lennon stRange Days Indeed Dept. ===

The Rangers had this rotation:

SP1 ... 127 ERA+ Kevin Millwood

SP2 ... Feldman - Flashy W/L ERA, terrible K/BB of 5.4 and 3.1

SP 3 ... 6.12 ERA youngster

SP 4 ... McCarthy, perpetual disappointment but stronger last year

SP 5 - 22-year-old Holland, 5.1 strikeouts, 2.7 walks

............

And as soon as they signed Rich "125 IP" Harden, they felt like they were good to powerflush Kevin Millwood.   As well as Vicente Padilla.

Looks fine on paper.  They axin' for it tho, brother.

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Adrian Beltre is gravitating towards Fenway.  Tolja the Red Sox were smart.

What would be interesting, would be to hear Boras try to sell them Green Monster and 48 homers.   And what the Sox' reply would be.   Boras would be selling Beltre's potential with a short LF fence, complete with scattercharts, AVG/OBP/SLG scaled up with "injury" 2009 edited out, etc.

Wonder what the Sox would say, and how James and Boras would get along with James now The Man.

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If Lackey falls through, you want to hear something funny ... in 2009, Jo-El Pineiro found a new magic swerveball.

Seriously.  Pineiro throws this for a strike every blinkin' pitch (therefore tiny BB ratios), and the batters chop it into the ground again and again and again. 

He throws the swerveball over 70% of the time and it has a huge run value (in the context of its being used so much).

In 2009, Pineiro was a 100% legitimate 40-run pitcher, worth every inch of $20m, and the only question is whether (or how much) he'll regress now.  Expect him to get $12m x 2-3 years from somebody.  He's in effect the #2 pitcher on the market right now behind Lackey.

Dave Duncan taught Pineiro some kind of magic pitch, and Jo-El has used it for one year to detonate the NL.  I wonder what's next for him.