There's no Jon Lester news. I could link to a bunch of articles that say there's no Jon Lester news, but that would be a waste of time. And more than a little stalkerish.
- There was one free agent signing. Nick Markakis signed with the Braves for four years and $44 million.
- Mike Axisa thinks this signing may be a precursor to a trade of Justin Upton and/or Evan Gattis.
- Cliff Corcoran thinks that while Markakis won't be able to replace Jason Heyward, the deals do make the Braves better in the long run.
- Grant Brisbee thinks that overall, the Braves moves this offseason don't make any sense.
- Mike Petriello runs the numbers and tries to figure out why Markakis is worth that much money. (Hint: he fails.)
- Adam Jones isn't happy about the departure of his former teammate.
- Markakis was expected to re-sign with the Orioles. But Ken Rosenthal writes that the Orioles may have backed off because of medical concerns.
- One other piece of real news. The Mariners traded Michael Saunders to the Blue Jays for J.A. Happ.
- Jeff Sullivan loves this trade for the Blue Jays. Not so much for the Mariners.
- Now we head off to the rumors section. Chase Headley reportedly has an offer for four years and $65 million.
- The other part of that rumor is that maybe it's the Marlins who have made that offer. Or maybe it's someone else. But the Marlins are definitely interested in Headley and Matt Snyder thinks that's because he's a great fit in Miami.
- The Astros are out on Andrew Miller. That probably means he's signing with the Yankees, most likely today.
- The Giants may be interested in a reunion with Melky Cabrera. He'd be a good fit there, actually.
- Giants beat writer Henry Schulman tells a fan that he should be upset about this. Craig Calcaterra thinks writers ought to let the fans make up their own minds.
- Staying on the Marlins, is Derek Jeter interested in buying part of the club? Actually, what happened is that the Yankees didn't play Miami this season, so the Marlins are just now giving Jeter a share of the team for their Jeter retirement ceremony.
- In a minor deal, the Rangers re-signed Colby Lewis to a one-year deal.
- Ken Rosenthal explains why Cole Hamels is unlikely to end up in Los Angeles.
- Chris Cotillo reports that the Dodgers may try to trade Zack Greinke to make room for Jon Lester. (OK, that's one Jon Lester story, sort of.) I do disagree with his statement that the Cubs would be interested in Greinke. The Cubs would not give up much for one year of Greinke. If Greinke agreed not to use his opt-out, then maybe. But why would Greinke agree to that?
- The White Sox are looking to trade for an ace.
- There's a report that the Athletics will trade Brandon Moss to the Indians today. Unless they don't.
- If you're interested in the estimated trade values of players, Jonah Keri ranked the top 50 trade values in baseball in Part 1 and Part 2. He agreed with me that Anthony Rizzo is one of the ten most valuable trade pieces in the game, ranking him at number 7.
- Raul Ibañez has withdrawn from consideration from the Rays managerial job.
- The Cardinals may rework John Lackey's contract as an act of good faith. Lackey is due to receive the major league minimum this upcoming season.
- If you're wondering why some players making the major league minimum were non-tendered, J.J. Cooper explains that it's a maneuver to remove players from the 40-man roster without exposing them to waivers. Of course, the player doesn't have to re-sign with the club that non-tendered him, so the team that does this does take a risk.
- Barry Svrluga says that if the Nationals want to go "all-in" this season, they don't have to do anything.
- Matt Harvey is in agreement with the Mets to limit his innings this season. Although I do find it odd that the Mets are apparently planning to trade Harvey since this plan is designed to allow Harvey to pitch "deep into October."
- Dave Cameron tries to figure out what happened to all the right-handed hitters.
- Dale Scott has received a lot of support since acknowledging that he's gay.
- Rob Neyer interviewed Dave Pallone about his thoughts about how the game has changed since he was an umpire.
- Torii Hunter called a reporter a bad name at his press conference with the Twins.
- In an ESPN Insider article, Buster Olney explains why he won't cast a vote for the Hall of Fame under the current rules. If you aren't an ESPN Insider subscriber, you can read a summary on Hardball Talk here.
- Rob Neyer wants to kick some people out of the Hall of Fame. Just the dead ones though. Not all the dead ones, just the dead ones that didn't deserve it. So essentially, those that can't defend themselves. Nice. (But seriously. There are a lot of unworthy Hall of Famers.)
- Jorge Arangure Jr. has the story of Yoan Moncada's "defection" from Cuba, which he calls "the weirdest Cuban baseball defection story you'll ever read." There's a lot we still don't know, but what we do know is certainly odd.
- And finally, we call Buck Showalter a strict disciplinarian as a manager. But he's got nothing on the manager of the 1900 Modern Woodmen of America team who apparently kept his team in line with a pistol and a sword. At least that's what it looks like from this photograph.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.