MLB Bullets Has A Proposal For You

I've managed to find somethings to talk about despite the Winter Meetings providing very little to talk about. I'm not covering the home plate collision issue because it's already been covered and I don't want to deal with it anymore.

By the way, last week on Twitter I asked if the Yankees had ever lost a free agent they really wanted to keep. The answer is Andy Pettite in 2003, although Pettite didn't spurn the Yankees over money but rather that he was determined to play for his hometown Astros.

• There wasn't a whole lot of action at the Winter Meetings, but Jay Jaffe tries to come up with a list of winners and losers anyway.
• Matt Snyder tries to summarize all the important news of the week. Some things did happen.
• Anthony Castrovince recaps what happened at a Winter Meetings that was mostly talk and no action.
• Bob Nightengale writes 14 paragraphs that pretty much just say "The Winter Meetings were lame." Of course, he does have to fill the space as USA Today isn't going to stop publishing news just because there isn't any, so I don't really blame Nightengale. Heck, I'm doing this, aren't I?
• You want to know how bad it was? The event that caused the biggest buzz at the Winter Meetings was a fight in the parking lot between two agents. Video ahead.
• Grant Brisbee wonders if it was between Jay-Z and . . . ahh, drat. That joke has already been beaten to death.
• OK, so it wasn't Jay-Z and Scott Boras going at it in the parking lot. But Boras did take a thinly-veiled swipe at the multi-media rapper-turned-agent. Unfortunately, Boras did not deliver his dis in the form of a rap song.
• The Mariners made some more moves, trading for Logan Morrison and signing free agent Corey Hart.
• Morrison wrote an essay about his feelings about being traded before he was actually traded. The piece was published after the deal with Seattle and dealt with his feelings about his career with the Marlins. He's actually quite complementary of his former team.
• Morrison is known for his Twitter account, but perhaps he should have thought twice before tossing out a homophobic taunt at an internet troll. Morrison clearly has thought twice about it as he deleted the comment in question.
• Robinson Cano signed his contract with the Mariners and had his press conference where he said that he didn't think the Yankees wanted him back and that he didn't feel he had their respect.
• David Schoenfield notes that the Mariners seem to be collecting 1B/DH types--probably more than they should. He also notes that the Mariners now have five of Baseball America's top 30 prospects from 2010 and none of them are going to be stars.
• Since the Mariners already have more 1B/DH types than they need, they're not likely to bring back Kendrys Morales, who is finding the market for his services slim since whomever signs him will lose a draft pick. Mike Axisa tries to figure out where Morales might land.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the Yankees are the best fit for Morales. He also has the Tweet from Peter Gammons that says one GM he talked to thinks Morales won't sign until after the amateur draft in June, when the signing team would no longer lose a draft pick.
• Emma Span thinks that new Mariners skipper Lloyd McClendon is ready for his second chance to manage a ballclub.
• One of the reasons McClendon has grown so much as a manager, according to McClendon, is the time he spent in Detroit with Jim Leyland. Now Leyland is working with new Tigers manager Brad "McDreamy" Ausmus.
• The Reds had talks with the Yankees about a Brandon Phillips for Brett Gardner swap. The Yankees said no, as did Phillips, apparently, and he has a no-trade clause.
• Jonathan Berhardt thinks the Yankees are making the right call keeping Brett Gardner around for this season, even though they have four outfielders and they're certain to lose him to free agency after this season.
• The Giants signed Michael Morse to play left field for them. It's a one year deal worth $5 million plus incentives.
• Jeff Sullivan doesn't blame the team-friendly contract, but he thinks the Morse signing was stupid for the Giants as he represents a downgrade from their current left fielder, Gregor Blanco.
• I already did a story on the Rule 5 draft, but in the minor league phase of the draft, the Rangers selected Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who had played one season in the Rockies system.
• The Rangers insist that this isn't a gimmick, claiming that they want Wilson to come to spring training and speak with their young players. They also hope that they'll see how hard Wilson works to be an elite athlete. They have little or no hope that he'll actually decide to play baseball for them.
• Deion Sanders, who knows a little something about playing two sports, thinks Wilson should think about going for it. Which just reminds me that had Sanders decided to dedicate himself to baseball, he could have had a Kenny Lofton-type career. He's so famous for his football that it's hard to remember that he was a good baseball player as well.
• Another Rule 5 draft pick, Adrian Nieto, now of the Chicago White Sox, is listed as a player receiving illegal PEDs from the Miami Biogenesis Clinic. Neito was suspended for 50 days in 2011 for failing a drug test. MLB says that they are satisfied that these shipments are related to the failed drug test, so he won't face additional punishment, barring new information.
• Speaking of those Biogenesis documents, MLB apparently paid for stolen goods. This is one of Alex Rodriguez's defenses--that the evidence against him was illegally obtained. Sounds like he's right, at least on that point.
• Jason Collette looks for the next Marlon Byrd. Hey! We still have a Marlon Byrd. He's not dead. Oh, he means a source of cheap and surprising power like Byrd showed last season.
• Richard Justice says the Mets off-season gives their fans a reason for optimism.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the Dodgers should stick to the plan and not go after free agents again. Or trade away what's left of their farm system for David Price.
• The Rockies are close to signing Boone Logan to a three-year, $15 million deal.
• The Phillies signed The Pitcher Formerly Known As Fausto Carmona: Roberto Hernandez.
• Jim Caple explains how much Roger Angell, who just won the Hall of Fame's Spink Award, means to him and how great a writer he is.
• Can you beat a former president in a footrace? Then the Nationals may have a job for you! Note: you must be a former president yourself, or at least willing to dress like one.
• A group trying to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal released a study saying that a new team could succeed there with a new stadium and the new revenue sharing.
• Bull Durham: The Musical! I'm already humming "Candlesticks Always Make A Nice Gift" to myself and the song hasn't even been written yet.
• Finally, Gwen Knapp thinks Andrew McCutchen has the potential to be the next breakout crossover star in baseball, meaning he'd be famous outside of baseball fans as well.
• If you want an example as to why Knapp thinks this, checkout his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where he proposed to his girlfriend on the air. She said yes.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.