MLB Bullets Wishes Choo A Merry Christmas

I hope you are all ready for the holidays.

• The big news is the Rangers signing outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to a seven-year, $130 million contract.
• Jean-Jacques Taylor thinks the Choo signing is another example of Rangers GM Jon Daniels relentless pursuit of a championship.
• Jerry Crasnick says that the Rangers always made the most sense as a landing spot for Choo and explains what he brings to the team.
• With Choo's excellent OBP skills, can we now nickname him "Walker, Texas Ranger"? I'm asking for a friend.
• Cliff Corcoran thinks it's a great signing and that Choo is the replacement for Josh Hamilton that the Rangers needed last season.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the Rangers signing Choo, along with the Prince Fielder trade, makes them awfully left-handed. But that's OK because they're all awesome hitters.
• Jonathan Bernhardt notes that Choo turned down $10 million more from the Yankees. He says the Rangers are the big winners in this deal. At least in the short-term. He doesn't like what kind of a player Choo will be in seven years much, but that's a worry for another day. Like we Cubs fans haven't heard that story before.
• Anthony Castrovince's article is about how Choo's upbringing in the rigid Korean baseball system led to his being driven and focused on success. But to me, the interesting tidbit of that article is the claim that Choo just didn't want to play for the Yankees because of all the distractions. Not just all the normal New York distractions, but the potential demands on his time from the large Korean population in New York. On the other hand, Crasnick said the growing Korean population in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area was a bonus for Choo, so who knows what to believe?
• The other big news of the weekend is that the Orioles officially backed out of the two-year deal they had with reliever Grant Balfour, citing concerns over his medical records.
• Balfour is not happy about this turn of events and he called Orioles GM Dan Duquette personally to express his displeasure.
• Balfour went on Jim Bowden's radio show to say he is healthy.
• The team physicians for the Rays and the Reds have also examined Balfour's medical records and both tell Ken Rosenthal that his results were absolutely normal for a major league pitcher.
• Rosenthal also notes that this is far from the first time that Orioles have backed out of a deal over "medicals." There's a strong feeling in the game that owner Peter Angelos often uses the excuse of a supposedly-failed medical exam to overrule his GM on deals he doesn't like.
• Balfour is considering filing a grievance against the Orioles.
• In any case, the Rays are now talking with Balfour.
• The Orioles are now "aggressive" in trying to sign Fernando Rodney.
• Aaron Gleeman notes that Rodney has been just as good if not better than Balfour over the past two years.
• The Orioles have also talked to the Phillies about Jonathan Papelbon. They say the Phillies would have to eat most "a lot" of his contract before they would trade for him though.
• Ken Rosenthal, who's been busy this week, wonders what the plan is in Seattle. "Robothal" says it doesn't make sense for the Mariners to stop spending after signing Cano, but that's what they seem to be doing.
• John Perrotto has an in-depth look at the new slugger for the White Sox, Jose Abreu. Some think he'll be a star akin to Ryan Howard (back when Howard was good, presumably). Others think he'll be a bust.
• Speaking of Cuban defectors, court documents reveal new details in the alleged kidnapping of Leonys Martin. It was scary stuff, folks. Like there are non-scary kidnapping details in any case since "The Ransom of Red Chief."
• Mark Mulder has worked out for five different clubs as he attempts to make a comeback.
• The Diamondbacks have signed Henry Blanco to a minor league deal. I want to point out that the 42 year old Blanco was once a teammate of Eddie Murray, who's been in Cooperstown for over a decade.
• Jeff Passan notes that MLB could spend over $2 billion on free agents this offseason.
• The Rays are in no hurry to trade David Price. They plan on keeping him until they get an offer they like. They did deny a report out of Cleveland that they asked for Carlos Santana, Danny Salazar and Francisco Lindor, though.
• This is an ESPN Insider article, but Jared Cross crunches some numbers and says David Price is not as good as he might appear. ($) While Cross does admit that Price is pretty good, he says he looks better than he really is because of Tropicana Field, the Rays' stellar defense and Jose Molina's pitch framing abilities.
• Here's an article that a lot of you might like. Mark Simon thinks the Cubs could have found a hidden diamond in Justin Ruggiano.
• Rakuten might announce a decision on whether they're going to post Masahiro Tanaka on Christmas Day. Christmas isn't an official holiday in Japan, of course, although a lot of Japanese do celebrate it in a manner of speaking. Or at least the movie version of Christmas.
• Rakuten did give their own fans a Christmas present as they signed Kevin Youkilis to a one-year deal.
• Jay Jaffe looks at Jeff Kent's qualifications for the Hall of Fame. He doesn't look quite as good as I thought he would.
• Bill Baer rips apart Bill Madden's "You had to see him pitch" case for Jack Morris' induction. I'm going to say that I saw Jack Morris pitch many, many times. I don't know of anyone back in the 1980s who thought he was a better pitcher than Dave Stieb, yet no one is calling for Stieb's induction. OK, Morris did have a longer career.
• Notre Dame and Boston College are going to play a college football game at Fenway Park. It will be the first football game at Fenway since the Patriots moved out after the 1968 season.
• The Southern League has approved the move of the Huntsville Stars to Biloxi. This is likely to mean longer bus rides for the Smokies, as Biloxi will have to move to the Southern Division and probably Montgomery will have to move to the North.
• I wish I could be surprised by this, but Elijah Dukes was arrested again. This time it was for unspecified parole violations.
• On the other hand, Jason Castro has completed his coursework for his Stanford degree. So I guess he doesn't need this baseball crap anymore.
• Finally, I'd like to wish you all a happy holidays, although I won't be wearing any of the tacky Christmas sweaters that the Pirates are wearing in their holiday wishes.