Done deal....A-rod to Red Sox. Manny to Tex, Nomar to LA

[moe.ron]

You heard it here 2nd (first was on another board I was on)

Manny and Todd Walker to TEX, for A-Rod.

Nomar to LA, for Odalis Perez and some prospects.

Texas is signing Free agent Todd Walker contingent on the A-Rod deal going through.

Sox are sending Manny, one of our prospects and a LA prospect from the Nomar deal to Texas.

[mu_agd]

it's been falsely reported so many times already that i won't believe it until it's posted on www.redsox.com.

[Angels&Arrows]

mu_agd, I am with you.. I just watched the noon news on 4 and 6 and there was nothing on about it... and the 1p WRKO news just finished and there was nothing reported.

There was however an interesting article in the Boston globe.. It was on the front page of the website at 6am.. but seems to have moved... Rodriguez deal gaining momentum

[mu_agd]

when i was at the gym last night, one of the trainers said that it had been done, it was just announced.. yep, definitely wasn't! i'm getting tired of it constantly being said that the deal is done, when it's really not! and Luccino and Theo aren't going to say anything until it's official either.

[ADPiAkron]

Meetings mostly quiet, but The Big One looms
Dec. 15, 2003
By Scott Miller
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Scott your opinion!


NEW ORLEANS -- In the end, for nearly everybody else, the winter meetings were a lot like walking past the Rollerskating Rastaman's spot on Canal Street here. There was a whole lot of stopping and looking at both the jewelry and the scene, and the music was nice, but there weren't a whole lot of transactions.

For the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers, who dominated talk throughout the four-day session, the mother lode now appears tantalizingly close.


Alex Rodriguez is still a smiling Texas Ranger ... for now at least.(AP)
Front-office executives from both clubs left the Crescent City on Monday and traveled home appearing to have moved closer than ever to the colossal Manny Ramirez-for- Alex Rodriguez trade.

Though officials with both clubs remained tight-lipped and vague, sources close to the talks characterized the negotiations as complicated but steadily gaining momentum. Among other things, multiple industry sources confirmed Boston is looking to acquire another pitcher to package with Ramirez for Rodriguez.

For more than a week, Texas has demanded up to $5 million in cash annually in addition to Ramirez, money that the Rangers would then put toward improving their pitching staff. The Red Sox have balked, but they have spoken with multiple teams here over the weekend about acquiring pitching -- using reliever Scott Williamson as bait. That way, perhaps, the Red Sox could satisfy Texas' demand for pitching without having to put up as much -- or any -- cash.

The Red Sox, according to highly placed sources, dangled Williamson to St. Louis for Jason Marquis, the pitcher the Cardinals acquired from Atlanta on Saturday, only to have St. Louis decline. The Red Sox also shopped Williamson to the Chicago White Sox, according to other sources.

If Boston were able to acquire Marquis or another starter, they might have the pieces needed to make the deal with Texas without parting with a significant amount of money.

By late Monday afternoon, as a majority of baseball executives checked out of the Marriott here and headed for the airport, there was a palpable buzz over what would be the first exchange of two players whose salaries average $20 million or more annually in baseball history.

"The owners are talking," said Scott Boras, Rodriguez's representative. "I speak with Alex every day. I talked to him this morning."

Through mid afternoon Monday, the Rangers had not presented Boras with a proposal. That almost certainly will happen as a prelude to a deal because Rodriguez must formally waive his no-trade powers -- he has said he will -- and Boras most likely will be asked to rework parts of Rodriguez's contract.

That, too, will take time: While Rodriguez has said he will agree to defer part of his salary if it helps smooth the deal, the players union has rules in place demanding that the overall value of a contract not be diminished if it is reworked. Though that's not expected to be a problem, it's a highly complicated proposition that will drag the deal out another day or two whenever the parameters are finally agreed upon.

As for where the two ownership groups stand, Boras said: "Those are conversations we're not privy to."

Maybe not, but this much is certain: Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is known to be traveling at least three trade routes simultaneously. In addition to the A-Rod acquisition, and in addition to his search for pitching to help seal the A-Rod acquisition, he also is talking with clubs about dealing his incumbent shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra -- primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to sources with knowledge of the Red Sox's talks.

The latter conversations have included Los Angeles pitcher Odalis Perez, though it's not clear whether that will end up being the deal that finally gets done -- assuming, of course, that things fall into place and the Dodgers are able to land Garciaparra.

The Chicago White Sox, looking to slice at least another $6 million from their payroll to reduce it to $58 million for 2004, have been pushing slugging outfielder Magglio Ordonez to the Dodgers but requesting left-handed setup man Guillermo Mota in return. So far, the Dodgers have had no interest in parting with Mota -- particularly since they already lost their right-handed setup man from '03, Paul Quantrill, to the New York Yankees.

To at least some degree, the Boston-Texas situation has paralyzed at least a portion of the market, in that several teams that would like to move are on hold until the A-Rod talks reach a resolution. The Rangers, for example, have inquired about free-agent outfielder Raul Mondesi -- but will lose all interest if they land Ramirez.

Same with the Dodgers and the White Sox. If the Red Sox take Garciaparra off the table, they might be more inclined to acquire Ordonez as the hitter they so desperately need. But with Garciaparra's situation unresolved, the Dodgers continue to keep their options open.

"The A-Rod-Manny trade is holding up a lot of things," one industry source said. "A lot of teams are waiting to see what's going to happen, and how it might affect them."

Meanwhile, in a sluggish market, most clubs and free agents are looking to keep as many options open as possible. Particularly with another flood of players expected to join the free-agent market after Saturday's deadline to non-tender arbitration-eligible players.

"Most clubs can't afford the big names," one veteran American League scout said. "The middle-market and small-market clubs are waiting for the non-tenders because the market is going to get flooded."


____________________________________
That is all I have seen!!

[The1calledTKE]

We'll know in the next few days

NEW ORLEANS -- Red Sox owner John Henry and Rangers owner Tom Hicks are talking again.


And the more they talk, the more likely AL MVP Alex Rodriguez will wind up in Boston and Manny Ramirez in Texas.


"We're at a sensitive point," Hicks said in a story in Tuesday's editions of The Dallas Morning News. "We'll know in the next few days how this is going to come out."


The Red Sox and Rangers have been discussing a trade of the sport's only $20 million men for more than a week. Talks bogged down over the sheer magnitude of the money involved -- more than $300 million remaining on the two contracts -- and the Rangers' demand that Boston pay up to $5 million a year for the next six years, in addition to more than $179 million due Rodriguez.


Boston has said it will not chip in a substantial amount toward Ramirez's salary. Even without it, the Rangers would already save about $81 million in the deal. Talk has reportedly focused on whether the Red Sox would include another player in lieu of cash.


"There's dialogue ongoing between the parties, but really we're not privy to any of it," Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, said Monday as baseball's winter meetings wrapped up. "This is definitely an owners' situation."


Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein declined to comment on the negotiations, and Boston president Larry Lucchino has said the team was going into "radio silence" on the talks until they conclude, one way or the other.


Red Sox owner John Henry hasn't responded to an e-mail seeking comment.


"Both teams were concerned a week ago as this thing got way too much momentum in the media for where we were all at," Hicks told the newspaper. "We agreed we'd renew conversations after the winter meetings, and we started that process today."


Epstein did say before returning to Boston on Monday that he didn't expect any announcements.


"If I were a betting man, I'd say there's nothing major in our future," he said. "We have a real strong club right now if we just fill in to complement what we have."


If the owners are able to work something out, the Red Sox are expected to trade shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Epstein has said the team's first choice was to sign Garciaparra to a long-term deal "that makes sense for both sides."


Garciaparra turned down a four-year, $60 million offer last spring, looking for a longer and richer deal. That appeared to be a mistake in a declining market, but on Sunday former AL MVP Miguel Tejada signed a six-year, $72 million deal with Baltimore that raised doubts about whether the market was declining after all.


Garciaparra's agent, Arn Tellem, arrived in New Orleans late in the meetings and had preliminary discussions with Epstein. Although Tellem has said the A-Rod talks are a "slap in the face" of his client, Epstein said he expects no hard feelings when the team reports to spring training.


"It's a natural part of the offseason to have all kinds of speculation out there. It's what keeps everyone in business," Epstein said. "The status quo is the most likely scenario."


The most likely destination for Garciaparra, if he is traded, would be Los Angeles. Dodgers manager Jim Tracy wouldn't confirm his team was interested except to say, "We're looking for somebody to fit in the middle of our order.


"Nomar Garciaparra ... is a name that would fit in the middle of somebody's order," he said. "That's what we're looking for."


But it all depends on whether Hicks and Henry can work out the money. Then, Rodriguez has to waive the no-trade clause in his contract.


Rangers general manager John Hart has said he wanted the talks to conclude -- one way or the other -- by the end of the winter meetings so he could resume building his team. But Rodriguez will not put a deadline on the talks.


"You want your clients happy, and you want them achieving their goals," Boras said. "One of his goals is to win."

[mu_agd]

we have until 6pm tomorrow night to see if the manny-arod trade happens...