Breaking News

Tom Verducci, a baseball insider for Sports Illustrated and the MLB Network, reports that a source has told him that the Philadelphia Phillies have been "very aggressive" in their pursuit of Roy Halladay, and are the front-runners to acquire the right-hander.

The Boston Red Sox continue to be the (laughing stock)...er, talk of the Annual Winter Meetings by announcing a trade for the venerable Boof Bonser...Say what?

Bonser, who missed the entire 2008 season due to right shoulder surgery, has a career record of 18-25 with a 5.12 ERA. The 28-year-old right-hander has 96 career MLB appearances with 60 of them being starts.

In his last full season with the Twins in 2008, Bonser went 3-7 with a 5.93 ERA, striking out 97 and walking 36 in 47 games (12 starts).

The latest breaking news coming out of baseball’s winter meetings and the Houston Astros centers on the signing of third baseman Pedro Feliz.

That signing became official this afternoon, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and confirmed by Astros senior director of digital media Alyson Footer; Houston inked a one-year contract with Feliz worth $4.5 million.

There’s more news coming out of the Astros camp at the winter meetings and the latest word surfacing has Houston garnering two new bullpen additions.

First, the Astros landed Matt Lindstrom in a trade with the Florida Marlins, sending a pair of minor league players (pitcher Robert Bono and infielder Luis Bryan) plus Jorge Jimenez (a minor league infielder picked up in Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft) in exchange for the right-handed reliever.

Breaking News: The Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers are apparently close to making a trade  that involves sending Red Sox oft-injured third baseman Mike Lowell and $8-$9 million to the Rangers for one of the Rangers trifecta of young catchers, Max Ramirez.

Commissioner Bud Selig has to sign off on the deal, due to the large amount of money being exchanged between the franchises.

The (AL) West just got wilder.

Rich Harden has reportedly signed a one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

The deal, which is contingent upon Harden passing a physical, is believed to have an option for 2011 valued at $11.5 million.

It appears as though the Houston Astros will be losing their two-year closer, as well as likely parting ways with a key shortstop they hoped to convert to a third baseman.

With Jose Valverde declining the Astros' arbitration late Monday, Houston general manager Ed Wade also all but ruled out Miguel Tejada’s return.

Houston then turned their focus to LaTroy Hawkins in a hope to at least salvage some of the talent from last year’s success.

This week, Andy Pettitte announced that he wanted to return to pitch in 2010 for the Yankees.

On Wednesday, the Yankees and Pettitte agreed on a one-year deal worth $11.75 million to bring the 37-year-old left hander back for at least one more season.

This is the third time Pettitte has put off retirement to pitch again for the Yankees. It's hard to blame him after a terrific 2009 season.

He went 14-8 in the regular season with a 4.16 ERA in 194.2 innings. He had 148 strikeouts in 32 start.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, there is a preliminary deal between the Rangers and the Orioles to move Kevin Millwood to Baltimore.

Baltimore would send relief pitcher Chris Ray to Texas. Ray is 27 years old and has been less than stellar the past two seasons (2008: 42.2 IP, 16 saves, 4.43 ERA; 2009: 43.1 IP, zero saves, 7.27 ERA).

In 2008, he got shut down because of Tommy John surgery, and he hasn't shown that he's recovered fully yet.

According to reports, including ESPN's Jayson Stark, the Milwaukee Brewers have landed another veteran free agent.

Reliever LaTroy Hawkins has agreed to a two-year, $7.5 million deal to potentially close in Milwaukee.

Hawkins was in Houston last year and rebounded from a stretch of rough seasons starting when he left Minnesota for the Chicago Cubs.