MLB Rumors

A baseball source close to ESPN has confirmed that Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers have reached an agreement to a one-year, $10 million contract.  

Back in October, Detroit declined Ordonez's $15 million option, but the team stated that they would want Magglio to return if he successfully recovered from a season-ending ankle injury that occurred in July of last year.

Spring training may still be two months away, but the cold winter months have had little success subduing MLB's offseason hot stove.

The fall of 2010 has been an eventful one in the baseball world, even with the free agent class being as thin as it is.

As always, there are some teams that have added tremendously to their chances of World Series title contention in 2011, and plenty more that have been set back further, whether by their own missteps or by the unexpected choices of those they pursued (cough...Cliff Lee...cough).

Cliff Lee is a Philadelphia Phillie. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are Boston Red Sox. Russell Martin is a New York Yankee. Jayson Werth is a Washington National.

Yes, this offseason has been full of big-name players switching teams. But we're not even close to being done yet.

The Los Angeles Angels missed out on Crawford and Lee, so they will almost certainly make some sort of big move before the 2011 season starts. In fact, they are interested in four of the five players on this list.

The Minnesota Twins are near finalizing a contract with second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka, formerly of the Japanese League's Chiba Lotte Marines, according to reports. Nishioka becomes the overwhelming favorite to start at second base for Minnesota in 2011, and his arrival likely signals the end of Orlando Hudson's brief tenure in the Twin Cities.

Somewhere, Ron Santo is beaming. Kerry Wood, a longtime Chicago Cub who never looked right in anyone else's uniform, will reportedly come home to the North Side of Chicago.

Multiple sources, including Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan of the Chicago Tribune, report that Wood and the Cubs are finalizing a deal.

If true, this news has to warm the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere. Wood became a fan favorite nonpareil in the post-Ryne Sandberg era, and the team has done its public relations a world of good by reeling in Wood just weeks after cutting ties with Sandberg.

The New York Yankees are in trouble, no denying that. The Boston Red Sox have flown past them this winter, and the Yankees' inability to lure free-agent ace Cliff Lee with a colossal seven-year contract offer leave them hurting badly for starting pitching.

Zack Greinke, the second-best available pitcher and current ace of the Kansas City Royals, seems to be on their radar screen.

Assuming that the Royals do not lessen their sky-high price tag for Greinke, though, the Yankees are hardly in the right position to make a deal.

That man is smiling because Adrian Beltre is currently the "hottest" item left on the Major League Baseball winter stove now that Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, Victor Martinez and Adam Dunn have found greener pastures.

Or more luxurious estates with more elegantly manicured lawns amidst a community with higher gates.

You say potato, I say potato...

The New York Yankees struck out on Cliff Lee and now their attention turns to not losing one of their own. Andy Pettitte is currently exploring his options as to whether he will return or not. The southpaw put together one of his best seasons last year. 

Brian Cashman struck out in free agency this winter, something he's rarely done in his brilliant career as the New York Yankees general manager.

Cashman failed to acquire the Yankees' primary offseason target, Cliff Lee, and in doing so, the Yankees were beaten to Carl Crawford by their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

Every season, the MLB Winter Meetings give rise to dozens of fascinating rumors about blockbuster trades or surprising free-agent signings. Some come to fruition, but the majority of them leave us wondering who on earth ever thought such a thing would actually happen.

Trade rumors sometimes spring fully formed from the heads of sportswriters. At other times, teams make cursory inquiries on players they have no real intention of acquiring, and writers misunderstand.