Opinion

What do Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford have in common? 

Their prior teams couldn’t afford to keep them. 

Boston's general manager, Theo Epstein, stepped in with gold-lined pockets and pocketed them all.

The annual Winter Meetings in Orlando might be in the rear-view mirror, but that doesn't mean the MLB Trade Rumors haven't slowed down at all.

The shock and the outrage over Jayson Werth's deal with the Nationals has subsided, being replaced by the shock and outrage over Carl Crawford's mega-deal with the Red Sox. Whoever offered Cliff Lee the seventh year on a contract offer was being kept undisclosed like a military secret, and there was talk of the other owners possibly amounting to what would be an alliance to raise the luxury tax for the Yankees and the Red Sox.

While the baseball world watches and waits for Cliff Lee to make his final decision on where to pitch next season, the competition for his services has never been hotter.

Lee's decision seems to be between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, whom Lee took to their first World Series in franchise history last season.

The Yankees' initial offer to Lee was for six years between $140-150 million, and was then increased to seven years and $161 million.

All the New York Yankee brass and fans can do is wait for ace Cliff Lee to make his decision.

The Yankees need Lee, and anyone who doesn’t think so is living in denial.

The recent acquisition of two lefties, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, by the Yankees rival in Boston, does make the Red Sox slightly better.

Here is why:

The Royals are on the verge of making the biggest mistake in franchise history. And that is saying something! 

Trading David Cone for principally Ed Hearn was bad. Carlos Beltran for Mark Teahan, John Buck and Mike Wood was suspect at best. Johnny Damon for a bucket of chicken was downright embarrassing.

Since the Boston Red Sox recent free agent signing of outfielder Carl Crawford, all I've been reading is people saying that the Sox now have a surplus of outfielders and guys like Jacoby Ellsbury are now "prime trade bait".

With that in mind, lets take a look at the current outfield situation and what it may look like for 2012 as well.

When the Cardinals acquired Ryan Theriot from the Dodgers and proclaimed him their staring shortstop, the question arose of what to do with former starting shortstop Brendan Ryan.  

The New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers went through an intense battle in the playoffs this year. But now both sides are at it again, this time over who will win the services of free agent Cliff Lee.

Reportedly, Lee has been offered $140 million over seven years by the Yankees.

Part of being a sportswriter these days is always being on top of your stuff.

I check my e-mail constantly. I’m on Twitter all day. I don’t sleep as much or as well as I used to since I’m always afraid that if I go to bed too early or sleep in too late, I might miss something important.

Carl Crawford has signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. He joins Adrian Gonzalez as the second huge catch the Red Sox have landed this offseason.

The Red Sox are clearly going for it all this year.

Whenever the hot stove heats up with a flurry of blockbuster deals occurring within such a short period of time, it's only natural that a number of subsequent questions arise.

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