One of the hottest rumors flying around Thursday at baseball's Winter Meetings is that the Boston Red Sox have agreed to trade third baseman Mike Lowell to the Texas Rangers for minor league catcher Max Ramirez.

Lowell, who has dealt with numerous injuries over the past few seasons, is set to make $12 million in 2010, while Ramirez's salary is substantially less; Ramirez made $402,000 last year.

Now that the first decade of the 21st century is coming to an end, it's a good time to look back at the great players of the decade.

Many players have graced the diamond this decade, but only 14 will make the cut for the all-decade team.

*Designated Hitter isn’t actually the position DH. It’s just an extra hitter.

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Day three of baseball's winter meetings has seen a lot more action within just about every team in either league.

Things have even started to pick up for the San Diego Padres. There was talk yesterday that they'd had conversations with both the Giants and the Twins about a trade involving third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

After a few busy days of winter meetings in the MLB, let’s take a look at the fantasy implications of some of the bigger moves:

The Philadelphia Phillies have been getting it done so far this off-season. They've accomplished one of their main goals so far and have made a lot of small pickups along the way.

So far, the Phillies have done a great job, though they can do better.

They replaced defensive master Pedro Feliz with Placido Polanco, who is just as good with the glove. Polanco, who played with the Phillies from 2002-2005, is a great contact hitter and has a .303 career average. He isn't much for power, but will definitely be an improvement at third base.

Kevin Millwood is headed east to Baltimore after the Orioles and Rangers made a splash in the trade market today.

The Rangers receive former closer, Chris Ray and a player to be named later in the swap.

Ray, 27, closed for the Orioles in 2006, saving 33 games. He started the 2007 campaign as the closer, but underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2007.

What an interesting week this has been for Braves fans and front office exec's.

Rarely do the two of those entities go hand-in-hand, but this time around there is no doubt it applies.

Rafael Soriano shocked GM Frank Wren and other higher-up's by accepting arbitration and Wren was quick to announce that Soriano will be traded "well before opening day."

Considering Wren and the rest of Major League Baseball's top executives are in Indianapolis for the Winter Meetings there is a reasonable expectation a deal could be done within the next 48 hours or so.

By now, everyone has heard that the Yankees made a three-way deal with the Tigers and Diamondbacks to acquire centerfielder Curtis Granderson for 2010.

This deal almost ensures the Yankees have found their new permanent fixture in centerfield, and it could mean Melky Cabrera might be on the trading block now.

With this trade, you also have to wonder if the Yankees will be big players for Roy Halladay like they were rumored to be.

Yesterday I received a text from a friend who wrote: "Inexcusable if the Pads non-tender Correia."

That was the first time I had heard any discussion about non-tendering Correia, and frankly, I was a bit surprised.  However, my immediate reaction was not one of anger, but instead, as I usually do, I tried to defend the possible action.

I wrote back: "Well...some guys are getting more in arbitration now than on the market, so it might make sense...[plus] its Correia we're talking about-at best he's an average pitcher."

I must admit: When it snowed last week in Houston, I thought something had happened.

You know, hell had frozen over because the Houston Astros of the Drayton McLane Era were finally on the road to making great baseball decisions and building a team that will be taking champagne showers in a few years.

Gone would be the heartaches of 1980, of Bob Knepper running out of gas in Game Six of the 1986 NLCS, and of Houston's flat performance in the 2005 World Series.

False alarm, apparently.