Damon closing in on four-year, $30M deal. The Red Sox continue to overpay for good players. Last year, they overpaid for bad players. Things are looking up. (ESPN)

Marlins owner Henry, Werner paying record $660M for Red Sox. Dummies. They should have bought one of the "profitable" teams, like the Royals or the Brewers. (ESPN)

Rob Neyer thinks the Indians' long-term contracts with Matt Lawton and Ricky Gutierrez are mistakes. "Statistically, the most similar (recent) players to Lawton were Kevin Bass, Roberto Kelly, Ivan Calderon, Jeffrey Leonard, and Mike Davis." All of those players declined rapidly after age 29. (ESPN)

Ryan Wilkins disagrees with Neyer about Lawton. "Rob seems to have missed a glaring difference between the statistics of Matt Lawton before age 30, and everyone else before age 30: Lawton's walk-rate." (Baseball Junkie)

Jay Jaffe looks at the Yankees' payroll in Remaking the Yankees, Part VII: Adding It Up. (Futility Infielder)

Next scheduled post: January 2. Happy Festivus, everyone.

Wagner rejects $25 million, three-year deal from Astros. Paging Mister Reed…Mister Jody Reed… (ESPN)

Agent: Burkett accepts 2-year deal from Red Sox. Overpriced at $5.5 million per year, but as a durable starter who can pitch 180-200 innings with a league-average ERA, he does have value. Last year, the Red Sox had a bunch of five-million-dollar players with no value (O'Leary, Lansing, Valentin, Saberhagen, Bichette), so this is an improvement. (ESPN)

Martinez agrees to three-year deal with Cardinals. Folly. (ESPN)

Rangers Gamble on Rocker. John Rocker and Carl Everett in the same clubhouse. Wow. (ESPN)

Done deals for Indians. Ricky Gutierrez: 3 years, $11.5 million. Matt Lawton: 4 years, $27 million. They're good players, but they're not stars, and these contracts are too expensive and too long. (Akron Beacon-Journal)

Knoblauch signs one-year deal with Royals. "He brings winning experience and a winning attitude which makes his signing a good fit for our club," says Allard Baird. He doesn't bring anything else, though. (ESPN)

Ann Killion: "Bonds wants a World Series ring. He wants to be happy. And the A's are his best shot at accomplishing both goals." (San Jose Mercury News)

More Yankee analysis from Futility Infielder:

Remaking the Yankees, Part V-Point-Two: Patching the Rotation.

Remaking the Yankees, Part VI: The Bullpen.

Gary Huckabay: "I believe that the Oakland front office will find a way to put a league-average or better first baseman out there, and will do so at a small fraction of the money Jason Giambi will be receiving. Hopefully, some of that leftover cash will be part of long-term deals for Jeremy Giambi and Barry Zito, along with well-considered investments in player development, contracts and extensions, and research into how the club can continue to improve." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chat wrap with Rob Neyer. "[T]he Royals need a leadoff man, but a team like the Royals could only carry a defensive liability like Knoblauch if he were a great leadoff man and/or cheap. And Knoblauch is neither." (ESPN)

Red Sox rid themselves of Everett, add Oliver. They were obviously desperate to get rid of Everett. Yesterday, rumor had it that they were actually going to get something for him (Ray Lankford from the Padres). Instead, they got less than nothing. But at least he's gone. (ESPN)

Cubs get SS Alex Gonzalez from Blue Jays. He's the "good" Alex Gonzalez (I think), but he's not that good. They would have been better off keeping Ricky Gutierrez, who can hit. (ESPN)

Jay Jaffe assesses the Yankees' rotation in Remaking the Yankees, Part V. It seems as if Brian Cashman is reading these columns. The Yankees have now improved themselves at first base (Giambi for Martinez), left field (White for Knoblauch), and in the bullpen (Karsay for Witasick/Wohlers). They've found a good short-term solution at third base (Ventura for Brosius). They have a decent youngish player (Spencer) and a potentially great young player (Johnson) to replace O'Neill and Justice at right field and DH. This team already looks like a 110-win powerhouse, even with shaky starting pitching beyond Mussina-Clemens-Pettite. If they can sign a good #4 starter, they'll be even scarier. (Futility Infielder)

Bill Simmons on the craziness surrounding the Red Sox. "Put it this way: If the Duquette Era were a "Behind the Music" special on VH1, we're long past the part where the band started fighting and the drummer OD'ed on heroin." (ESPN)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for November 17 - December 8. "If the Cubs plan on using Delino DeShields as an outfielder for an extended length of time, it's a sign that they're not very interested in winning in 2002. If instead he's their Opening Day second baseman (potentially sharing the job with Mark Bellhorn), that's a good thing." (Baseball Prospectus)

Indians trade Alomar to Mets in eight-player deal. Wow! The biggest trade since the Robbie Alomar trade. (ESPN)

Ryan Wilkins on the A's' recent transactions (losing Jason Giambi and Jason Isringhausen to free agency, and acquiring Billy "Jason" Koch for two minor leaguers). (Baseball Junkie)

Jay Jaffe looks at the Yankees' third-base options in Remaking the Yankees, Part IV (written before the Robin Ventura trade). (Futility Infielder)

Jay Jaffe analyzes the Robin Ventura trade in Remaking the Yankees, Part IV-point-something. (Futility Infielder)

Red Sox talking to Herzog, Alou for coaching staff. Did Earl Weaver and Tommy Lasorda turn them down? (Yahoo)

Braves get Castilla, move Chipper to left. Fans cheer. (Mets fans and Phillies fans, that is.) (ESPN)

Yankees Deny Giambi Deal. "'There is no truth to it,' GM Brian Cashman said. 'The Yankees have not reached an agreement with Jason Giambi in principle or otherwise. The story is false.'" Yeah, OK, whatever you say, Brian. (NY Post)

Mets deal Ventura to Yankees for Justice. Another good move for the Yankees. It only adds $1 million to their payroll, and gives them a worthy short-term replacment for Scott Brosius. I don't know how it'll work out for the Mets. Justice might have another good year in him, but there's at least a 10% chance that he'll be the most-booed player in the National League. Even at that, he'll almost certainly outhit all of the Mets' 2001 outfielders. (ESPN)

Yankees Deny Ventura Deal. Just kidding. (NY Post)

Don Malcolm on the contraction hearings and the labor situation. He thinks that the arbitrator will rule against the owners, and suggests that the players make some concessions on arbitration if the owners agree to expand. (Baseball Primer)

Say goodbye, for now, to Reblogger. Too unreliable. Blogback has a better reputation, but it's not taking new subscribers right now. Any other recommendations? Post a comment below. Uh...I mean...e-mail me.

Giambi close to agreement with Yankees. Seven years, $122-$125 million. (ESPN)

Karsay-to-Yanks Just About Set Up. "Steve Karsay, a Christ the King product who grew up in College Point in Queens, is on the verge of signing with the Yankees, according to baseball sources." I'd love to write high school sports headlines in Queens. "Christ the King strikes down St. Francis." "Christ the King seeks revenge against Bishop Kearney." (NY Daily News)

Diamondbacks make pitch for lefty Wells. If they sign him, the average age of their pitching staff will go down. (Arizona Republic)

Jay Jaffe on the Yankees' options for improving themselves at left field, right field and DH (their weakest positions in 2001). (Futility Infielder)

Orioles sign Cordova to three-year deal. Financially, not bad, at $3 million a year. But it's a sign (as if we needed another one) that the Orioles don't know what they're doing. Cordova would make a nice fourth outfielder for a contending team. He has no place on a rebuilding team like the Orioles. (ESPN)

Don Malcolm highly recommends Robert F. Burk's two books on baseball's labor history, Never Just A Game (pre-1920) and Much More Than A Game (1921-present). (That's B-u-r-k, with a u. Not the Supreme Court reject.) (Big Bad Baseball)

Bruce Markusen on the 1971 Winter Meetings. Some of the players traded during those meetings: Gaylord Perry, Sam McDowell, Joe Morgan, Lee May, Ken Holtzman, Frank Robinson, Dick Allen and Tommy John. (Baseball Primer)

Smoltz, Braves Close Deal. Three years, $30 million. (ESPN)

Rob Neyer: "[S]ure, the Braves can afford to overpay ... just like the Yankees, who reportedly offered Smoltz $52 million over four years to start for them...You wanna hear something funny, though? The Atlanta Braves supposedly lost money this year. And last year. According to Braves president Stan Kasten in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 'The losses for the last two years have been mammoth. We have never [before] had losses like the last two years... We clearly have had an operating loss -- a very, very serious one -- and I'll leave it at that for now.'" So are they lying, or are they stupid? Both, says Rob. (ESPN)

Ryan Wilkins on Ozzie Smith's Hall of Fame qualifications, Part I and Part II. (Baseball Junkie)

Mets sign 'Japanese Greg Maddux' to one-year deal. How many Japanese versions of American players are there? Is there a Japanese Roberto Alomar? A Japanese Carl Everett? Who is the American Ichiro Suzuki? (Johnny Damon? Darin Erstad?) (ESPN)

Jay Jaffe on the Yankees' offseason goals, Part I and Part II. (Futility Infielder)