Ramblings: Rangers, de la Rosa, Beltran

Victor Martinez is one of the names
that Texas may be looking at.

• Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports believes that the Texas Rangers might have enough in their budget to sign two premiere free-agents: Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez.  They would first need ownership to approve a budget increase, pushing Texas' payroll to about $90M.  They will have a terrific club if they can re-sign Lee and add a terrific hitter in Martinez.
• Cliff Lee isn't the only lefty the Yankees are talking to, as they have been talking to free-agent Jorge de la Rosa (according to the NY Daily News).  It looks like New York believes de la Rosa would be their consolation prize of choice. Jorge has always been a strike-out specialist (113 in 121.2 innings in 2010) but has lacked command throughout his career, with a whopping 1.523 career WHIP. I'm not so sure he'd be a good fit for the Yankees, as pitching in such a large market might be tough on a guy who has pitched with KC, MIL, and COL throughout his 7 year career.
• New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran told the media that he would indeed waive his no-trade clause if the Mets came to him with a deal.  He also said he'd be willing to move to right-field if new GM Sandy Alderson.

Ramblings: Cliff Lee, Dunn, Iwakuma

• The Yankees have already contacted top free-agent Cliff Lee, which should come as no surprise since most believe his services will come down to a battle between the Yanks and Texas Rangers.
• MLB.com reports that the Washington Nationals have had a three-year offer to first baseman Adam Dunn for quite some time, and the slugger has insisted that they add a fourth year.  It doesn't seem like they are willing to, and therefore Dunn should be changing locations this offseason.
• Japanese import Hisashi Iwakuma and his former club Rakuten are looking over the offers (which are coming from teams such as Seattle, Oakland and Texas to name a few) and should announce where Iwakuma will be going shortly.  The 28-year old right-hander has good perphirals and has posted a career ERA under 4 in his Japanese career. His top bid is thought to be about $16M.

Free-Agent Predictions: Part 1

I'm going to be predicting where some of the top free-agents will be going next year. Let's see how close I can get to actuality, eh?

1. Cliff Lee: The prized left-hander, who I consider the second best pitcher in the game today, is not-suprisingly going to test the free-agent waters. Lee has proved to be dominant in the playoffs and will commend a TON of money on the open market. I have to predict the New York Yankees will sign the lefty, as they obviously have the cash and need another top-flight starter to pair with C.C. Sabathia. It will be interesting to see how a 1-2 punch of lefties will work in the postseason though. 5-years $125M

2. Carl Crawford: Was the star left-fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, will definitely be on a new team next year. Had over 90 RBI in 2010, hitting .300+ and stealing a whopping 47 bases. While it might be bit of a hometown bias, i'm going with my Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim signing Crawford. It won't be cheap though, probably in the 6-year $120M range. He'll slot nicely into the top of the Mike Scioscia line-up.