Winter Meetings: Day Two

Backup infielder to replace Nomar? Mark Loretta!
Starting third baseman? Casey Blake!

Two signings down - who knows how many to go? I was a litle surprised to see the Dodgers go three years with a fourth year option for Blake. The rumor was that the Twins and Dodgers were squaring off over him with neither team wanting to give a third year. After the Twins backed out, I thought for sure they'd be able to get him for two years with a third year option. The deal looks okay right now but when Blake's about to hit 40 years old, they may regret going that long.

The Blake signing cements Dewitt going back to second base which should be a good thing for him. That means there's only one spot on the infield to be concerned about. The Dodgers are back in on Furcal but seem unwilling to give him four years - understandable, no? There's a decent-sized length list of teams in on Furcal so it's a long way from a done deal buuuuuuut... you'd have to think that a reopening of discussions with Raffy at all is a good thing. Rumors say they don't want to go over two years but three would seem almost a lock to be needed. This one is foggy and I can't really figure out which way it'll go.

There's some speculation today that the Dodgers hold all the cards in negotiations with Manny which I kinda implied last night. Coletti met with Boras and the result was the announcement that Manny is still interested in being a Dodger. Well, that's good news! But Coletti didn't really sound like he knew what was next. Nothing I've read has changed my gut feeling that he'll end up back as a Dodger but anything can happen.

The Saito thing picked up a notch as it appears that Friday is the deadline to tender contracts and the Dodgers just aren't sure if they want to make that offer apparently. If they don't, the bullpen situation gets pretty cloudy. Does Broxton get another shot to close? Is Hoffman a legit possibility? With K-Rod and Wood being snatched up, the options at closer are growing slim.

Now what about CC Sabathia?

Well, the Giants apparently think they're the odds-on favorite to land him - which makes me a little nervous. The Yankees are in full court press mode right now, visiting him yet again to try and land the big free agent fish. The Dodgers apparently remain players in this situation but only if they can fill their other holes in a financially conservative fashion. Obviously, that'd have to be pretty quick to make it happen. So far, so good. But I can't imagine if they get Manny back that they can afford CC too. And if they land CC, they definitely need to go on the cheap for the fifth starter - Stults, Kuo, Macdonald, Park. There was some Kris Benson talk this week which is a potential low-risk, high-reward move too. Continued talk on the Randy Johnson front today as well. All the California teams except for the rebuilding Padres are in on RJ.

Oh, and in a "well, that's interesting" note, apparently Kevin Towers was quoted as saying he hadn't talked to Coletti about Peavy in weeks. The pricetag must've scared our GM off - probably a good thing.

The plot thickens - stay tuned!