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Odds and Ends: Boras, Laird, Baldelli
MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com — ... Links for Monday - Winter Meetings, Day 1. Funny quote from Scott Boras: "There can be a lot of late-night meetings where you're in a room and people are falling asleep.  And you'll have some late-night GMs who want you to drink. I'll allow them to do it, but I won't do it. I do have some interesting things written on napkins over the years." Dave Cameron likes the Tigers' acquisition of Gerald Laird. Buster Olney talked to some agents who believe "the stated concern about the economy is ...

The Laird Trade: What's the Scuttlebutt?
Bless You Boys — ... At FanGraphs, Dave Cameron says Tigers fans should expect "inconsistency" from Laird as a hitter, but his defensive skills are above average.  That could ultimately make him a bargain for Detroit. ...

The Tigers Swap Prospects for Gerald Laird
FanHouse — ... All in all, it doesn't seem like too high of a price to pay for Laird, a capable starting catcher who hit .276 (92 OPS+) in 344 at-bats last season. He'll get the job done without being a complete blackhole and at least has the potential to be above average for his position. In Detroit's lineup, that's all they really need from their starting backstop. ...

Monday night linkaliciousness
Lone Star Ball — ... I have to wonder if Moscoso isn't this year's Terrmel Sledge, the guy we get in a trade and ruminate about and try to figure out where he'll fit in, only to see him moved before the season in another deal.  Moscoso is the type of live arm that lots of teams are going to be interested in, and could be a kicker in a deal involving one of the catchers, one of the expensive starters, or Hank Blalock. Durrett also has a Q&A with Laird up. Over at FanGraphs, Dave Cameron says Laird would be a $10-12 million per year player on the open market. ...

Tuesday Taters
ESPN Feed: neyer rob — ... for $1 million, Monday was "a heck of a day for Dave Dombrowski." At least according to Dave Cameron (who does the math to prove it, here and ...

The Detroit Tigers Use Defense to Save Money
The Big Lead — ... (one-year $1 million) and trading for catcher Gerald Laird (about $3 million). Neither excites with the bat, but both excel with the glove. The Tigers added three wins for $4 million. They paid about $3.3 million per win last season, third highest in MLB. The ...

Off-Season Analysis
U.S.S. Mariner — ... signing, and that made me realize that some of you may not know that I’m doing my non-Mariner writing over at FanGraphs now. It’s the same kind of analysis we do here, just on a league wide scale. Here’s some links to my take on the moves we’ve seen so far this winter: Sabathia to NY - also includes notes about how this is a big time buyer’s market. K-Rod to the Mets Tigers sign Adam Everett and trade for Gerald Laird, as well as folllow up piece on value of role players. Khalil ...

Jason Varitek Got Hosed by Scott Boras
The Big Lead — ... That price, thus far, has been too steep. Boras’ magical binder hasn’t been able to talk teams away from his .220 batting average last year. Teams such as the Tigers realized it was more prudent to pay less for Gerald Laird. He has received no major league offers. ...