• The Astros are looking to trade a couple of their veteran players, as Richard Justice writes -- Ty Wigginton and closer Jose Valverde. Within this piece, a source tells Justice that the team is not cutting payroll but keeping it in place, which is a tough thing to do with Carlos Lee's salary about to jump to $18.5 million.
• Heard this: The Dodgers are preparing to make their offer to
CC Sabathia -- and logic tells you that it will be a very large offer, because the gauntlet has been thrown down. The Brewers have a five-year, $100 million on the table and might be willing to take their offer beyond that. The Yankees threw out $140 million over six years and definitely have more to offer. So if the Dodgers jump into this thing, you'd have to assume that at the very least, they'll be in the $110 million range -- and if it is at that level, there would be the built-in hope that CC would give the Dodgers a home-state discount. Anything less than $100 million probably would not be competitive.
The Dodgers need
Manny Ramirez's
star power, writes Kevin Modesti.
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Buster Olney
