Day one of the Winter Meetings

By Dan in Texas

MLB Radio is reporting the Rangers have come to terms with Vicente Padilla at 34 million for 3 years. I'm sure this will prevent them for going crazy after Zito

From MLB.com:

Zito is the Rangers' No. 1 target as they try to satisfy their off-season goal of adding two veteran starting pitchers.

The Rangers are also looking for a center fielder, and sources said Texas has made inquiries about Toronto 's Vernon Wells, who is from Arlington and can be a free agent after next season.

The question is, can they make such a trade without giving up shortstop Michael Young? Toronto wants a shortstop, but Daniels seems opposed to giving up any major pieces of his team in a blockbuster trade.

"I don't anticipate that," Daniels said this week. –From MLB.com

I think T.R. Sullivan needs his head examined. Why would the Rangers trade Young for a guy with one year left on his contract? They could wait a year and have both players for 2008. Just because Wells is from Arlington doesn’t make the Rangers or Daniels crazy.

Speaking of Zito, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reported earlier today the Rangers have put an offer of 6 years at 102 million dollars. Great start, but I see this number going higher. Now that Padilla is resigned, it's hard to tell if it was only a negotiating tool to get Padilla to the table. We'll see...

Piazza is still out there and the Rangers need a bat to protect Texieria in the order. Big Tex's homerun numbers have fallen, likely due to a shortened swing. Piazza would give Tex more pitches to drive. Stay tuned...

Something big should break tomorrow, there is a buzz that a blockbuster will break sometime on Tuesday.

God, I am ALREADY sick of Manny trade talk in its 4th straight year. Ugh

This just in, MLB radio is reporting the Padres are close to completing a deal with Greg Maddox