What a day for outfielders. Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez went to the Rays, Vernon Wells went to the Angels, Vladimir Guerrero could be going to the Orioles and maybe the greatest outfielder of all time went to a New York City public school.
Some news items on a busy Friday in the majors…
- Yankee fans, be warned: SI's Tom Verducci looks at how Mark Teixeira could be headed for a decline.
- The Yankees could probably afford to sign Albert Pujols as a free agent next winter, but Mike Axisa of the River Avenue Blues blog points to Teixeira's presence and the albatross of Alex Rodriguez's giant contract as reasons why Pujols just doesn't fit in the Bronx.
- Geoff Baker and Larry Stone of the Seattle Times agree that a split between Milton Bradley and the Mariners would be beneficial to both the player and the team.
- Jed Hoyer and Bud Black predict the Padres' offense won't suffer much of a dropoff without Adrian Gonzalez, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock. "I think our offense has the potential to be as good as last year," Hoyer said. "We lost our clear best player [Gonzalez], but we have better balance. The positions we were weak last year, we're better at now."
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman profiles Julio Teheran, a 19-year-old right-hander and non-roster invitee to the Braves' Spring Training camp who has drawn comparisons to Pedro Martinez.
- The Reds wanted to bring back Arthur Rhodes, but the Rangers' willingness to give Rhodes a vesting option for 2012 was an offer Cincinnati just couldn't match, says MLB.com's Mark Sheldon as part of a reader mailbag.