The team apparently got some good interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers but then Stoudemire mucked things up when he said last week that he was leaning toward not opting out and playing a final year in Phoenix. Guess he doesn't want to lose that $17 million the team owes him if he stays.

Due to the financial instability of our world right now, there will only be so many big-money, long-term deals that can be handed out this summer. Some people think Stoudemire is deserving of a big contract and some people don't.

So the teams that thought they were just trading for Stoudemire for the short term are now backing off a little since they don't have that $17 million inked into the budget for next season. A deal could certainly still get done. There is just a new barrier to deal with. Perhaps Stoudemire would agree to opt out if he got traded.

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The Braves need a stronger leadoff hitter and would take Damon if it were only for a year and a few million bucks, which is a far cry from the kind of cash and years Damon wanted at the start of the offseason ($13 million annually, three or four years).

It seems the market is pretty dried up for Damon, except for maybe in Detroit, but these two teams don't appear to be ready to get into any kind of bidding war. So the Braves and Tigers will just wait a little longer to see how desperate Damon gets before making any offer, if room is made in the budget to make one at all.

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Brooks is reporting that DirecTV "is in full pursuit of the longtime broadcaster." DirecTV apparently wants Berman for the Red Zone Channel as well as on a channel that is in progress for Dan Patrick.

Meanwhile, the NFL Network is supposedly after Berman as well, according to The Big Lead. One thing going for the Network is that its president is Steve Bornstein, who Berman is supposedly close pals with after they worked together at ESPN.

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The paper reports that Westbrook was on the radio in Philly Monday and said that he is "just trying to enjoy this offseason and trying to get ready for this next upcoming season."

Of course the word is also that Westbrook is considering retirement because of a testy left knee, not because of the concussions.

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The problem was that Whitney has a no-trade clause and in order to get him to waive it, he was demanding that the Kings give him a three-year extension. Guess he's looking for some stability for the tail end of his playing career. The Kings, of course, refused to give him any kind of extension.

The Kings are likely done looking for a wing before the deadline, according to the Times, but may try to get another defenseman.

Enjoy Raleigh, Ray.

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The rumor is that the team has offers from the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets and will likely decide on one by week's end. However, the Wizards may want any team taking Butler to also take Mike James(notes) or DeShawn Stevenson(notes) in order to clear up some more cash.

The Wizards apparently want a younger player in the deal, which means the Mavs would need to include rookie guard Rod Beaubois. The Rockets have young guard Kyle Lowry(notes) and an expiring contract in forward Luis Scola(notes) to deal along with the massive $23 million expiring contract of Tracy McGrady(notes).

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Still, that severely sprained ankle is bothering him. Right now, he can't even push off on the ankle, which "limits his ability to run and shoot." Just a few crucial little things.
So it is looking likely that he'll end up skipping the game against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday and the All-Star Game this weekend.

"I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to run through a wall just to run through a wall," he said. "Injury-wise, if I feel I can play through it, I will. If it can heal while I'm playing, I'll play. But if it's the type of injury that playing will make it worse, I won't play."

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It'll make nine straight games that Anthony misses if he sits out tonight with the sprained left ankle. If he doesn't play tonight, it seems clear that he'll be back on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs.

"Hopefully I can get back out there tomorrow," Anthony told the Post. "It felt good out there today. It's getting better each day. Pretty much I was doing a lot that I could do before I got hurt."

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He apparently had an awesome spring training last year and never quite lived up to it for the rest of the season, batting .273 with 11 dingers and 41 RBIs. The team doesn't really have much use for the 32-year-old now that it's signed Miguel Tejada(notes) and Garrett Atkins(notes).
Wigginton is due to make $3.5 million this year.

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It comes as no surprise that Snap-On is going to sponsor Penske Racing this year since the two have worked together for 29 previous seasons. Penske will have teams in both series this year with Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. and Brad Keselowski driving in the Sprint Cup and Justin Allgaier and Keselowski driving in the Nationwide.

The word from Jayski.com is that Snap-On is going the extra mile this year, though, and sponsoring the Rusty Wallace Racing Nationwide Series team as well. That team has Brendan Gaughan and Steve Wallace behind its wheels.

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Three of the teams that are asking about McNabb are supposedly the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. Of course, most, if not all, of these calls are totally exploratory at this point as teams start to feel out all the others to see what's going to be available this offseason.

Eagles head coach Andy Reid is sticking to his story that McNabb will be the starter next season, the last one on the QB's contract. Still, it is hard to believe all three of these quarterbacks will be with the team when things get rolling next year.

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Lincecum has asked for $13 million this coming season and the Giants have offered $8 million. It doesn't appear that the sides are particularly pleased with the other and it could go to arbitration. But two major-league executives tell the Boston Globe they think the sides will settle before getting into any kind of heated discussion in front of an arbitrator.

"Both sides will take the road less thorny,'' said one executive to the Globe, "but if you believe in your number, defend it. Ryan Howard(notes) did and he won.'' Howard won a $10 million salary for the 2008 from the Philadelphia Phillies, who had offered $7 million. It was the most ever awarded a victorious player. (And try and tell me that guy isn't worth the bucks.)

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"New York players and reporters trust general manager Brian Cashman, who has told everyone it will be dealt with after the season," says the Chicago Tribune.

It is hard to picture Captain Jeter in any other uniform, but crazier things have happened, especially if the team doesn't offer the 35-year-old some kind of incredible legacy contract.

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"I still have a lot of years of football left ... but strapping on that jersey, yes, this year is the last time," the 32-year-old said Sunday after finishing out the season with nine sacks. "If it was a situation where the guys were better than me, then you just have to move on, but if it's not a changing of the guard, they just have to sit and wait their turn. Nobody is that good enough behind me to be stepping on my toes."

Sure will be fun to watch the Dolphins play against wherever Porter lands next season.

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The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the last two teams interested in Damon are the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers. The Braves aren't expected to offer a lucrative or long-term contract and the Tigers would only make an offer if owner Mike Ilitch decides he wants to expand the payroll. And who wants to do that these days?

Wonder how Damon is feeling about his agent, Scott Boras, these days? After all, it appeared that Damon came into the offseason thinking he'd get a three- or four-year deal somewhere (preferably with the Yanks) for $13 million or more annually.

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The agent for Harris apparently told Thorn that his dismal team would be better served if Harris took over as coach and Kiki Vandeweghe was sent back to the front office where he came from.

Thorn supposedly cut the agent off and said, "Hold it right there. All due respect, he will not be the next head coach here. So if he has any delusions about that, you should let him know it's not going to happen."

And then Harris headed to the exit.

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If they can't find somebody to take him, the team will likely renounce his rights this summer. One reason the team is able to think about losing Thomas is because rookie Taj Gibson(notes) has been delivering in his spot while Thomas was out with an injury.

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Whichever one signs, it won't be tons of cash since the team is expected to have the lowest payroll in the American League Central. The budget is supposedly set around $65 million, which would make the Indians the second-lowest payroll team in the American League, behind the Oakland Athletics.

The 36-year-old Dye supposedly turned down $3.3 million from the Chicago Cubs recently, which may have been a mistake. The 29-year-old Gomes had a great year with the Cincinnati Reds at the plate but he wasn't so great in the field.

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Takahashi will supposedly throw for teams in Arizona on Monday.

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Her decision will be announced today. Her sixth-place finish in Saturday's ARCA debut at Daytona sure helped build some confidence. She's guaranteed a spot because of points Brad Keselowski accrued for JR Motorsports. So Patrick may owe Keselowski some thanks.

If she drives Daytona, it'll likely keep teammate Kelly Bires out of the race, which will surely help build team unity. This apparently was something that was helping keep Patrick from saying she would do the race. Her finish Saturday has apparently helped change her mind.

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The Ducks may end up with 23-year-old Cam Barker(notes) in the deal. Defenseman Wisniewski is making $2.75 million this season and will become a restricted free agent this summer. So his salary is going to jump up pretty dramatically this offseason, perhaps to $4 million or so. So this would just be a short-term deal for the Hawks. But it would clear out the $3.1 million Barker is due for the next two years.

Defenseman Barker was once called the "next Denis Potvin" by former Hawks GM Dale Tallon. Obviously, he hasn't quite lived up to that just yet.

The San Jose Sharks may be trying to get the 25-year-old Wisniewski as well.

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Broncos execs have got to be a little shocked at the 180-degree turn Marshall is taking from last year when he held out of a minicamp and then was a bozo at training camp. However, he went on to make 101 catches this past season.

Maybe he realizes he's got a decent deal? Maybe he suddenly loves living in Colorado? Who knows? Any way you slice it, he's not planning to spread unpleasantness this offseason. Let's see if he can succeed.

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Thomas and the Pats haven't talked since the season ended. The main thing that is driving Thomas away from the team is his distaste for head coach Bill Belichick, who rubbed him the wrong way the day after the first game of the season against the Buffalo Bills when Belichick wasn't happy with Thomas' work at outside linebacker, a position he had never played before.

"I really didn't understand some of the stuff I was told,'' Thomas said. "So I knew at that point it was bigger than what was on the surface. It was bigger than that."

Things apparently got more confusing for Thomas as the year progressed. In Week 6, Thomas was made inactive even though he was healthy. And in Week 14, Thomas was one of the four players sent home for being late to a meeting.

If he is released by the Pats, the Globe thinks he could end up with the New York Jets where he could work with the coach he worked for with the Baltimore Ravens, Rex Ryan.

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The agent emailed NFP: "I am more than 90 percent sure that (Ravens GM) Ozzie (Newsome) was called about Troy wanting a trade." But Newsome is saying he never got the message.

Recently Smith let it be known that he'd love to go play for his hometown team, the Cleveland Browns. And one of his old Ohio State teammates, Donte Whitner(notes), was hoping he could come to the Buffalo Bills.

So it must be pretty clear to Newsome by now that the former Heisman Trophy winner wants out of Charm City. The agent wrote the following tweet Thursday after hearing Newsome hadn't heard of the request: "Heard Ravens Ozzie Newsome did not receive formal Troy Smith trade request. Ozzie pretty please with sugar on top trade the friggin guy."

How can he say no to that? It appears that he will and Smith will be back with the Ravens next season.

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The soon-to-be 31-year-old will supposedly get $1.5 million as a base salary with a slew of incentives thrown in. That's a big drop in cash from the $7.5 million he made last year.

Sounds like a pretty good deal for Bedard, frankly, since his last two seasons ended early due to injury and he isn't likely to hit a big-league mound till June or July of this year.

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Stoudemire can opt out of his contract this offseason and join the seven billion other top-shelf NBA free agents that will be wandering the land, such as LeBron James(notes), Chris Bosh(notes) and Dwyane Wade(notes). But Stoudemire said Thursday he may just leave the wandering to others and go ahead and stay in Phoenix. He's hearing that a contract extension may be offered to him pretty soon, too.

Conventional wisdom had Stoudemire getting traded and then finding a new team this summer.

Life is full of surprises.

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He and his agent haven't spoken with the Chargers so the news is coming to them through the media.

If LT is still on the Chargers' roster on March 5, the team will owe him $2 million and if the team somehow thinks it can convince Tomlinson to play for them this year, he's owed $5 million in salary. Tomlinson is willing to toss that money out the window, though, and says he'll "definitely" find work with another team.

The running back has 12,490 career rushing yards and 153 touchdowns and is sure to get interest but it's unlikely he'll get the same sort of dough the Chargers were slated to pay him.

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The woman, Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in Florida yesterday. Irvin's lawyer is saying that she's been trying to get $1 million from Irvin before going public with the accusation.

Of course this isn't Irvin's first brush with legal troubles. He was arrested back in 1996 at his 30th birthday party for cocaine possession and had to pay a $10,000 fine and put in some community service. That same year a woman falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her. She ended up paying a fine and spending three months in the slammer. He was also arrested a year after retiring for drug possession though the charge was dropped. Then he was arrested for an unpaid speeding ticket and possession of drug paraphernalia, which the cop saw in his car. That stuff belonged to his brother, Irvin said. And last year he was supposedly the victim of a carjacking that had two guys with a gun confronting him but then leaving him alone when they found out who he was. The police said later that Irvin wasn't helpful at all in the investigation, which was suspended two weeks later.

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Washburn is saying he'll retire I he doesn't get a decent offer for this season. Part of the problem may be that he is reportedly limiting his options to the already loaded up Seattle Mariners and the Minnesota Twins, the team nearest his Wisconsin birthplace. If Washburn opens up the gates a little wider, he is likely to find some team willing to give him an incentive-laden contract.

After all, the guy had some crummy starts after he was traded to the Detroit Tigers from the Mariners, but he went 9-9 overall with a 3.78 ERA and 100 strikeouts. Seems like there are plenty of lefthanders with way worse stats than that getting decent cash.

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Barajas is, of course, the backup plan to Yorvit Torrealba(notes), who ended up with the San Diego Padres this year when the Mets supposedly couldn't come up with the right amount of cash to convince Torrealba to come to the Big Apple for two years.

Hall of Fame writer Murray Chass is saying that Mets GM Omar Minaya and his employees apparently couldn't deal with more than one free agent at a time this offseason, telling agents that they were interested in players but needed to deal with other players first. No agents were willing to wait for the Mets to finish up things with the people in front of them. One agent said his client had the Mets at the top of his list but didn't want to wait and see if it worked out.

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The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers are all supposedly on the list.

The big question, though, is that if any of those teams want to take a risk on trading for Souray who just had surgery on Tuesday to fix up a hand he hurt while fighting with Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla(notes). Souray is planning to definitely be back for the playoffs.

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Cowher, it appears, is ready to consider any offer that comes his way these days, though he's pretty happy in the CBS analyst booth. He says he hasn't talked to Bettis in two years so there's no way Bettis could know what he's thinking. In fact, he's hung out with (and traveled to Iraq with) Giants head coach Tom Coughlin more recently than that

So let the Cowher rumors fly!

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The Saints apparently thought about giving him one last offseason after he was nearly named league MVP. It's probably a good thing for Brees that the Saints decided to wait. After all, the guy is the 17th highest-paid quarterback in the league, playing under a six-year, $60 millon contract he signed in 2006. (It's kind of hard to feel sorry for the guy, frankly.)

Negotiations will begin after the Super Bowl.

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And Vick, who seems grateful to the Eagles for giving him a chance, seems pretty ready to move on. He's crowing about how he wants to be a starter next season. Big words for a fella who didn't have much effect on the offense in Philly.

The rumor today being spread, according to Fantasy Football Toolbox, is that the St. Louis Rams are "definitely" the favorite to get Vick this offseason.

Vick knows Rams GM Billy Devaney from when they were both with the Atlanta Falcons. And Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo spent years in Philly and is likely getting first-hand reports from Eagles head coach Andy Reid on whether Vick is worth dealing for or not.

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The Mavs are saying it won't happen but folks who know Howard are supposedly saying he's headed to the Toronto Raptors or the Miami Heat. It's not like the Mavericks will miss him that much. He's having a horrendous year this year. (Maybe too much offseason pot smoking?)

Still, a lot of teams are apparently interested in Howard but don't likely have the pieces that the Mavericks would like in return. Mavs owner Mark Cuban and all his minions aren't happy with the team right now so a shakeup may be coming. Even if it's not Howard, it could be Drew Gooden(notes) or Erick Dampier(notes). Someone is likely to go.

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Wojnarowski's sources say that the Nets made it clear to Harris that he wouldn't be on any list to take over coaching duties there anytime soon. That gave Harris pretty much no incentive to deal with "the immature elements of the Nets' locker room," Wojnarowski writes.

"He decided he was just too old to deal with that [stuff]," a source told Wojnarowski.

Now Harris will get to sit at home and watch the whole thing play out on TV like the rest of us.

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It isn't clear whether Boras is capable of feeling remorse but you gotta think there's a tiny ounce of it coursing through his veins about the way he played his hand on Damon this off-season. Damon and Boras came out strong after the World Series and said the 36-year-old wanted a three- or four-year deal for $13 million or more annually. Damon's former team, the New York Yankees, barely blinked.

While Boras and Damon waited, the rest of the market moved on and now the pair are in a whatever-they-can-get kind of mode. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said the team is "not close to making any kind of deals at this point." And the two sides haven't discussed any possible deals yet.

Damon is now supposedly looking for a two-year, $11 million deal.

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As of now, Pujols will be spending his seasons in St. Louis till the end of 2011 but the Cards don't want to wait longer before making a play to keep the 29-year-old back-to-back National League MVP in town for much, much longer. Pujols has previously made it clear that he doesn't want to do any negotiating during the season so the team is trying to get as much done now as possible.

The word is that the annual salary Pujols should expect is close to $30 million.

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While A-Rod and Jeter bask in their world championship, Garciaparra gets to look back on his last season as a backup for the Oakland Athletics, hitting .281 with three homers and 16 RBIs.

He's got 5,596 at-bats in the book and likely wants to spend more time with his wife, Mia Hamm, and their soon-to-be three-year-old twin daughters.

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It doesn't look like the sides are going to be able to avoid an arbitration hearing and Lincecum seems sure to win. After all, the guy has won two Cy Youngs in a row. I mean, c'mon! But the interesting part is that the team has supposedly tried to convince Lincecum to talk about a two-year deal and he has apparently scoffed at the idea.

It's not clear why the Giants would want to create a contentious relationship with a guy who has won 40 games for them in the last three years.

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Patrick is saying that it doesn't matter how well she does on Saturday at Daytona, she won't know for sure till next week. "(Finishing high) doesn't mean that I'm ready for that race," she told the AP. "Maybe I didn't get put in very many tough situations."

She says she's looking to find some comfort level in her Nationwide car as she moves forward. "Every level you step up, if you're not prepared, it's just exponentially harder," she said.

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Kovalchuk, who has already scored 31 goals this year, becomes a free agent this summer and the word is that Thrashers GM Don Waddell isn't allowing whatever team ends up with Kovalchuk to negotiate a long-term deal with the Russian sniper before a trade happens. That means we'll all be lucky enough to deal with a whole new batch of Kovalchuk rumors this summer when he becomes a free agent.

The 26-year-old who was drafted first overall back in 2001 has supposedly been told by his current team that he'll be moved this week since he supposedly turned down an eight-year, $80 million extension offer from the team.

The Philadelphia Flyers are supposedly in the mix as well, but the team would have to trade away a good chunk of salary in order to fit Kovalchuk so it doesn't appear highly likely.

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The team is apparently not happy with the 29-year-old's output, which adds up to only 12 goals and 8 assists so far this year. He has another year left on the three-year, $12 million deal he signed back in 2008.

Folks keep waiting for him to have another 30-goal season like he did in 2005-06 and 2006-07 with the Montreal Canadiens. It was when he followed that up with a 14-goal season that the Canadiens were happy to let him go and the Bruins signed him. Seemed to work fine last year when he scored 27 goals but somehow isn't quite happening this season.

The trade deadline is March 3 but most teams are hoping to get deals done before the Olympic trade freeze starts later next week. That freeze comes undone March 1 and then teams will only have about 48 hours to get anything done before the trade deadline, which isn't exactly ideal to getting a quality trade done.

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Guess Cameron Wake(notes), the linebacker who moved from the BC Lions to the Miami Dolphins last offseason, must have given him some pointers on making the jump to American football.

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Former Houston Rockets president and CEO George Postolos has apparently put his second offer on the table (his first one supposedly fell apart last year) and Jordan has till the end of February to match it.

It remains to be seen if the investors who are working with Jordan either have the dollars or inclination to match the offer by Postolos.

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Crittenton has a $1.48 million expiring contract and every team is anxious to pick up such things this year due to the bountiful crop of free agents that will come available this summer: LeBron James(notes), Dwyane Wade(notes), Amar'e Stoudemire(notes), Chris Bosh(notes), and so on. There are no rules about trading suspended players.

Then Crittenton would probably get released and be eligible to go play overseas.

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At least five teams - the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox - are interested and some will be at a throwing session Lowry is having to show folks the lefty who won 14 games for San Francisco in 2007 despite missing the season's last month can still get the ball across the plate.

That was supposed to happen today, but the session was postponed. "If he's at 90 percent now, we're going to allow him the time to get to 100 percent, because we know clubs have questions based on the time he's missed," said his agent.

He apparently expects to earn a one-year, incentive-laden offer somewhere.

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The quarterback situation in Philly is unpredictable. There have already been plenty of rumors about Donovan McNabb(notes), Kevin Kolb(notes), and Vick all getting traded one place or another. The current rumor is that the team will pick up the $5.25 million option it has on Vick and see if he can play more of a role this coming season.

The report doesn't have a lot of logic to it. Why would a team pay that much for a third stringer? It still appears that Vick will either get traded or released in March.

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Tomlinson has two more years left on that deal, which General Manager A. J. Smith apparently tried to restructure last offseason. Now LT is crowing to radio station XX 1090 about how there is absolutely no way he'll restructure his deal this summer "under any circumstances."

Tomlinson is unhappy with the way the team is working right now and thinks people need to be a little more focused on the game, but he's apparently not unhappy with the paycheck he's receiving at this point.

A trade or attempted buyout would come as no surprise.

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Whatever the truth, it appears the Marlins have some interest in bringing Branyan aboard. The supposed contract that ESPN heard about has a low base salary and lots of incentive clauses.

The guy hit 31 home runs last year but the 34-year-old's season ended in late August because of back problems so teams apparently have been skittish about signing him. There also appears to be a far outside chance that he could return to the Cleveland Indians, where he last played in 2002. One place he won't be returning to is the Seattle Mariners since the team traded with the Boston Red Sox for Casy Kotchman.

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Those teams must be wanting to give Giles a minor-league deal. After all, the 39-year-old only hit .191 last year in the 61 games he was limited to due to a knee injury. He has a 15-year career average of .291 and has hit 287 homers over that time, though only two of them last year.

His agent is saying that he'll make a deal before week's end. If the knee still gives him issues in spring training, the rumor is that Giles will then go ahead and retire.

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The Thrashers and Kovalchuk's agent have apparently not had any discussions in more than a week. Not a good sign for Thrashers fans. After all, Kovalchuk is the franchise's all-time leader in games, points, goals and assists.

The Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins are also thought to be in on trade talks for Kovalchuk. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames have both cleared out a chunk of salary space in recent trades so they have both now been added to the list as possible places for Kovalchuk to land in at least the short term since his contract runs out on July 1.

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Czech-born defenseman Tomas Kaberle(notes) will apparently soon get to add "former Maple Leaf" to his resume. The Leafs are deep at defense and Burke isn't going to trade Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin(notes), or Mike Komisarek(notes). The latter two Burke signed to deals last summer.

Kaberle has a no-trade clause in his contract, but it runs out this summer so Burke will either trade him now or once the summer hits.

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That clearly isn't happening in Philly and Vick's rep has reportedly talked to the team about releasing his client from the second year of his contract.

"(My agent) is just trying to get an understanding on what we thought was the best-case scenario and how we should approach the situation in regards to being respectful," Vick said. "We thought that was important. We didn't put a timetable on it but it should happen pretty soon. So, we'll see."

The word last week was that head coach Andy Reid told the 29-year-old Vick he would get traded before the draft in April.

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After all, if the team keeps the 34-year-old Allen, it'll open up a $20 million hole in the team's salary structure this offseason and Boston doesn't want to totally miss out on that. No matter how you slice it, the team isn't likely to re-sign Allen this summer.

The 15-year veteran is supposedly interested in heading to the Miami Heat or, in order to stay near his home in Connecticut, the New York Knicks.

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"Now we're in the process of working on Gary's extension, and I think probably by next week, we'll have his finalized," McNair told the paper. "His will run at least one year longer than (2012), maybe more."

Kubiak has run the show in Texas for four years now. In 2006, the team went 6-10 and then 8-8 the next two years. So Kubiak is on a long, very slow road to greatness in Houston, it appears.

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Johnson rushed for 2,006 yards last season and had a base salary of $385,000. This coming season, he's supposed to make $560,000. So it would take a doozy of a raise to get him up to the top ranks. The St. Louis Rams' Steven Jackson is currently the highest paid running back; he signed a five-year deal in 2008 for $48.5 million.

"Hopefully they'll want to give me a new deal. I think I deserve to be the highest paid running back in the league, or even the highest paid offensive player besides the quarterback," Johnson told the paper. "But it's not like I am not going out in the media saying, ‘Pay me, I want a new deal now.' I am just saying, if they were to pay me, I want that."

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He apparently went on ESPN's Jim Rome Show yesterday to spread the word as well. You can bet this didn't set phones a-ringing in the Dolphins' front offices. After all, Porter will turn 33 soon and has $4.8 million coming to him this year in bonuses and salary. He did have nine sacks last year, but what team would want a guy who is making this kind of public display of wanting a trade?

In the end, Porter will get his wish. He'll certainly not be in the Dolphins' 2010 plans and will certainly be off the roster, but it remains to be seen what roster he actually fits on right now.

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The loss of Curtis Granderson(notes) and Placido Polanco(notes) at the top of the Detroit batting order this offseason may inspire the Tigers to go ahead and sign the 36-year-old Damon to a deal but certainly not the three- or four-year deal he wanted when the season ended last October.

Boras apparently hadn't actually spoken to Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski about Damon's desire before informing the paper.

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The 32-year-old switch hitter will make a decision this week and the Nationals are apparently at the head of the pack of teams that want to sign him, which reportedly includes the Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies as well as another American League team (that isn't the Minnesota Twins). The holdup is that the four-time Gold Glove winner doesn't want to lower his price too much. Nationals players Ryan Zimmerman(notes), Jason Marquis(notes), and Ivan Rodriguez(notes) are all apparently wanting Hudson to join the team.

Hudson reportedly would like to making $9 million this season. Wouldn't we all, brother.

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