News From Around the League

Things are starting to pick up...

• Former A's and White Sox slugger Frank Thomas has joined a team in the AL East, going north of the border and signing with the Toronto Blue Jays.  On the SB Nation front, Blue Bird Banter seems to enjoy the deal the Jays made, while Athletics Nation feels Beane made the move because he does not believe the Big Hurt could match his remarkable numbers from the 2006 season.  All I know is that the Blue Jays are very serious about competing in the AL East.
• Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports believes that the White Sox are close to making a deal involving pitcher John Garland.  The initial report from Rosenthal is saying that the White Sox are seriously pursuing some of the Rangers young pitching and may even package a deal that involves CF Brian Anderson.  The Rangers could lose Gary Matthews Jr. to free agency, so this would make a ton of sense.
• Also from the Rosenthal bin comes news that the Mets may sign veteran OF Moises Alou to a 2 year deal.  This would be a very interesting move because it would definitely flood the Mets OF with a lot of options.  Some of the talk is that this signing would perhaps make it easier to trade young OF Lastings Milledge for pitching.
• Bill Mueller has retired, and will proceed to join the Dodgers front office staff as a special assistant to GM Ned Colletti.
• In some news from a couple days ago, the Yankees are sticking with Mike Mussina as a pitching option, signing him to a 2 year deal worth $22.5 million.  Moose went 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA last season.