8:48am: Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the "Rays are growing less hopeful of swapping Burrell to the Cubs."
12:28am: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has a few pieces of info from Indianapolis as we approach the early stages of the Winter Meetings:
- Joe Maddon has arrived in Indianapolis, but executive VP Andrew Friedman won't arrive until tomorrow, so don't look for any moves just yet.
- The Cubs are confident that they'll move Milton Bradley and his attitude out of Chicago, but if it's going to be to Tampa Bay for Pat Burrell, it will require "serious negotiation." Topkin notes that there's a near $15MM difference between the money owed to the two.
- Brian Shouse is unlikely to accept arbitration.
- The Rays are interested in Matt Lindstrom, as we've heard, but as of Sunday night, nothing is close between the Marlins and Tampa Bay.