"The news caught me by surprise," Acta said. "It takes a lot of courage for him to do that. As a manager, I appreciate what he did if he felt that he was being a distraction here. I will always be grateful and have a soft spot for Jim."

9:48am: The Washington Post has provided a link to Bowden’s official statement.

9:04am: According to Chico Harlan of the Washington Post, Nationals GM Jim Bowden has resigned.

ESPN.com has more, including quotes from Bowden. Most notably, Bowden says, "I’ve become a distraction," and, "my ability to properly represent the Washington Nationals has been compromised."

Finally, Bill Ladson of MLB.com captures a classic quote from the GM: "I have become a distraction. Unless you are Manny Ramirez, there is no place for distraction in baseball."

6:27pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman notes that "the sides are now about $1.5 million apart in their offers."

6:19pm: According to Diamond Leung of the The Press-Enterprise, Manny directed Boras to make the Dodgers a third two-year contract proposal on Saturday "with some deferred compensation."

"Our most recent offer Saturday morning covered two years with some deferred compensation ($43.5 millon net present value)," Boras wrote in an e-mail to reporters.  "Manny directed me to compromise between the Dodgers last offer of $42 million net present value ($45 million with differed compensation) and our $45 million dollar without differed money. However, we have yet to hear from them on our last three offers."

3:16pm: According to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times Dodgers owner Frank McCourt will not consider Boras’s counter-offer of two years and $45MM in non-deferred payments with an opt-out clause. The Dodgers have pulled their most recent offer according to the AP (via ESPN), so the two sides are back where they started.

Hernandez has a source who says Boras values $45MM in deferred payments at about $42MM in present value. Negotiations are set to resume Monday at the earliest.

12:57pm: Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports thinks the Dodgers may have made their best offer to Manny.

12:53pm: According to Tony Jackson of the Daily News, the Dodgers might suspect Scott Boras of failing to report every offer to his client, Manny Ramirez.

12:30pm: Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com has a Sunday report on the progress of negotiations between the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says, "No new news." The Dodgers are not giving consideration to the most recent proposal offered by Scott Boras, and are in a bit of a lull at this point.

Says McCourt, "At some point, and you’ll all know when, we will resume discussions, because we do want Manny. We do want Manny to be a Dodger this year."

If you’re looking for a refresher on what exactly a "sign-and-trade" deal is, check out Ken Rosenthal and La Velle E. Neal III’s explanations.

SATURDAY, 4:45pm: In a post for The Globe and Mail, Jeff Blair writes about the Blue Jays’ rumored interest in Orlando Cabrera. According to Blair, "The Blue Jays interest in Cabrera extends back for a few seasons."

Blair says the Jays would need to clear some payroll before signing Cabrera. He expects the Jays to trade both Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay, and depending on how things go this spring, perhaps include a young arm like Brandon League’s to "sweeten" the deal. Certainly, freeing up payroll would be an incredible achievement in this economy.

Whether it’s Orlando Cabrera or someone else, Blair says, "there is a sense among some baseball people that the Blue Jays quiet off-season has ended."

1:44pm: Lennon reports that Santana’s elbow tests have been delayed because winter storms are expected in New York.

10:29am: An encouraging update from Lennon at Newsday. Johan Santana completed a bullpen session this morning without pause, and did not report any elbow discomfort. Santana will still go to New York for tests.

10:01am: Marty Noble of MLB.com confirms that the exam of Johan Santana’s elbow will take place, but says that Minaya did not specify that an MRI would be part of the procedure.

Noble also puts the potential injury into perspective: "Though the tightness is not considered serious, it has delayed Santana’s conditioning and made it unlikely he will be the Mets’ Opening day starter April 6."

9:42am: We don’t always report every injury here at MLBTR, but sometimes the news is so big that it can’t really be ignored.

According to David Lennon of Newsday.com, Johan Santana is expected to be sent to New York for some precautionary tests, including an MRI, and an examination by team physician David Altchek.

Lennon quotes Mets GM Omar Minaya himself as referring to these tests as "precautionary." But this is certainly something to keep an eye on.

8:25pm: The St. Petersburg Times’ Joe Smith recalls Schilling’s comments about the Rays from 2007:

"It’s one of those situations you’d certainly have to look at," said the 42-year-old right-hander.  "Knowing that I’m probably going to spend one more year playing, if circumstances happen and things happen and they made some moves that were positive, I’d love nothing more than to finish my career working on a pitching staff where I know that there are young guys that are going to be positively impacted by me being around (after) I was gone. I enjoy that. I love working and talking and being around young pitchers."

SATURDAY, 1:34pm: David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Curt Schilling would be interested in coming back to baseball to pitch for either the Chicago Cubs or the Tampa Bay Rays. Writes Whitley:

Schilling, who has a career mark of 216-146, said money would not be a major issue. He’s looking for a team that has championship potential and has never won a title. "The challenge would be in a place like Tampa Bay or Chicago," he said.

Schilling is not aiming to be on an Opening Day roster, and furthermore has yet to decide whether to come back next season at all. "I’m hemming and hawing right now," Schilling said; "I’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks."

2:25pm: According to a press release from the team, the Kansas City Royals have signed Juan Cruz to a two-year deal, with a club option for a third year.

While it is Royals policy to keep contract terms under wraps, Ken Rosenthal has contract details. The first two years of the deal are worth $6MM, while the option year would pay Cruz $3.5MM if exercised.

Rosenthal also has details on the Royals’ ability to complete the deal without negotiating a sign-and-trade with the Diamondbacks:

In the end, no sign-and-trade solution was necessary. The Royals preferred to lose their second rounder rather than give up prospects to the Diamondbacks. The team’s first-round pick is protected because it finished with one of the 15 worst records in the majors last season.

Florida Marlins – Anibal Sanchez, $400,000
L.A. Angels – Jered Weaver, $465,000
Arizona Diamondbacks – Tony Pena, $430,000
Detroit Tigers – Armando Galarraga, $430,000
San Francisco Giants – Jonathan Sanchez, $455,000

Harris was selected in the 13th round of the most recent draft. His contract will take affect after Harris serves the required five years of active duty for the Navy.

Harris averaged 11.78 strikeouts per nine innings in his four-year pitching career at Navy, while posting a 2.51 ERA.

According to Miles, Hendry "seems excited" about adding Koskie. The Cubs could use Koskie as a backup third baseman, Miles writes, despite Hendry’s assertion that the team is "very happy with [Mike] Fontenot and [Aaron] Miles and what they’re doing in getting looks at third base."

As for the Schilling rumor, Miles says the Cubs have not heard directly from the pitcher, but are open to the idea of potentially adding him. Says Miles’ source within the Cubs’ organization: "Why not?"

The Royals’ signing Cruz may entitle the Arizona Diamondbacks to two compensatory draft picks, since Cruz was a Type A free agent offered arbitration. However, a potential sign-and-trade deal with the Diamondbacks may affect those circumstances. Writes Olney:

It was not immediately clear on Saturday afternoon whether Cruz would just sign with the Royals, or if a sign-and-trade with the Diamondbacks would be part of the process.

We’ll keep an eye on this one.

Even after signing Jason Varitek, the Red Sox were rumored to have been continuing their pursuit of a trade for a young catcher. In today’s article, Massarotti writes that at the beginning of Diamondbacks camp, Miguel Montero was informed that "no deals were imminent." Instead, it appears the Red Sox will stick with Josh Bard for now.

However, Massarotti also mentions another interesting in-house option for the Red Sox in George Kottaras. Massarotti summarizes Kottaras’ situation:

Kottaras is out of options and could be a threat to beat out Bard, though the more likely scenario is that the Red Sox are trying to increase Kottaras’ trade value so that they do not simply lose him on waivers.

It’s probably going to be ’Tek and Bard on Opening Day. We’ll see if the Red Sox end up acquiring, or even trading away, any young catchers in the meantime.

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals may have been one of them. Strauss has a quote from Cardinals’ GM John Mozeliak: “We checked it out because we obviously are looking at ways to fill the position, and somewhat to gauge where the market was going."

As for what the Cardinals plan to do with second base in the near future, Strauss writes:

“I’m comfortable with what we have in camp,” Mozeliak said. “Ultimately, if we have to address it, we have another five or six weeks to do so.”

I understand the Cardinals’ perspective here, but I still wonder if Mozeliak isn’t even thinking about calling the agent of Mark Grudzielanek.

Hall’s shoulder requires surgery, which will keep him out of the game for nearly four months. The Astros had expected Hall to recover from his injury via rehab over a timeframe closer to one month.

Presumably, Hall will re-enter the market once his health is firmly established. It’s not a stretch to suggest some competitive team might need catching help in the middle of the 2009 season, so Hall may find a job yet.

As for the Astros, their catcher competition going forward consists of a battle for two spots between Humberto Quintero, J.R. Towles, and Rule 5 pick Lou Palmisano.

We’ve mentioned the Koskie story before. Here’s to hoping that Koskie finds a way to get back into the game.

Additionally, Slusser points out that signing Garciaparra would not preclude the Athletics from also going after Orlando Cabrera. However, it seems as though the two parties continue to have difficulty in bridging the salary gap, despite Cabrera’s reducing his salary demands from $9MM to roughly $5.5MM at this point.

Also on the A’s radar are a pair of relievers: lefties Dennys Reyes and Andrew Sisco.