Davis, now 30, didn't pitch at all in 2010, taking what was termed a "mental break." He last appeared in the big leagues in 2008 with the Pirates, and has battled control problems in recent years. In his last 96 1/3 innings (that includes his time in Pittsburgh plus a Triple-A stint in 2009), he walked 53 batters and struck out only 38. Davis finishes his career with a 4.82 ERA in 461 innings, having played for the Tribe, Mariners, and Bucs. 

• Catching prospect Devin Mesoraco, the Reds' first-round pick in the 2007 draft, is impressing the club during Spring Training with both his bat and his defense, reports MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
• The Reds didn't make major offseason acquisitions and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that it was the right way for GM Walt Jocketty to approach the offseason.
• Here are a few details on Nick Johnson's minor league contract from MLB.com's Jordan Bastian and Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  According to Hoynes, Johnson can opt out of his contract and become a free agent if he's not on the Indians' Major League roster by July 1.  Cleveland's $2.75MM team option on Johnson for 2012 will cease to be if Johnson isn't called up to the majors some point this season, tweets Bastian.  Of course, if Johnson isn't playing well enough to even earn a call-up, Cleveland wouldn't have been likely to pick up that option for next year anyway.
• Right-hander Jason Davis, who pitched for the Indians from 2002-07, is on a tryout with the Tribe's minor league camp, reports Paul Hoynes (Twitter link).  Davis, who last pitched in the majors with Pittsburgh in 2008, has a 4.82 ERA in 144 Major League games, 56 of them starts.

MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith also contributed to this post

• John Manuel and Jonathan Mayo get us ready for the Rule 5 draft.  Manuel has a second post on it here.
• Sarah Green looks at A.J. Burnett’s possible commutes.
• LEN3 suggests the Twins might be part of Adrian Beltre’s limited no-trade clause.
• K-Rod signing analysis from Dave Cameron, Jesse Spector, and Keith Law.  Also check out the usual solid analysis over at Ken Davidoff’s blog.
• Law also takes on the Edwin Jackson, Ramon Hernandez, J.J. Putz, and C.C. Sabathia moves.
• The Red Sox are likely to non-tender Kevin Cash.  Josh Bard is one free agent on their radar.  Also, Tony Massarotti learned that the Red Sox are strongly opposed to opt-out clauses.
• UmpBump found some C.C. Sabathia rumors we missed on Monday.  Also, the Brewers’ offer to C.C. had unique clauses and two club options.
• The Dodgers knew Jason Schmidt had a partial rotator cuff tear when they signed him.
• Rany Jazayerli on recent Royals rumors, reliever and otherwise.
• Bruce Miles says the Cubs have some interest in bringing Paul Bako back.
• Jason Davis, Raul Chavez, and R.A. Dickey became free agents.  Davis may be headed to Japan.
• Nick Piecoro says Junior Spivey is looking for a job.
• Much of the money saved from recent White Sox trades was repurposed for Dayan Viciedo.

TUESDAY, 11:28pm: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up the latest information on the Pirates.

• The Pirates have initiated extension talks with Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, and Paul Maholm.  The Braves inquired on McLouth and Maholm, but the Pirates’ demands were "way high" according to an Atlanta official.  Kovacevic mentions Jordan Schafer as someone who could be offered.
• The Pirates had conversations with David Eckstein’s agent, but not negotiations.  The Bucs would probably have to trade a middle infielder for it to make sense.  They never made a formal offer to Mark Loretta, who signed with the Dodgers today.
• The Jack Wilson market is tepid – the Twins have mild interest, the Dodgers have moved on to Rafael Furcal.
• While the Pirates have gotten inquiries on John Grabow, teams apparently want to look at free agent options first.
• John Perrotto says Jason Davis will refuse the Pirates’ Triple A assignment and head to Japan.

The Tigers have other options, as they plan to meet with Adam Everett’s agent next week.

Kovacevic adds that the Pirates removed Jason Davis and Raul Chavez from the 40-man roster today, creating two spots for future moves.

• Common misconception Joe and I keep running into: signing one of the 15 Type A free agents who were offered arbitration will only cost the signing team one draft pick.  The player’s old team also gets a second pick, but it doesn’t come from the new team.  It’s just squeezed into the supplemental round.  Check out a deeper explanation here.
• Nuggets from a Frank Coonelly chat: he expects the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for a potential Rule 5 addition, and they’d still like to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz.
• Pirates pitcher Jason Davis looks like a non-tender candidate.
• Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t have Delmon Young in his preferred starting outfield.
• The Cubs signed pitcher Chad Fox to a minor league deal.
• Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent Brian Goldberg says he’s fine with DHing but is capable of playing the field.  Goldberg thinks Junior can bounce back and have a 30 home run season.
• Click here to listen to free agent reliever Russ Springer talk to The ITD Morning After radio show on 1380 AM.  He’s gotten calls from teams in both leagues, including "World Series participants."  Springer is known to be on the Phillies’ radar.
• Recently I talked to Sarah Small of the Daily Illini.
• SI.com’s Tom Verducci looks at the supposed shortstop revolution that seems to have petered out.
• Dave Cameron respects the Astros’ signing of Mike Hampton.
• Tony Jackson says the Dodgers offered a minor league deal to Juan Castro.
• Royals GM Dayton Moore did a Q&A with fans at MLB.com.  His priority is adding right-handed relief help after trading Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez.  Also, he says Mark Teahen is "more important to our team today then he was in all of 2008 — and he was very important to our team in ’08."
• McCovey Chronicles is skeptical of all the teams blaming the economy.
• Drunk Jays Fans predicts Kevin Mench’s Japan experience.
• Jesse Spector looks at comparable pitchers for C.C. Sabathia.
• Trevor Hoffman may meet with the Mets soon.  Also, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke of "addition by subtraction" yesterday.
• East Windup Chronicle disputes a Richard Griffin column.
• The Phillies are still willing to sign Type A free agents who were offered arbitration, such as Raul Ibanez or Juan Cruz.
• Evan Grant’s latest Rangers mailbag, always a good read.
• Joe Sheehan discusses various poor arbitration decisions by teams.
• Minor league deals for the Mets: Nelson Figueroa, Adam Bostick, and Rene Rivera.  Marty Noble adds Andy Green.
• Rany Jazayerli figures Mark Grudzielanek agreed in advance to reject the Royals’ offer of arbitration.
• As usual, ESPN will be all over the Winter Meetings.  I’m told they’ll be doing daily Baseball Tonight specials and will have a team of seven on the scene in Vegas.
• ESPN’s Peter Gammons says the free agent and trade markets are flooded with corner/DH type bats.  There will be bargains.
• Bruce Miles thinks Milton Bradley would be a nice match for the Cubs.  The biggest issue would be his ability to play right field every day.

I have to be honest, I was hoping to see Davis end up with an NL team short on starting pitching (I picked him up in my AL-only league based on this speculation).  He wants to return to starting, but that would probably only work in the weaker league.  For the Ms, Davis will settle into the bullpen and probably pitch around the sixth inning.

Click here to read U.S.S. Mariner’s take on the acquisition.

VP Jim Duquette has a list of about a dozen trade candidates, and apparently Josh Fogg and Byung-Hyun Kim aren’t included.  Duquette gave us a hint – a player from another team who has fallen out of favor and perhaps landed in the bullpen.  Zack Greinke and Kei Igawa fit the description, but they aren’t getting traded.  Shawn Chacon would hardly help.  Adam Eaton?  Wade Miller?  Jeff Weaver?  Oh yes, Jeff Weaver.  Maybe a little Mazzone could get him right.   Got any other "fallen out of favor" starter candidates? 

UPDATE: Michael Gluskin was able to determine a few of the pitchers on Duquette’s radar, after talking to a club source.  The O’s have had internal discussions regarding Jason Davis, Odalis Perez, and Chan Ho Park.

Davis would like to return to starting after spending all of 2006 as a reliever.  Like a lot of pitchers, Davis could really blossom in the National League.  He gets plenty of groundballs and can keep his walk rate under 3 per nine.

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speculates that the Tigers, Blue Jays, Royals, Phillies, Giants, Reds, Braves, and Nationals would all make sense.  His speculation considers Davis a reliever, so you can really open it up to most teams in baseball if you think of him as a starter.  The Marlins, Braves, and Astros all have a need for starting pitching help.  If I’m Davis’s agent, I’m campaigning for him to join Atlanta and try to work his way into a rotation spot.  Of course, for pure opportunity you can’t beat the Nationals.  Somehow, though, I have a feeling that Omar Minaya will snag him just for depth.