• The Cardinals are pushing for a meeting with Scott Boras at the Winter Meetings to discuss whether or not they have a legitimate chance to bring Holliday back to St. Louis.
• If they were to retain Holliday, the club would be content to give David Freese his shot at third base and spend its leftover money on the rotation rather than infield help.
• Re-signing Mark DeRosa is one alternative to Holliday in left, although the Cardinals understandably aren't fans of DeRosa's current asking price of three years and roughly $24MM.
• The Cards had interest in bringing Chone Figgins aboard, prior to his agreement with the Mariners.
• St. Louis continues to say that they don't have leverage to make trades after parting with a number of top prospects, but Strauss mentions that some teams looking to shed salary could make sense. He names Dan Uggla, Kevin Millwood, and (if he's made available) Brandon Inge as some candidates, though the Marlins are asking a lot in return for Uggla.
• Strauss also mentions Adam Dunn, who's owed $12MM this season as a good fit, though the Nationals aren't intent on moving him. According to Strauss, several within the Cardinal organization were pushing for Dunn over Holliday last season before the deadline.
• If the Cards are able to sign Holliday, backloading the contract as they typically do with large deals won't be beneficial as the expensive years will coincide with those of Albert Pujols, if and when he, too, gets a new contract.
• Strauss names Vicente Padilla and Ben Sheets as possible free agent arms to target.
• Interesting note on the Cardinals from Strauss; they haven't made a trade at the Winter Meetings since 2003 when they acquired Adam Wainwright, Jason Marquis, and Ray King.

Whatever comes of Holliday, team president Bill DeWitt plans to be active this offseason. Strauss quotes him, "If we don't spend on Holliday, we will spend on other players."

• RotoAuthority looks at projections for Chris Davis.  35 home runs next year?
• Bill Madden suggests Paul Kinzer screwed up in both the Rafael Furcal and Francisco Rodriguez negotiations.
• More details on Dan Johnson – the Rays are selling him to a Japanese team for $100,000-500,000.
• Tim Redding’s agent says "the Mets are very much in the mix" for the righty.
• Juan C. Rodriguez confirms the Marlins’ interest in Derrick Turnbow, but says they aren’t going after Ray King.
• The Rockies could pursue Braden Looper.
• The Orioles have expressed interest in Phillies catcher Chris Coste.
• New National Josh Willingham likes the Marlins’ young talent.
• New Phillie Raul Ibanez likes the chances that the Mariners will have a better offense in 2009.
• The AP has details on the perks in the C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett deals.
• Ken Davidoff looks at the impact Mark Teixeira’s decision will have on six teams. Amazing how one deal will shape so many teams’ plans.
• Buster Olney writes that many players are going to make much less than expected in 2009, including Manny Ramirez.  In that same blog post, Olney notes that his colleague Jerry Crasnick says the Angels’ signing of Juan Rivera takes them out of the market for Manny.
• The D’Backs’ discussions for Tony Clark are progressing.

Other notes from Renck…the Rox have had productive talks with Glendon Rusch, and Ray King has drawn interest from the Phillies, Marlins, and Pirates.

King was on the Nationals’ Opening Day roster, but only spent 12 games with the Nats before heading to Triple A (with the affiliates of the White Sox and the Astros). Though his major league ERA has been (well) over 4.00 since 2005, in 32 games with Houston’s AAA Round Rock Express he posted a 2.25 ERA.

Sarah Green writes for the Boston Metro and UmpBump.

• Bobby Kielty’s hand injury drastically reduces the chance of a Coco Crisp trade within the next month.
• Who needs a lefty reliever?  The Nationals’ Ray King would like to be traded rather than head to Triple A.
• Mike Sweeney was excited about signing with the Twins last winter, but the Craig Monroe trade ended that possibility.  Susan Slusser doesn’t expect the A’s to keep both Frank Thomas and Sweeney for very long.
• Joe Sports Fan ranks the seven best long-term contracts.  Any additions?  How about Dan Haren at four years and $12.65MM?