The New Jersey Nets have lost 14 games in a row and starting to get a little too close for comfort to the league record for most losses to start a season. That record of 17 is shared by the 1988 Miami Heat and the 1999 Los Angeles Clippers.

It would be easy to blame coach Lawrence Frank or the injuries the club has suffered, but former Net Kenyon Martin is apparently thinking there is one person who should accept what he's done, according to the New York Daily News: current owner Bruce Ratner.

Martin, who plays for the Denver Nuggets now, is saying Ratner started the team on a downward spiral right after the team made the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. "When you let people who have never played the game of basketball make decisions, that's what you get," said Martin. "Bruce Ratner came in and made decisions and it affected everything from that point on. The blame for that has to go somewhere. It can't always be on the players."

Perhaps Martin is still bumming that Ratner wouldn't give him the money he wanted for a long-term deal six years ago just after Ratner came aboard. "It's been six years now but it still pops up, just 'What if they would have made the right decision?' " Martin said. "It just seems like when I left it was just downhill from there, and we had something good."

Source: New York Daily News

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels are supposedly talking to the folks with the Toronto Blue Jays about what it would take to bring ace Roy Hallday to their clubs. But it appears that the Boston Red Sox are coming after Halladay hard if you believe a source to the New York Daily News.

The source said that the Sox are "putting on a full-court press" to get Halladay and would love to get the deal done before the winter meetings. While that timeline seems unlikely, the world is full of surprises. Clay Buchholz(notes) and No. 1 prospect Casey Kelly would likely need to be in the package for Halladay, who has one more year on his current contract.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have also asked for the medical records of pitchers Kelvim Escobar(notes) and Rafael Soriano(notes), according to the Boston Herald. The thought is that Boston would like to get Escobar on with a minor-league deal since he has pitched in the majors only once in the last two years.

Source: New York Daily NewsBoston Herald

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay(notes) is soon to be goner, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.

The paper says it is "90 percent" likely that Overbay will be just a name in the history books for the Blue Jays by the time the winter meetings are over in early December. The 32-year-old is scheduled to make $7 million next year, which is pretty good for a guy who only hit .265 with 16 homers and 65 RBIs. The Seattle Mariners supposedly had some interest in Overbay but it isn't clear where he'll end up.

Meanwhile, MLB.com is reporting that the Jays have an interest in free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba(notes). The San Francisco Giants and Torrealba's former team, the Colorado Rockies, supposedly want him on their rosters as well so this may end up in a bidding war.

The Blue Jays have no pro catcher right now since Rod Barajas(notes) is a free agent.

Source: Globe and MailMLB.com

Young New York Mets outfielder Fernando Martinez(notes) may be one of the team's top prospects but the team is apparently ready to put him up on the trading block, according to the New York Daily News.

The 21-year-old Martinez played only 29 games in his first season in the majors due to surgery on his right that he is still recovering from, hitting one homer and scoring 11 runs. But he got a lot of good publicity before then.

Now he's about to try and prove that he's healthy and worth trading for as he starts winter ball for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. The Mets actually held him back from starting winter ball because it was supposedly having trade discussions about him.

Source: New York Daily News

The man at the top of the list in Atlanta is supposedly Billy Wagner(notes), who finished out last season with the Boston Red Sox after spending most of the year as a full-fledged member of the injured New York Mets contingent.

Talks between the Braves and Wagner's rep have reportedly already taken place. Wagner is a Type A free agent but so are Soriano and Gonzalez so the compensation Atlanta would get from any team those two sign with will offset whatever the Braves need to give up for signing Wagner.

The funny thing is that Soriano and Gonzalez are apparently on the list for the Boston Red Sox so this may end up being a trade of sorts.

If Wagner joins the Braves, it will be the third National League East team that he has played for, since also spent time as the closer for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Source: MLB.com

Everybody wants Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay(notes) on their roster but the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim appears to be one of the few teams who is trying to do something about that, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Anaheim tried to snag Halladay this summer and probably tied the Philadelphia Phillies for being the closest to getting a deal done. But former J.P. Ricciardi drove too hard a bargain for both of those teams and so they went without and did pretty well anyway.

The word is that Anaheim will need to give up a slew of prospects along with one of three pitchers -- Jered Weaver(notes), Ervin Santana(notes), or Joe Saunders(notes) - to get the Blue Jays to open that little window for the Angels to negotiate an extension with the 32-year-old Halladay and finish off the trade.

Halladay has supposedly informed the Blue Jays that he isn't going to re-sign after next season.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz(notes) made "only" $418,000 this year while hitting .260 with 33 homers, 76 RBIs, stealing 20 bases, and scoring 75 runs. That low, low price and high production have apparently gotten the 29-year-old Cruz interest from "several teams" who would love to trade for him, according to FOXSports.

But that low price and high production are also making the Rangers loathe to trade Cruz. So the fella who became an All-Star for the first time this year is very likely to be back in the Texas Rangers outfield next year.

Some teams that are believed to be interested include the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants.

Source: FOXSports

Everybody is talking about where Roy Halladay(notes) and John Lackey(notes) are going to end up, but former Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Randy Wolf(notes) is apparently getting a lot more attention from teams. ESPN is saying that teams are being "aggressive" in their hopes of getting him onto their rosters.

The 33-year-old lefty is benefiting from there not being a whole lot of other strong pitching on the market right now. He had a 3.23 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in 214.1 innings this year. Lackey pitched fewer innings (176.1) and had a higher ERA (3.83).

More than half the teams in Major League Baseball are supposedly trying to get him.

Source: ESPN

The Los Angels of Anaheim may be looking for some solid pitching this off-season but the word is that of the two big trade chips of the Detroit Tigers, the Angels would rather have big bopper Curtis Granderson(notes) than pitcher Edwin Jackson(notes), according to FOXSports.

The word is that the Angels like Granderson more simply because his contract runs through 2012 and has a $13 million option for 2013 while Jackson's only goes till the end of 2011.

The Angels are supposedly good potential trading partners with Detroit because the three areas of depth - catcher, low-paying pitching, and shortstop - are what the Tigers need.

In 2009, center fielder Granderson hit 30 homers, had 71 RBIs, FOXSports, 91 runs scored, and 157 hits.

Source: FOXSports

Even though Johnny Damon(notes) wants to stay with the New York Yankees, he seems to be hurting his chances when he makes it public that he's not planning on taking any kind of pay cut from what he was just making, according to the New York Daily News.

The 36-year-old Damon is apparently thinking that he would like a three- or four-year deal and the Yankees supposedly only want to give him a two-year deal. The 2010 salary is still being finalized for the Yanks but it is believed that the team's priorities are to bring back Damon and Andy Pettitte(notes).

The Daily News reports that Damon told friends earlier this year that he would accept a shorter deal from the Yanks but then his annual salary would have to go up.

Source: New York Daily News