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

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

New York Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher(notes) had a tough postseason at the plate but still got to celebrate at the end of the whole shebang when his team became the World Series champions. Word came out yesterday that the team was supposedly making the switch hitter available on the trading block, leading some to believe that he could have been part of a package for the Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay(notes), who the Yanks are rumored to be interested in bringing to the Bronx.

However, an exec on the team has apparently told the New York Post that Swisher isn't going anywhere and the Yankees are very happy with having him out in right field.

So now Swisher can just go ahead and relax and get that tattoo he was planning to get this winter to honor his departed grandfather that will match the one that he has on his chest in honor of his grandmother. The pair basically raised him after his folks got divorced.

Source: New York Post

If you're the World Series champ, might as well try to get better, right? The New York Yankees have apparently told the Toronto Blue Jays that it is interested in trading for ace Roy Halladay(notes), according to Sports Illustrated.

Halladay only has one year left on his contract but the Blue Jays let it be known the other day that whatever team is interested in Halladay and makes the best offer will get a time window to try and get Halladay signed to an extension. And the Yankees are, of course, one of a small bunch of teams that can offer Halladay massive bucks over a long term.

It is believed that the Blue Jays would like a package of players from the Yankees that would include Phil Hughes(notes) or Joba Chamberlain(notes). Toronto's last GM, J.P. Ricciardi tried to get the Yanks to trade him both of these guys for Halladay and that went nowhere.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Teams have till Friday to get their own free agents signed before anybody else can offer them any dough and it's not looking good for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to get third baseman Chone Figgins(notes) and pitcher John Lackey(notes) re-signed before then, according to the Los Angeles Times.

There's a rumor floating around that the team (along with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees) is waiting to throw more than $100 million at outfielder Matt Holliday(notes), who hit .313 with 24 home runs and 109 runs batted in for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals this past season. But GM Tony Reagins is saying that no such thing is true. "Our focus is not on him right now."

It is extremely doubtful that Reagins will get Figgins or Lackey to sign anything before Friday. Both are highly coveted on the free-agent market and would likely get paid to play more elsewhere. "They have earned the right to see what their value is," Reagins said.

Lackey supposedly wants to sign a deal worth more than $100 million and has interest from the Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and New York Yankees. Figgins is likely to sign a deal for half of that and his suitors supposedly include the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hurler John Lackey(notes) is clearly the top pitcher in this off-season's free-agent marketplace and all the wallets are starting to come out in preparation for trying to snag him.

Anaheim loses exclusive negotiating rights to Lackey this Friday and, according to the Sporting News, the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, and Boston Red Sox have all apparently started checking their wallets to see what they've got in there to flash at the 31-year-old. All three of those clubs have supposedly talked to Lackey's agent already. The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners are expected to get into the fray pretty soon as well.

The main concern for most teams is Lackey's stamina. In the past two years, he's made 24 and 27 starts and had different arm injuries both years. The 6'6", 245-pounder went 11-8 this year with a 3.43 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 176.1 innings.

Source: Sporting News

Hideki Matsui(notes) put on quite an offensive show in Game 6 of the World Series as his New York Yankees made the final push past the Philadelphia Phillies to become champions. And the Boston Red Sox appear to want a piece of that, according to the Boston Globe.

The Globe reports that a Japanese sports Web site is saying that the Red Sox would love to have free-agent Matsui come to their team. According to the Japanese site, Nikkan Sports, the Red Sox are ready to offer a multi-year deal to the 35-year-old designated hitter.

Matsui has made about $13 million a year for each of the last four, but he is apparently ready to lower his price for his next deal to $8 million annually. Couldn't be cheaper, right?

There is plenty of doubt in Boston that this story has any truth to it, but it's always fun when a Yankees or Red Sox player switches sides.

Source: Boston Globe

The New York Yankees were apparently hoping that Johnny Damon(notes) would be basking so much in the glow of being a World Series champion that he would forget about any long-term deal and sign a one- or two-year deal. But his agent is Scott Boras and Boras doesn't forget about such things.

Rumor has it that Boras is comparing Damon to Derek Jeter(notes), according to the New York Post, and wants his client to get a three- or four-year deal for more than the $13 million per year he just made with the team for the last four years.

The Yankees are apparently not ready to shell out that kind of dough for Damon so he may be headed out of the South Bronx for good pretty soon.

Source: New York Post

The New York Yankees found enough cash last off-season to get Mark Teixeira(notes), CC Sabathia(notes), and A.J. Burnett(notes) off the free-agent marketplace, putting them in a pretty good position to be the powerhouse they were in 2009 on the way to a championship. But the team is supposedly not taking the same course this winter.

There are really only three highly valuable free agents this off-season -- Jason Bay(notes), Matt Holliday(notes), and John Lackey(notes) - and the Yankees aren't expected to go after any of them, according to the New York Post.

It looks like the Yankees are closing up the wallet a little and letting a whole lot of money flow in right now instead of out.

The team may be at the point of no return on expenditures, anyway. The Yanks will spend $100 million next season Alex Rodriguez(notes), Sabathia, Teixeira and Derek Jeter(notes) alone and have another $70 million already committed to 13 other players from Kei Igawa(notes) to Juan Miranda(notes).

Holliday's agent, Scott Boras, apparently wants him to be paid around the same as Teixeira (eight years, $181 million), Lackey is expected to get around $100 million for five years, and Bay could get around $90 million for five years.

Source: New York Post

Godzilla crushed a city last night. It was New York Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui's(notes) six RBIs pounding at the walls of every Philadelphia Phillies fan home and favorite bar. But this could be Matsui's last call as a Yank. His four-year contract has now ended (as has Johnny Damon's)(notes) and the talk has been for some time that the team won't bring back both, according to the New York Daily News.

General manager Brian Cashman has apparently been saying that he'd like the team to get younger and more athletic and more versatile (and you'd hope cheaper), so paying Matsui a load of dough to DH doesn't seem to fit that mold. Damon is at least out in the field.

Catcher Jorge Posada(notes) will turn 39 next season so he may want to DH some. Alex Rodriguez(notes) may be getting some hip surgery this off-season so this team isn't getting any younger. Though they sure looked like a bunch of 6-year-olds bouncing up and down after the last out last night.

So Yankees fans may want to spend a little extra time cheering for the Series MVP Matsui when he floats by during the parade. Word has it he could be moving to the Great Northwest to play for the Seattle Mariners.

Source: New York Daily News