Rosenthal: Tex Rumors, Coco Crisp, Mets Closer, Ibanez, Hudson, Lowe

Fox Sport's Ken Rosenthal has the latest on Mark Teixeira. He says the Angels and Red Sox appear to be the favorites for the first basemen. The Nationals can be discounted out of the race as they look to put a face on their franchise. The Yankees can not be counted out as well...

The Red Sox traded Coco Crisp to the Royals for pitcher Ramon Ramirez yesterday, The Royals have plans to put Coco Crisp in center field and shift David Dejesus to left.. Reason for the deal was simple, the Royals have fly ball pitchers and wanted to sure up their defense in the outfield..

Raul Ibanez is drawing interest from many teams. One GM reports he is seeking a 3 year deal between $8-12 Million dollars.

Mets closer situation according to Rosenthal, will be resolved by signing either free agents Brian Fuentes or Francisco Rodriguez. There are positives and negatives for each pitcher. K-Rod is younger at 26, but his strikeout rate has declined and so has his velocity. He also has pitched in big games and has been in the post-season 5 times, with the last 2 having mixed results. Fuentes is older at 33, has a higher strikeout rate, but has never pitched as a closer in big games. The last time the Rockies were in the World Series in '07, Manny Corpus had the closers job. Rosenthal think Fuentes has the makeup to pitch in NY.

Scott Boras says he has not insisted that the teams interested in Derek Lowe should give him a "Zito type contract".

Boras said, "I have not talked to any team about a seven-year, Barry Zito contract for Derek Lowe, This is a classic case of baseball executives reporting information that isn't factual and not giving their names and standing behind it."

Rosenthal said , No doubt the Mets would love to sign free-agent second baseman Orlando Hudson, but here's the problem: They already will be paying two managers, two pitching coaches and two closers next season. The only way for them to purge second baseman Luis Castillo would be to include most of his remaining salary in a trade, so they effectively would be paying two second basemen as well ...