It's that time of year again

By Moray Pickering Sports Central Columnist

- It seems Dan Evans and the Dodgers pulled off something of a coup by signing Japanese left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii for just $9.8 million over four years. All previous reports had Ishii and his agent asking for around $15 million over the same amount of time. Not only is this the first time in many years that we have seen the Dodgers come out on the cheap side of a contract negotiation with a pitcher, but it also leaves the them with arguably the deepest pitching staff this side of the Yankees.

- Jim Tracy will have the fit again Kevin Brown and Andy Ashby to go with newcomers like Hideo Nomo, Ishii, Odalis Perez, and Omar Daal. This could lead to a heated struggle for the five spots in the starting rotation with youngster Eric Gagne also in the reckoning and possibly a returning Darren Dreifort sometime late in the season. However, the Dodgers have yet to make any progress in signing a closer.

- The Twins are still trying to honor Rick Reed's request for a trade, but as yet they have not found any takers. There has been talk of the Mets offering Steve Trachsel to take Reed back, but they appear to have cooled and it is looking more and more likely that Reed will be staying in the Twin Cities for the foreseeable future.

- If the Red Sox do come to some agreement with Rickey Henderson in the next week, it will probably be Dan Duquette's last act as General Manager. It is expected that John Henry and Larry Lucchino will be fully in charge in around two weeks and the moment they assume control Duquette is gone. Also, likely to be fired is scout Ray Poitevant, which could bring an end to the Red Sox's supply of Asian prospects.

- Also on the Duquette radar, at the moment, are Rey Sanchez and Gary DiSarcina. The Boston Herald is reporting that Sanchez is seen as a possible starting second baseman, as doubts arise over the ability of incumbents Carlos Baerga and Quivio Veras to contribute consistently. Although Sanchez has been a shortstop for most of his career, they think he can make the adjustment, with the added bonus of being able to back up Nomar Garciaparra. Of course, if Duquette had signed Pokey Reese when he had the chance, they wouldn't have these problems.

- The management team for the MLB-owned Montreal Expos seems to be shaping up. Frank Robinson and Tony Tavares are expected to be named field manager and team president respectively. Mets' assistant GM Omar Minaya appears to be the current favorite to take over as GM, with other candidates being former Rangers' GM Doug Melvin and former Blue Jay's GM Gord Ash.

- Roger Cedeno seems intent on proving all those doubts about his character with his latest remarks about his previous employer, the Detroit Tigers. The new Mets outfielder described Tigers manager Phil Garner a "loser" and suggested that GM Randy Smith would still lose even if he had the best players in the world. Perhaps that is true, but it is probably also true to say that they have a better chance to win now that they don't have good old Roger around, who, let's be honest, has not exactly had the numbers over his career to make comments like that.

- The Yankees lineup seems almost complete almost two weeks before pitchers and catchers report. The only decisions to be made in Spring Training are which two out of Ted Lilly, Randy Choate, Mike Turman, Brandon Kinght, Adrian Hernandez, and Brett Jodie take the two remaining bullpen jobs and which one of Luis Sojo, F.P. Santangelo, Kevin Elster, and Manny Alexander will get the remaining infield bench job.

- The Chicago Cubs are looking for Corey Patterson to finally make the step up and claim the starting center field job. Patterson, 22, was the Cubs' number one pick in 1998 and with a good winter in Mexico under his belt, it is hoped that he can perform significantly better than he did in his two previous stints in the majors. In case he doesn't, the Cubs signed Darren Lewis for some veteran insurance.