P Gil Meche spent the night at a Maple Leafs game accompanied by Blue Jays GM J.P. Riccardi.

The Red Sox and OF J.D. Drew are expected to sign a 4-year deal worth $15-16 million a season with a vesting option for a fifth year.

Sources told the Chicago Sun Times that the Cubs did not offer P Jason Schmidt a 3-year contract worth $44 million. It is still believed the club has interest in Schmidt though.

Now a bunch of nuggets from Mr. Baseball, Ken Rosenthal:

The Orioles are ridiculiously dumb for spending so much money on Ps Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, Scott Willamson and Danys Baez.

OF Manny Ramirez would be a great fit for the Dodgers because he has experience with manager Grady Little.

The Red Sox plan on making a run at Devil Rays OF Rocco Baldelli.

The Braves are unlikely to sign P Tom Glavine if they cannot trade P Tim Hudson.

C Rod Barajas did not sign with the Blue Jays because his wife didn’t want to move to Canada.

The Cubs, Mets, Royals and several NL West clubs have shown interest in P Miguel Batista.

The Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants, Rangers and Indians are showing interest in P Mark Mulder, who isn’t expected to return before the all-star break.

Rangers GM Jon Daniels said he is “cautiously optimistic” that his club will re-sign P Vicente Padilla.

The Braves and Orioles could be discussing a Tim Hudson for Hayden Penn/Adam Lowern trade.

White Sox GM Kenny Williams denied reports that P Freddy Garcia was on his way to Anaheim for P Ervin Santana.

The A’s might not offer a contract to OF Barry Bonds.

The Angels view OF J.D. Drew as a fallback option for OF-2B Alfonso Soriano.

The Dodgers, yet again, remain close to re-signing 1B Nomar Garciaparra.

The Phillies #1 priority if the club fails to re-sign P Randy Wolf is to sign P Adam Eaton, not Soriano.

Dodgers 3B Bill Mueller has announced his retirement due to a chronic knee injury and will take a job in the Dodgers front office. He is expected to recieve a portion of the $4.5 million he is owed over the remainder of his contract.

Not only have the Giants made a 3-year $30 million deal to OF Juan Pierre, but they have made the same offer to OF Gary Matthews Jr.

Finally, 1B Nomar Garciaparra is expected to re-sign with the Dodgers today, although the media has been saying this every day for what seems like months, so this might stretch out a bit longer.

The Yankees are showing interest in 1B-3B Shea Hillenbrand.

Yankees P Scott Proctor might be moved to the rotation for 2007.

The A’s have promoted bench coach Bob Geren to be the clubs next manager.

The Red Sox are showing interest in former Expos and Brewers P Tomo Ohka, who was a former prospect in the Red Sox organization.

SS Alex Gonzalez has been offered a 3-year, $15 million contract from either the White Sox or Reds.

A’s owner Lewis Wolff said the club will consider bringing in OF Barry Bonds to replace the all-but departed DH Frank Thomas.

The Orioles could persue either Mariners 1B Richie Sexson or Reds OF Adam Dunn this winter.

The Cubs are open to trading C Michael Barrett for some pitching help.

The Astros and Rockies have discussed a trade that would bring P Jason Jennings to Houston while sending either OF/2B Chris Burke or P Brad Lidge to Colorado.

The Mets are showing interest in P Adam Eaton, but his agent says he believes the Mets have Eaton as a “backup choice”.

SNY had former Met Lee Mazelli in their headquarters for an interview yesterday. It is believed he would work during Mets broadcasts.

The Red Sox could try to convince P Roger Clemens to return to Boston to be the teams closer.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has a crapload of nuggets this morning:

The Mets are still interested in White Sox P Javier Vazquez, but he views the Rangers as the most likely trade partner. Rosenthal suggests the Sox trade Vazquez and OF Brian Anderson to Texas for some of Texas’ pitching prospects, namely Thomas Diamond and John Danks.

The Dodgers are close to signing 1B Nomar Garciaparra to a 2-year deal.

With the departure of DH Frank Thomas to the Blue Jays, expect the A’s to inquire about C Mike Piazza, OF Cliff Floyd, OF Aubrey Huff, OF Frank Catalanotto and 1B Shea Hillenbrand. The alternative route would be to acquire a bat by trading P Esteban Loaiza.

The Giants, Rangers, Orioles and Astros are the four teams most interested in OF Carlos Lee. Lee is a fallback option for the Giants if they fail to re-sign OF Barry Bonds.

If the Devil Rays move either OF Carl Crawford or OF Rocco Baldelli, they will be moved for a young pitcher with ace-like potential. Possible targets include Angels P Ervin Santana, Dodgers P Chad Billingsley and one of the Marlins young pitchers.

Astros.com reports Astros GM Tim Purpura denies having discussions with the Red Sox about P Brad Lidge.

Newsday reports Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez has no plans to waive his no-trade clause.

The Boston Herald is reporting that the Red Sox and Scott Boras plan to keep the Daisuke Matsuzaka contract negotiations “as quiet as possible”.

The Philadelphis Inquirer is reporting that free agent OF-2B Alfonso Soriano has said he prefers to stay on the east coast.

The Denver Post reports that the Cubs, Rangers and Astros are all showing interest in P Jason Jennings.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the Rockies have told the Yankees they will take on half of the $23 million still owed to P Carl Pavano.