Rosenthal reports that two teams have already made Chien-Ming Wang offers, have watched him pitch multiple times and have even given him a physical.  The teams that made said offers have not been identified, but Rosenthal reports that the Mets or Dodgers are not one of them, despite the fact that they probably need him more than anyone.

Wang is expected to make his mind up soon.  There's probably no reason to expect him to pitch in a game until the season is at least a couple months old.

No telling how he'll do once he's activated, but he's a decent gamble for anyone who figures that they'll gave to make some mid-season pickup for pitching anyway. Which is pretty much everyone most years.

Trolling around for stuff to write about and I come across this piece from FanHouse yesterday, in which John Hickey runs down the "x-factors" of all the NL teams. You know, those guys who will hopefully make the difference.  The Pirates' entry caught my eye:

Ronny Cedeno, shortstop. Cedeno's last two managers, Lou Piniella with the Cubs and Don Wakamatsu with the Mariners, have predicted big things for him, but somehow the fit has't been quite right yet. That may no longer be the case in Pittsburgh. Cedeno has a little bit of power and should hit for a better average, but his biggest boost in Pittsburgh is defense that could serve to make the Pirates pitching staff that much more effective.

Maybe Cedeno is good with the glove, but given that the guy he is more or less replacing -- Jack Wilson, shy a couple of months post-trade -- is about the best there is these days, are the Pirates' pitchers really going to see a benefit?

My take on just about every preseason analysis piece is to believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

Fractional ownership suites aren't the only new things coming to Wrigley Field next year:

The Cubs are following the lead of the Boston Red Sox, opening up the space underneath the right-field bleachers for corporate pregame events, and for bleacher fans who may want to come down during the game and watch the action on flat-screen TVs. A pane of one-way glass will separate fans from the right-field batting cage, allowing them to watch b.p. in the area that Guillen claims has been a long-time haven for rats.

But wait, there's more!

• There will be a "30 percent overall increase in bathroom capacity" and improvements in the womens bathrooms. Not sure how they measure "capacity." Not sure I want to know.  Also, according to the stadium's manager the men will also have more room, "but the look won't change much."  Thank God, because we all go there for the ambiance.

• Bleacher advertisements.  They messed with this last month, but apparently those were just mockups.

• The rectangular, granite slabs on the sides of the outer walls are being taken down and replaced with fencing, which should let more light in.

• The Sheffield Grill restaurant in the right field corner will be opened up for fans on game days. Previously, the grill was reserved for corporate events, which will be moved to Murphy's Bleachers. Or maybe to that new area under the bleachers. I'm hearing different things here.

• The left field bricks will be replaced. The right field bricks are cool because of the coriolis effect or centripetal force or something.  We got guys working on it.

In all seriousness, though, it's good to see the Rickettseseses taking the Fenway Park approach.  Wrigley Field needs lots of work, but it's worth saving. Moreover, it's worth saving slowly, piece by piece in a well thought-out manner, rather than doing what they did to Soldier Field and just dropping some spaceship of a modern stadium on top of some of the old walls and calling it a "renovation."

Sometimes in life, the joke is on you.

Two months ago I poked a little fun at Jacque Jones attending the winter meetings in search of a job, suggesting that he was washed up and would "be lucky to secure a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training."

It turns out I was absolutely right, because this afternoon Jones signed a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training. And it turns out he'll be in camp with my favorite team, reuniting with the Twins five years after departing as a free agent and three seasons after last being a productive hitter. Not so funny now, huh?

While the Twins could certainly use a backup outfielder capable of handling center field, Jones hasn't played the position regularly since 2007, will be 35 years old in April, batted .147 in 42 games for the Tigers and Marlins in 2008, and spent last season playing for the independent league Newark Bears after getting released by the Reds in spring training.

Hopefully he likes Rochester, New York.

Scott Boras has been taking a beating over the fate of Johnny Damon this offseason, but he's not deterred.  In fact today he has offered a couple of Black-Knight-in-Monty-Python-and-the-Holy-Grail-style "have at yous!" First in the Detroit Free Press:

Although Damon, 36, has been a free agent since November, Boras said the market for him really didn't develop until it became clear the Yankees wouldn't re-sign him. Then, said Boras, "We got four or five offers right away." Boras declined to identify which clubs made offers or how much interest they have subsequently shown.

Dude. Your arm's off.

In other news, Boras was just on XM's Home Plate show. I don't have the transcript or anything, but Jason at IIATMS relayed some of it on Twitter.  He basically put Damon's current unemployment on owners who simply aren't willing to do what's necessary for their team to win.  He also said "Johnny Damon has many opportunities to play" and that he's "not worried about where."

Look, you fight with the strength of many men, Sir Knight, but you are beaten. Stand aside, worthy adversary, and take one of those "four or five" offers you have and stop this silly PR onslaught.

Scott Schoeneweis struggled with depression following the death of his wife last May, but was able to successfully return to the mound in September and this afternoon signed a minor-league contract with the Brewers.

An autopsy later revealed that Schoeneweis' wife (and the mother of his four children) passed away from an overdose of cocaine and lidocaine. After taking some time off he rejoined the Diamondbacks' bullpen in mid-June, but understandably wasn't himself and eventually was placed on the disabled list with depression.

Schoeneweis returned to allow just one run in seven appearances over the final three weeks of the season and has long been an excellent left-handed specialist, allowing left-handed hitters to bat just .236, .204, and .178 against him from 2006-2008. He'll compete to be the second southpaw in Milwaukee's bullpen and the 36-year-old should be a good fit, with an $800,000 salary waiting if he makes the team.

Michael Brantley made his big-league debut last September filling in for the injured Grady Sizemore in center field, but now that Sizemore is healthy the Indians are thinking about starting Brantley alongside him in left field.

Here's manager Manny Acta:

What he did in September gives him a leg up on the position. That being said, we all know he's 22 and we're still not going to be handing out jobs because we all have to do what's best for the Indians and for the kid himself.

His primary competition? Scrap-heap veterans Austin Kearns and Shelley Duncan, plus lesser prospects Trevor Crowe and Jordan Brown. In other words, if the Indians are open to Brantley being ready for the majors at age 23 his odds of claiming the gig--or at least two-thirds of the gig, in a lefty-righty platoon with Kearns or Duncan--are pretty strong.

And if Brantley fares well right away his presence will likely result in Sizemore moving from the leadoff spot to the middle of the order, because Brantley is a low-power speedster with a .387 on-base percentage and more walks than strikeouts in the minors. Baseball Think Factory projects Brantley to hit .282/.348/.360 as a rookie, while the Rotoworld Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide has him at .267/.337/.344.

FOX's Jay Glazer reports that Mike Shanahan is interviewing Bill Romanowski to be the Redskins' new strength and conditioning coach. I repeat: a man who took the "cream" and the "clear" just like Barry Bonds did is poised to be the STRENGTH and CONDITIONING coach for an NFL team.

In light of the bruising Mark McGwire has taken from FOX's Ken Rosenthal and others, FOX's Glazer will no doubt likewise demand that Romo not be given the job:

shanny at it again: he's interviewing Bill Romanowski for strength & cond coach. while controvertial, who knows this stuff better than him?

I'm not a fan of the NFL, but at least NFL commentators aren't deluded about the purity of the game they cover.

Last week the A's acquired Willy Taveras in a trade with the Reds only to designate him for assignment literally minutes later, so it comes as no surprise that they outright released him today after failing to find a taker for even a fraction of his $4 million salary.

Taveras is now free to sign anywhere and at any price, so after five seasons of inexplicably starting every day and leading off expect him to land a bench gig at the minimum salary with a team that likes outfielders who run fast and make tons of outs. He offers excellent speed and a very good glove in center field, but has hit just .246 with a putrid .293 on-base percentage and punchless .291 slugging percentage in 235 games over the past two seasons.

Jon Weisman of the newly-relocated Dodger Thoughts sat down with Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt for an extended interview recently. Most of it was spent talking about how, despite doing things like not offering Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf arbitration, the Dodgers are all about winning and not cost-cutting these days. But with responses like these, McCourt doesn't do a lot to put the questions to rest:

"I, by the way, can see both sides of this debate, very, very clearly. To me this is one really good baseball debate, in terms of 'Do you or don't you.' I think, like I was saying before, what would have happened (if we had offered arbitration), maybe Randy Wolf knows, but I don't. And I don't think the downside would have been bad for the organization, because he's a good pitcher and a good guy, but I think that the judgment was made that we (could) do even better for the club."

That's the baseball equivalent of starting a book report with "This book raised many important questions that are very important to consider . . ." without really ever getting to what those questions really are.  What's the upside, Frank?  How does not getting picks for Randy Wolf make the team better? How does going into the season with question marks in the rotation make the team better?  I'm willing to believe that there was a real competitive reason, as opposed to a purely financial reason for not offering arbitration to these guys, but I've still not heard what it is.

Weisman makes an excellent observation later in the interview: that McCourt seems really good at talking about the smallest of baseball-side details when he wants to, but then he gets vague and defers to the Colletti and others when the questions get hard.  Maybe this is simply a means of not throwing specific people under the bus on controversial decisions. Maybe the real answers would cut against the whole "this divorce is not harming the Dodgers in the field" campaign the Dodgers have been running for a few weeks.  It's really hard to say.

If I were a Dodgers fan, however, nothing McCourt has to say here does anything to alleviate my concerns about the team going forward.

Scot Shields was perhaps the elite setup man of the aughts (we really need a better name for 2000-2009), posting a 2.98 ERA from 2002-2008 while averaging around 90 innings per season, but ended the decade on a low note with an injury wrecked 2009 campaign and is now unlikely to be ready for spring training.

Shields had knee surgery about eight months ago, but has not been cleared to throw off a mound yet and Angels pitchers report to camp next Wednesday. He's still hoping to be ready for Opening Day, but that seems unlikely given that Shields is 35, logged just 18 innings last season before being shut down, and has yet to get back on a mound eight months later.

I don't know how quickly I'll get on a mound. We'll probably have to take it slow. We've got a whole month and a half or two months to get ready. I know my body. It's close to being 100 percent, and we've still got two months.

Shields may still believe that he can be ready for Opening Day, but the Angels' lack of confidence in him returning to form was shown by overpaying Fernando Rodney with a two-year, $11 million deal despite already having Kevin Jepsen around as a potential setup man for Brian Fuentes. Even if he's healthy, Shields figures to begin the season working middle relief.

And you thought he was scary with a bat.

I'll stop writing stuff like that when dudes stop writing stuff like this:

Halladay's departure leaves Romero, who went 13-9 as a rookie, as the most experienced healthy starting pitcher on the roster, and the 25-year-old is tackling the new challenge the way Halladay would.

By training like a maniac.

In addition to his throwing sessions, Romero worked out at Athletes' Performance in suburban Carson, Calif., putting in two-hour sessions four days a week, and fine-tuning for the grind that begins with spring training in two weeks.

"I feel I'm ready to tackle a 200-plus inning season," said Romero, who logged 178 innings last year.

Maybe I don't understand the journalism biz, but if I was an editor and my beat guy brought me a "Professional Athlete trains hard before the season" story I'd be tempted to spike that in the name of all dog-bites-man stories that have ever been spiked.

"Bring me a story about some outfielder who developed a Cheetos addiction over the winter," I'd yell as I chomped on my cigar, J. Jonah Jameson-style,  "and if he doesn't want to be famous, I'll make him infamous!"

There was a brief moment a couple years ago when a not-insignificant number of people believed that Lenny Dykstra was a financial genius capable of picking winning stocks like some sort of baseball Rainman.

Real Sports on HBO did a relatively fawning profile piece focused on Dykstra's lavish lifestyle, Jim Cramer famously called him a "legend" in the investment world, and his various businesses thrived.

Eventually he declared bankruptcy, lost his $17.5 million home, was sued approximately a gazillion times, and auctioned off his World Series ring. And now Dykstra has a new website called "Nails Investments" where he offers stock picks and one-on-one advice for a monthly fee.

All of which got me thinking about where "Lenny Dykstra on investing" ranks on the list of "people giving advice about things." For instance, near the top of the list would probably be stuff like "Albert Pujols on hitting a baseball" or "Derek Jeter on attracting women." Near the bottom of the list would be things like "Aaron Gleeman on dieting" or "Craig Calcaterra on hair styles."

My challenge to you, the Circling the Bases/Hardball Talk reader, is to come up with some things that would actually rank below "Lenny Dykstra on investing." Winner gets exactly zero dollars, which is more than you'd probably make listening to his advice. Have at it ...

Add Mets' pitcher Mike Pelfrey to the list of this offseason's biggest losers:

One week until Fat Tuesday, but Mike Pelfrey won't be participating. The Mets pitcher is prepared to arrive in camp next week some 25 pounds lighter than last season and believes that will propel him to new heights after a disappointing 2009.

"I was pretty upset with not only how the team played, but with how I played last year, knowing that's not me," Pelfrey told The Post yesterday. "I had a lost year. I had a terrible year."

A couple of years ago someone -- I can't remember who -- did an analysis of how guys did in the seasons after "best shape of his life" articles appeared about him during the spring.  I seem to recall that there actually was an uptick in performance among the newly-dedicated, albeit not a dramatic one.  Enough to make me want to go back and see how Carlos Zambrano, Bobby Jenks, Geovany Soto and Pelfrey did this season come October.  Someone remind me, OK?

As for Pelfrey, I think he will bounce back, if not for the weight, than because he seemed a bit unlucky last year.  He gave up a lot of hits on balls in play, which is something that fluctuates. Also, the poor Mets infield defense victimizes him more than his teammates. That won't change too much in 2010 -- he still doesn't strike out a ton of guys and the Mets didn't upgrade the defense any -- but maybe a few more balls bounce in his favor.

And if he does bounce back we can chalk it up to the weight loss anyway because it'll make him feel good and encourage him to lay off the pie again next winter.