And The Beat Goes On: Jan. 28th

Because these posts just aren't the same without the songs:

● Today's big news -- relatively speaking, at least -- is Roy Oswalt reportedly being close to signing a deal with the Cardinals, with other reports surfacing late last night indicating that Oswalt had turned down a one-year, $10 million offer from the Tigers. There's more that can and should (and will) be said about this, but, ultimately, this is probably coming down to Oswalt liking the Rangers, but not liking the value/nature of their offer. And if you follow that idea to its logical conclusion, you find that the idea of Texas ever seriously entertaining a Matt Harrison trade loses quite a bit of its punch.

Because if the Rangers had a favorable trade in the works with Harrison constituting one of the main pieces, I don't think they let that opportunity slip away over a matter of a few million dollars. As things stand now, it seems reasonable to believe that St. Louis is going to throw something like $8-9 million in Oswalt's direction. That's not a negligible amount by any means, but, clearly, there's something -- say, $4-5 million -- that the Rangers probably are willing to pay Oswalt. If there was some kind of brilliant Harrison-centric deal in the works contingent upon the Rangers signing Oswalt, they'd figure out some way to get it done. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, as Harrison seems a good bet to pitch better than Oswalt next season, but that's the thought process I'm rolling with in this situation.

● Randy Galloway wrote yesterday that Josh Hamilton would not be giving the Rangers any sort of hometown discount due to his fierce loyalty to the players' union, and stated that the "fair" offer -- albeit an offer that Hamilton wouldn't seriously entertain -- he would make Hamilton would be three years, $60 million.

● FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal writes that the American League now boasts six superpowers -- the Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, and Rays.

● Rosenthal also says that baseball is trying to ram through the wild-card expansion quickly enough that it could take effect as early as this October.

● Drew Davison talks about Ron Washington being honored tonight by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum as the best manager in the American League.

● Apologies for the sporadic work lately. I'll make up for it by writing a 1,500-word retrospective on the Joaquin Arias era.