Free agent Carl Crawford signed a monster deal yesterday with the Boston Red Sox.

Crawford signed a seven-year, $142 million deal, a huge move for Boston who recently traded for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

With Crawford off the market, who will be the next big name free agent to sign?

Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting that the New York Yankees have offered starter Cliff Lee a seven-year deal. The Yankees originally had a six-year deal worth roughly $140 million.

The late George Steinbrenner and the late Billy Martin did not receive much votes by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee. This sounds just right. They didn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame at their first try.

In fact, they shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame period. Neither did anything special to earn that honor. It's hard to believe either of them will be there.

It looks as though I might have finally found my favorite National League team. As a huge Boston Red Sox fan I find it difficult to root for another team, especially one in the American League, but as a baseball fan the more knowledge I have of the sport the more I respect other teams.

For instance, one cannot over look the Minnesota Twins. Unless you are a Chicago White Sox fan, a Detroit Tigers fan or just plain hate the Twin cities it is hard not to appreciate, like and respect that organization.

You don't need to tell Chicago Cubs fans how long it's been since they won the World Series. The 2010 season was another forgettable summer for the Cubs, but there are players available that can help them improve for 2011.

One of those players is Carlos Pena, who the Cubs signed on Tuesday. The Cubs need more power in their lineup and a better infield defense, and Pena will help them in both areas.

As the third day of baseball's Winter Meetings come to a close, I'm going to make a couple of assumptions regarding the future of the Washington Nationals. Perhaps neither will occur, but let's assume for a moment that they will.

First, I fully expect that the Nats will sign Adam LaRoche as the team's first baseman, probably a two-year deal for $15 million or so.

My time in Orlando covering the Winter Meetings is about to end, but it was a very productive trip. I got a bit of everything. From shaking hands with some stars, to meeting some of my peers and some of those I strive to be like—the trip had it all.

The Pirates were a bit active as well.  I mentioned the Scott Olsen deal in my prior column.  Since then, the Pirates inked another starting pitcher in Kevin Correia and also signed outfielder Matt Diaz.

Both were solid baseball moves.

Roger Clemens' widely anticipated perjury trial has been delayed until July, as the judge granted the defense more time to review the mountains of evidence presented by the prosecution. 

Federal investigators reportedly said that the case has generated over 54,000 pages of evidence, and Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said his team needs more time to review the evidence and have the scientific evidence analyzed by a forensics expert. 

Carlos Pena, one of the better power bats still on the market, signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, according to a report on ESPN.com. 

Pena hit 28 home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010, but had an anemic .196 average and struck out 158 times in 484 at-bats.

Three years, $37.5 million.

A $500,000 per year raise.

Not too shabby for having one of the greatest years of your career in a contract season.

The table is set on the south side. With Adam Dunn now definitely playing DH, and A.J Pierzynski returning to his catching duties, the White Sox are "all-in" as Kenny Williams put it.

Cliff Lee is easily the most coveted free agent pitcher on the market this season, but the dominant left seems to have whittled his choices down to just three: the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and most recently, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 

According to reports, the Angels, who are also in the running for big name free agent outfielder Carl Crawford, have apparently been courting Lee, although they have yet to make an offer to sign the pitcher.