The wheels were set in motion for Josh Johnson to join a sterling class of free agent starters in two years when he and the Marlins reached an impasse in contract talks on Friday.

Agent Matt Sosnick told ESPN.com that he and Johnson were using the four-year, $38 million contract that Zack Greinke signed a year ago as a framework for a new deal with the Marlins. Florida, though, was only willing to guarantee Johnson three years.

If the Marlins could have signed Johnson to the Greinke deal, it would have been a bargain. With a career ERA of 3.40 in 481 1/3 innings, Johnson has a better track record than Greinke did entering 2009. He went 15-5 with a 3.23 ERA and a 191/68 K/BB ratio last season, and that was as a groundball pitcher working in front of a poor infield defense. He allowed just 14 homers. His 3.06 FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching) was the seventh-best mark in baseball.

Since they control him for two more years and they expect to contend next season, there's little reason for the Marlins to trade Johnson this winter. Still, they could if bowled over with an offer. If Johnson were a free agent, there's little doubt that he'd land a bigger contract than any available pitcher, John Lackey included.

Barring an extension, Johnson will be a part of 2011-12 free-agent class that could also include Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, Matt Cain, Wandy Rodriguez and Edwin Jackson.

The Red Sox have discussed Matt Holliday, Adrian Beltre, Mike Gonzalez and Rick Ankiel with agent Scott Boras, the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman reports.

There are no big surprises in the list. Holliday may well have taken over as Boston's top priority following Jason Bay's decision to reject a four-year, $60 million offer. That's not to say that Bay is being ruled out, but the Red Sox could essentially exchange the two and actually pick up a draft pick in the process.

My guess is that the Red Sox would target Beltre, rather than Chone Figgins, to take over at third base in the event of a Mike Lowell deal. Lowell, though, will be very difficult to move.

Gonzalez is another long shot, as teams figure to inquire about him as a closer. The Red Sox might be willing to offer him $5 million per year as a setup man, but that probably won't get the job done.

Ankiel would have made more sense for the Red Sox before the Jeremy Hermida acquisition. Both are left-handed-hitting outfielders with considerable upside. However, it's doubtful that the Red Sox would be willing to pencil in either as a regular.

MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reported Friday that the Blue Jays initiated contact with the Cubs on a potential Roy Halladay deal.

Muskat doesn't believe anything will happen with the Cubs in that regard, but, if true, it's still awfully interesting that the Jays are calling around to discuss Halladay with other teams. That suggests a deal is a lot more likely to take place than if they were just sitting back and waiting for the Yankees, Red Sox and others to come to them.

Chicago wouldn't work for Halladay given the team's needs. The Cubs already employ three starting pitchers making eight figures per year in Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly, and the team is primarily interested in upgrading the offense.

Friday was the last day for teams to add prospects to the 40-man roster in advance of next month's Rule 5 draft. That resulted in plenty of minor moves of interest mostly to geeks like me:

*The Red Sox claimed reliever Robert Manuel off waivers from the Mariners.

Manuel, 26, was the return from the Reds for Wladimir Balentien this summer. He had a 1.25 ERA and a 103/18 K/BB ratio in 86 2/3 innings while spending most of 2008 in Double-A and a 2.88 ERA and a 49/16 K/BB ratio in 65 2/3 innings for two Triple-A teams last season. Still, no one takes him very seriously because he's primarily a high-80s guy and his slider doesn't have a whole lot of break. He deserves an extended chance, but he'll be a long shot to make the Red Sox out of spring training.

*The White Sox added former shortstop Sergio Santos to their 40-man roster.

Working as a reliever for the first time, Santos, the Diamondbacks' first-round pick in 2002, had an 8.16 ERA and a 30/20 K/BB ratio in 28 2/3 innings in four minor league stops last season. He's currently at 6.14 with a 20/10 K/BB ratio in 14 2/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Obviously, the White Sox see some promise here. What makes this especially interesting, though, is that, as far as I can tell, Santos is out of options, having used them all up during his time as an infield prospect.

That means he'll have to clear waivers if the White Sox want to send him down at the end of the spring. In theory, they would have had a better chance of keeping him had they declined to protect him now, since if he went unpicked in the Rule 5 draft, he wouldn't have had to go on waivers next spring.

*The Orioles claimed catcher Craig Tatum off waivers from the Reds.

It's hard to believe the Orioles could find room for another standard-issue No. 3 catcher on their 40-man, but not Steve Johnson, the second prospect they acquired along with Josh Bell from the Dodgers for George Sherrill. Johnson went 12-7 with a 3.41 ERA and a 154/62 K/BB ratio in 145 1/3 IP between Single-A and Double-A last season, but he'll be available to everyone in the Rule 5 draft.

Tatum is a fine defender, but he brings absolutely nothing to the table from an offensive standpoint. He's minor league-contract material.

From the Denver Post's Troy Renck comes the news that the Rockies are looking to sign starting second baseman Clint Barmes to a two-year deal with an option for 2012 that would buy out his first year of free agency.

On the surface, it might not seem like a bad idea at all. Having received 500 at-bats for the first time in his career, Barmes delivered 23 homers and 76 RBI last season. He's also, without a doubt, one of the game's best defensive second baseman. Furthermore, he won't be particularly expensive. Barmes made $1.6 million in his first season of arbitration. He's set for a nice raise after putting up such fine power numbers, probably to $3.5 million or so. Another year as a starter would get him up to about $5 million, so the Rockies could potentially save themselves some money if they could sign him for about $7.5 million.

Or they could save themselves far more by trading him and turning second base over to Eric Young Jr.

Barmes' ample power production last season was a nice surprise, but it came with a .245 average and a dreadful .294 OBP. He had a 121/31 K/BB ratio in 550 at-bats. His career OBP is .299. He's also a poor basestealer, getting thrown out on 10 of his 22 attempts last season.

Barmes has also been a huge offensive liability outside of Coors Field throughout his career. A big flyball hitter, he's taken huge advantage of baseball's most spacious outfield to hit .294/.336/.479 at home in his career. On the road, though, he falls all of the way to .222/.262/.351. Last year, he came in at .207/.251/.380 outside of Coors Field.

To put that in perspective, Neifi Perez was a career .267/.297/.375 hitter.

Young is about as different from Barmes as a second baseman can be. He doesn't have any power, but he's turned into a legitimate top-of-the-order threat, which is something the Rockies clearly need. The second-generation major leaguer hit .299/.387/.430 with 58 steals in 72 attempts for Triple-A Colorado Springs last season.

That's not to say he's a sure thing. He was less successful in 57 major league at-bats, coming in at .246/.295/.316. Also, for all of his speed, he's a lesser defender than Barmes. He's made a ton of progress these last two years, but he still might fit best as a major league utilityman.

For that reason, I'd support the idea of the Rockies keeping Barmes around for another year, but it should be with the thought that Young could overtake him and push him into a reserve role at some point. There's no good reason to commit to Barmes for 2011 just yet. He's turning 31 in March, and it's entirely possible that 2008 and '09 will go down as his best years as a major leaguer.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News has an update on the Yankees' odds of re-signing Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui:

Multiple sources have indicated that the Yankees would like to bring Johnny Damon back on a two-year deal, but Hideki Matsui's time in pinstripes is likely over as they would prefer to keep the DH slot open for Damon, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

Should Damon bolt for a new team, however, Matsui could be brought back on a short-term deal to remain the Bombers' DH, since Cashman has made it clear he no longer considers the World Series MVP to be an outfielder, even on a part-time basis.

Last week Scott Boras suggested that Damon is looking for a four-year deal, but like many things said by the hyperbole-fueled agent that has zero chance of happening. Damon hasn't lost anything offensively and has played at least 140 games in 14 straight seasons, but he turned 36 years old earlier this month and has seen his range in the outfield diminish significantly to go along with his always horrendous throwing arm.

With that said, Feinsand speculates that the Yankees are unlikely to jump heavily into the mix for Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, and Damon is one of the best options among the second-tier outfielders in a weak crop of free agents. If not him and not Matsui, then the Yankees would be left to choose from other aging veterans like Vladimir Guerrero and Jermaine Dye. A two-year deal seems like a worthwhile fit for both sides.

Television website THR.com has the details on Curtis Granderson's attempts to branch out:

MLB All-Star Curtis Granderson is shopping a reality series with production company Authentic Entertainment (Food Network's "Ace of Cakes," Bravo's "Flipping Out").

The Detroit Tigers player has agreed to host a TV and online series titled "Stadium Secrets" where he takes sports fans on an exploration of stadiums. The concept is similar to Authentic's "Cities of the Underworld" on History channel.

In addition to being one of the best all-around outfielders in baseball Granderson is a really smart, interesting guy who has done all sorts of things to interact with fans, so this seems like a natural fit.

Interestingly, there have been rumors of the Tigers possibly shopping him this offseason because of payroll constraints and the Angels are seemingly the team most mentioned in possible trade scenarios. I'm sure that Granderson likes Detroit, but with his new projects perhaps he wouldn't mind a move to California.

Since a big portion of the Baseball Writers Association of America seems to be beyond their past over-reliance on win-loss records to evaluate starting pitchers, can we have a good old-fashioned mulligan on the AL Cy Young vote from 2005?

Bartolo Colon, who won the award that year, had a 3.48 ERA, 157/43 K/BB ratio, and .244 opponents' batting average in 223 innings.

Johan Santana, who did not win the award that year, had a 2.87 ERA, 238/45 K/BB ratio, and .210 opponents' batting average in 232 innings.

Santana was clearly superior in just about every possible way, throwing more innings than Colon with an ERA that was 20 percent lower, racking up 50 percent more strikeouts with the same number of walks, and being 15 percent harder to hit. So how did Colon not only win the award, but win the award with 15 more first-place votes than Santana in a pool of 28 voters?

Colon was 21-8.
Santana was 16-7.

They may not care so much about that now, but the BBWAA were sure obsessed with win-loss records four years ago. The voters saw those 21 wins and ignored everything else, including the fact that Colon pitched for a 95-win team that provided him with 5.6 runs of support per nine innings. Santana pitched for an 83-win team that gave him 4.4 runs of support per nine innings. Colon received 30 percent more run support than Santana overall, including an amazing 10 or more runs eight times in 33 starts.

So yes, the BBWAA deserves credit for recently changing their stance and correctly rewarding the best pitcher in each league with the Cy Young award that's supposed to go to the best pitcher in each league even when they didn't have the best win-loss record. With that said, Zack Greinke and Tim Lincecum are lucky that they weren't trying to win the award in 2005 and it remains to be seen if the voters would have been willing to look beyond an otherwise inferior 20-game winner like Colon had there been one this year.

Various rumors have been swirling around today about a potential three-team trade that would supposedly send Kevin Millwood to the Mets, Luis Castillo to the Cubs, and Milton Bradley to the Rangers.

Even at first glance that seems like a "which one of these things doesn't belong" test question, because while the Mets and Cubs would like nothing more than to dump Castillo and Bradley the Rangers have a whole lot less incentive to give up Millwood.

He'll make $12 million in 2010, which is certainly pricey, but that's the same amount the Mets still owe Castillo and Bradley is due $21 million over the next two years.

Millwood is likely to regress in 2010 because his secondary numbers weren't nearly as good as his 3.67 ERA, but the notion of paying a decent mid-rotation starter $12 million for one year is downright appealing compared to Bradley or Castillo for two years.

Not surprisingly, when MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan actually asked a high-ranking Rangers official about the rumored swap, the response was simple: "Not happening."

It's possible that Texas may be open to reuniting with Bradley, who had the best season of his career with the Rangers in 2008, but there's no reason for them to give up anything of value to make that happen and the idea that the Mets could deal a completely unwanted player in Castillo for a decent starting pitcher is awfully wishful thinking.

Omar Vizquel must not have drawn any interest for a possible full- or even part-time job, because FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that he's close to signing a one-year deal with the White Sox.

Chicago has Alexei Ramirez entrenched at shortstop and plans to make Gordon Beckham an everyday second baseman after playing him at third base as a rookie, so barring injuries Vizquel would be slated for a strict backup job.

He filled that role nicely this season in Texas, serving as a mentor for 20-year-old standout rookie Elvis Andrus while accumulating fewer than 200 plate appearances for the first time in his 21-year career.

Vizquel has never been much of a hitter, but came close to matching his .273/.338/.355 career line by batting .266/.316/.345 in limited action this season and is one of the few shortstops in baseball history to remain an asset defensively in his 40s. Now that he's willing to accept a bench role, he's an ideal backup for a team with young starters up the middle.