Baseball Winter Meeting Report with Gordon Jackson and Cedric Bailey

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Dec 07|19:52

Dallas: We had the opportunity to attend the press conference with Ron Washington and Bobby Valentine. Dallas Weekly Sports Editor Gordon Jackson and I talked baseball from the Hilton Anatole for the Winter Baseball Meetings.Meanwhile here is the latest news from Big "D" starting with the new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine started his roundtable interview at the Winter Meetings, there were layers of reporters crowding the area surrounding his seat. Not long after, Valentine proved worthy of such an audience.The question was innocent enough: "Will you talk about your rivalry with the Yankees?"Though the Red Sox and Yankees don't play their first regular-season game until April 20, Valentine has already taken an enthusiastic leap into the storied rivalry, of which he figures to be a central figure for as long as he is managing in Boston."Bobby is going to be probably a little bit different type of manager than Terry [Francona] was, because every manager is going to have a different philosophy than the last guy," said Girardi. "A lot of your moves as a manager are dependent on what type of players you have. If you've got a bunch of guys that hit the ball out of the ballpark and are slow to first base, you're not all of a sudden going to become a basestealing team. So you have to look at the lineup. But time will tell how he's going to manage that club, and it's our job to pay attention."Valentine's near half-hour session with the media was full of entertaining fodder, putting another stamp on his return to the Majors. How about the Texas Rangers were bracing from the possibility of not being able to sign free-agent pitchers C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle.Rangers president Nolan Ryan left the hotel after lunch and said that he wasn't optimistic about signing either one, and Buehrle agreed to a four-year, $58 million deal with the Marlins on Wednesday. That would leave the Rangers with a rotation that includes returning starters Alexi Ogando, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis.The rotation will also include Neftali Feliz, Texas' All-Star closer who will move into a starting role in Spring Training. After all the negotiations that took place here at the Winter Meetings, it has become increasingly clear that the Rangers' best hope for taking another step forward as a team in 2012 is having Feliz achieve the high expectations they have for him as a starter. Gordon and I talked college football and NBA news.Thanks for listeningCedric Bailey, Senior Sport Editor www.lavidanews.comGordon Jackson, Sport Editor www.dallasweekly.com