A rumor circulated over the weekend that the Philadelphia Phillies could be interested in bringing back starting pitcher Roy Oswalt, who seems to have been shut out from the two teams that he preferred joining: the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers.

CSN Philly notes that an Oswalt return to Philly seems highly doubtful since the team doesn't have much money to throw in his direction. After all, the team already has committed $168 million to 20 players next season. Plus, CSN points out, the back problems that put Oswalt on the disabled list twice last year "may also make him a risk the team is unwilling to take."

CSN also notes that "perhaps the clearest indication that Oswalt will not be back" is the fact that reliever Michael Schwimer has been given Oswalt's old number: 44.

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Left fielder Raul Ibanez joined the Philadelphia Phillies three seasons ago, just after the team won the 2008 World Series. While he didn't get a championship ring during his time in the City of Brotherly Love, he did get his first invite to the All-Star Game in 2009.

It appears that the 39-year-old may get another shot at that championship with another team. The New York Daily News reports that the New York Yankees "appear to be zeroing in on" Ibanez to be "the extra bat" that Manager Joe Girardi has been asking for.

Former Yanks Eric Chavez, Hideki Matsui, and Johnny Damon have also been on the team's list, the paper notes, but the Yanks like Ibanez because he can still play the outfield effectively while "the Yanks are unsure if Matsui or Damon can."

The decision may come down to whether the team wants an extra infielder in Chavez or outfielder in Ibanez, who has "is believed to have received higher offers" than the one the Yanks want to give him, but "would prefer to play for a contender in what could be the final season of his career," the Daily News notes.

Ibanez batted .245 with 20 home runs and 32 doubles last year for the Phils.

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Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz is scheduled to have his arbitration hearing soon, but he would really like to avoid it. MLB.com reports that Ortiz would also like a multiyear deal from the team.

"We are working on that right now," Ortiz said, according to the site. "Hopefully, we will get to an agreement so we don't have to go in front of the judge."

If he does go to arbitration, the judges will need to decide between the $12.65 million the Red Sox have offered and the $16.5 million that the 36-year-old Ortiz would like to be paid.

Ortiz, a seven-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger winner, hit .309 with 29 home runs and 96 RBIs for Boston last season.

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The Texas Rangers have been trying to unload reliever Koji Uehara this offseason and the word from Fox Sports is that the Oakland Athletics and his former employer, the Baltimore Orioles, are both interested.

The 36-year-old Uehara has one year left on his contract and holds a limited no-trade clause that allows him to vote down trades to six teams. Earlier this offseason, Uehara was nearly traded to the Toronto Blue Jays before he exercised his right to stop the deal from happening.

Uehara went 2-3 with a 2.35 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 65 innings pitched.

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The word this offseason has been that free agent starter Roy Oswalt wanted to join the rotations of the Texas Rangers or St. Louis Cardinals. But neither of those teams had room for the 34-year-old so he's considering other options.

Word came this weekend that the Cincinnati Reds have interest in signing him, but the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that "the sides have had no contact in nearly a week" and Cincy would need to make some changes in its budget before signing the three-time All-Star.

"We had discussions with them a while ago," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said, the paper reports. "The last we heard he was going to Texas. That was on Monday. I don't know if that deal is still in place."

Oswalt went 9-10 with a 3.60 ERA for the Philadelphia Phillies last season. Over his career, he is 159-93 with a 3.21 ERA.

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The Miami Marlins apparently don't think they've improved enough this offseason. MLB.com reports that the team is "aggressively negotiating" a contract for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes.

Cespedes "could start visiting prospective teams in the next few weeks," the site reports, and the Marlins are hoping they are one of his destinations. As it is now, Cespedes is free to negotiate with clubs and can come to an agreement but cannot officially sign yet due to government restrictions.

"If it can be arranged, and he wants to come to Miami and see our ballpark, it would be great," said Marlins president David Samson on Thursday, according to MLB.com. "From our standpoint, we are aggressively negotiating a contract, but there is no way of knowing if we will be a high bidder."

Other teams that have been linked to Cespedes include the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers, the site notes.

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The Washington Nationals made themselves a little stronger Thursday by adding Edwin Jackson to their rotation for one season for around $10 million. The word from Fox Sports is that the team is also "aggressively" trying to unload John Lannan from its rotation as well.

The 27-year-old lefty, who lost his arbitration case with the team and will be paid $5 million this season rather than the $5.7 million that he wanted, went 10-13 with a  3.70 ERA last year (when he was paid $2.75 million).

Fox reports that Jackson had a few three-year offers, but decided to go with one so that he can hopefully stuff his stats this season and re-enter the free-agent market at the end of the 2012 season.

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Manny Ramirez has played 19 seasons in the big leagues and he'd like to come out of retirement for at least one more. The slugger retired last April after playing only five games for the Tampa Bay Rays (one hit, one RBI, four strikeouts) because he was about to be hit with a 100-game ban for testing positive for performance—enhancing drugs.

Fox Sports reports that the teams that have the most interest in signing the 39-year-old are the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics.

Whoever he signs with, Ramirez will only need to sit out for 50 games due to an agreement between the players union and the league.

The 12-time All-Star has been on two World Series-winning squads, knocked out 555 homers, and maintained a career batting average of .312.

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Now that Edwin Jackson has signed on with the Washington Nationals, Roy Oswalt remains alone at the top of the best unsigned starting-pitcher free agent. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, one of Oswalt's hoped-for destinations, the Texas Rangers, is probably not going to happen.

"The Rangers … appear to be moving away from the idea of adding free-agent starter Roy Oswalt," the paper reports. A source tells the Express-News that the Rangers have "all but decided against the right-hander." According to the paper, Oswalt told the team he doesn't have any interest in being a reliever and would like a one-year, $10 million deal.

"It's enticing when you have a veteran starter who wants to pitch for you," general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday, the paper reports. "The reality is we have a lot of starting pitchers that all have high upsides, and we want to give them the ball."

Meanwhile, Fox Sports has it that Oswalt's other preferred destination, the St. Louis Cardinals, "have not made Oswalt a financial offer that the pitcher deems anywhere close to sufficient."

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New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker has only one more game to play before he becomes a free agent, but Pats fans shouldn't start worrying just yet.

NESN reports that Welker is saying that he aims to return to the Patriots' roster next season: "I plan on being back," Welker said, the site reports. "I'm not really too worried about that right now. I'm fully concentrated on this game and what we have to do, but I plan on being back."

The site notes that Patriots owner Robert Kraft recently said that he would like Welker to be back next season: "I think Wes wants to be here, and we want him here," Kraft said in late January, the site notes. "Hopefully when the season ends, both sides will be wise enough to consummate something. He's pretty special. Anytime there's a player on this team I can look eye to eye and be at the same level, he's an important guy."

The 30-year-old Welker, a four-time Pro Bowler who went undrafted in 2004 out of Texas Tech, has been with the team since 2007 and led the AFC in receiving yards this past season with 1,569. He also has led the NFL in receptions three times in the last five seasons, including in 2011 when he had 122. Nine of those were for touchdowns.

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