Alex Gonzalez, who has since signed with the Brewers, held a workout in Miami in mid-December to prove he’d recovered from ACL surgery, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Gonzalez reportedly said that more than a dozen teams sent scouts, including representatives from the Red Sox.

McCalvy reports that Gonzalez even thought the Red Sox might be the best fit for him because they needed a shortstop at the time. Boston opted to sign Drew instead, though, all but ending the chances of Gonzalez reuniting with the Sox for the second time.

Gonzalez, who turned 36 this month and figures to play a backup role in Milwaukee, played for the Red Sox in 2006. He hit .255 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs in 111 games. The defensive-minded shortstop was later sent back to Boston from Cincinnati in 2009, at which point he hit .284 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in 148 at-bats over the span of 44 games.

According to McCalvy, Gonzalez also came close to signing with the Cardinals this offseason before eventually inking a one-year deal with the Brewers.

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The Yankees are “fishing around” for a veteran pitcher who can start in Triple-A, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.

The Bronx Bombers reportedly have their eyes on a familiar friend in Chien-Ming Wang, as they plan to watch him during the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Cashman and the Yankees reportedly have no interest in free agent Kyle Lohse, though.

The Yankees’ rotation currently consists of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and either Ivan Nova or David Phelps. However, Hughes is battling a bulging disk in his upper back, which makes adding organizational depth somewhat of a necessity.

Wang went 2-3 with a 6.68 ERA in 10 appearances (five starts) with the Nationals last season. The 32-year-old hasn’t been the same pitcher he once was in recent years due to injuries, but the Yanks could take a flier in the hopes that he can regain some of what helped him win 19 games in both 2006 and 2007 for the Yankees. Wang actually finished second in AL Cy Young voting in 2006, when he went 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA for New York.

Lohse remains the top free-agent starter on the open market, but teams have been reluctant to sign him because of the draft pick compensation they’d have to relinquish as part of any deal.

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Photo via Wikipedia/Chien-Ming Wang

The Sox signed left-hander Sean Henn to a minor league contract. Henn hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2009, when he compiled a 7.53 ERA in 14 1/3 innings in 20 games split between Minnesota and Baltimore.

Henn, who turns 32 in April, spent last season in the Korean Baseball Organization. The lefty has appeared in 60 career big league games, going 2-9 with a 7.56 ERA in 81 innings.

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Thumbnail photo via Wikipedia/Sean Henn

The Sox have also discussed the Mariners’ Mike Carp as a potential backup, according to The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo. Carp was designated for assignment last week.

Carp hit .213 in 164 at-bats last season, and is a career .255 hitter in 545 at-bats. The 26-year-old is a left-handed hitter and has the ability to play both first base and the outfield, which is something that would certainly be an asset to the Red Sox. Napoli, of course, figures to be Boston’s everyday first baseman, but his hip condition makes the need for a solid backup that much greater. Plus, a left-handed bat capable of playing the outfield could spell Jonny Gomes from time to time when the Sox face right-handers.

Carp hit .276 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs in 79 games in 2011.

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Photo via Wikipedia/Mike Carp

Kyle Lohse

Last week, ESPN’s Jim Bowden listed the Red Sox among the teams he thinks make the most sense for Lohse. The Angels, Rangers, Brewers and Orioles were the other teams. While Bowden made it clear with his tweet that he was simply expressing his opinion, it led to widespread speculation about whether bringing Lohse to Boston really is a possibility.

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford did a little investigating, though, and the major league source he spoke to reportedly said that it is “highly unlikely” the Red Sox will go after Lohse in free agency. While that does nothing to please the Lohse supporters lurking around Beantown, Sox fans should understand that steering clear of the veteran right-hander is the team’s best course of action.

It’s hard to doubt Lohse’s effectiveness for the Cardinals last season. The right-hander went 16-3, and finished seventh in National League Cy Young voting. His win-loss percentage (84.2 percent) was the best in baseball, while his WHIP (1.09) was sixth, his quality starts (24) were tied for sixth and his ERA (2.86) was eighth. All of this came after a successful 2010 campaign in which he went 14-8 with a 3.39 ERA.

But while production like that from a starting pitcher, especially one who figures to land in the middle of most rotations, is something that would improve any pitching staff, there are a few other not-so-pleasant facts that stand out when it comes to Lohse.

First of all, prior to 2011, Lohse was a rather mediocre starting pitcher. He had a 15-win season with the Cards in 2008, but other than that, he was relatively ineffective. He was particularly ineffective in the American League, where he spent parts of six seasons with the Twins. During that span, which ranged from 2001 to 2006, Lohse went 51-57 with a 4.88 ERA in 172 appearances (152 starts). Obviously, he’s a much better pitcher now, but the National League and American League often prove to be two different beasts, and that’s something that would really be alarming if he was to join a division as stacked as the AL East.

Then, there’s his age. Lohse is 34 years old, and while that doesn’t make him a gray beard by any means, he does have enough wear and tear that giving him a multiyear deal is a bit of a gamble in and of itself.

The biggest reason, however, that the Red Sox shouldn’t even give Lohse a glance is the draft pick compensation that’s tied to him. This is the same reason the Red Sox were reluctant to pursue guys like Adam LaRoche, Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano — all players who would have helped fill needs but who also had draft pick compensation attached.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams can opt to make impending free agents a qualifying offer, which is determined by averaging the top 125 salaries of the previous year. It’s a number that will fluctuate year to year, and it equaled out to $13.3 million this offseason. The Cardinals made Lohse such an offer, meaning he could have re-signed with St. Louis for one year at that salary, but he instead opted to test the open market. Under the CBA, if a player declines a qualifying offer, his former team is then entitled to draft pick compensation from the team that opts to sign the player

For many teams, this would require parting ways with a first-round draft pick and the money allotted to the pick in the team’s draft pool. Since the Red Sox had one of the 10 worst records in baseball in 2012, they would be required to give up a second-round pick, in addition to the allotted money. In other words, signing Lohse goes beyond just meeting the hurler’s financial demands. And with the Red Sox emphasizing player development and building from within, relinquishing a high draft pick and the money attached to it makes little sense, especially when you consider Boston’s rotation is pretty much set.

Sure, there’s the old adage that you can never have enough pitching. In this case, though, the Red Sox would be better off looking elsewhere.

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Jon Lester

Lester said that he hasn’t been approached by the Red Sox about a contract extension, according to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford.

This doesn’t mean that Lester won’t receive an extension, or that the Red Sox won’t approach him about an extension in the near future, but it does show that the lefty could be pitching for his next contract this season. How he performs in 2013 could significantly alter his financial future, as well as his future in Boston.

Lester established himself as one of baseball’s elite lefties for a four-year stretch from 2008 to 2011. He was a two-time All-Star and won at least 15 games each year, including 19 during a 2010 campaign in which he finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting. Like many of his teammates, Lester struggled in 2012, though, going just 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA in 33 starts.

In order for the Red Sox to turn things around this season, the pitching staff will need to be more consistent. That all starts at the top, which is exactly where Lester is supposed to sit.

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One pitcher who could soon find himself on the receiving end of a huge payday is Clayton Kershaw, and Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti admitted that there is “mutual interest” between Kershaw and the club.

“This is not going to be a daily discussion point for us publicly. But there is a mutual interest,” Colletti said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Kershaw, who at 24 is two years younger than Hernandez, is slated to become a free agent after the 2014 season. There has been plenty of speculation in the past that Kershaw, who is set to make $11 million in 2013, could someday become the first pitcher to earn a $30 million annual salary. The news of Hernandez’s extension, which will reportedly give the Seattle ace $25 million a year, only increases the odds of Kershaw becoming a very rich man in the near future.

Kershaw has established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball in recent years. The lefty earned Cy Young honors in 2011 when he won the pitchers’ Triple Crown. The lefty went 21-5 with a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts.

Kershaw went 14-9 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 2012, which was good enough for second in National League Cy Young voting.

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Rich Hill

The Indians announced on Thursday that they have signed Hill to a minor-league deal with a non-roster invite to big league camp. The Milton, Mass., native will join former Sox manager Terry Francona, who is set to embark on his first season as the Indians’ skipper.

Hill, whose local roots had plenty of Sox fans pulling for him over the past three seasons, only made 40 appearances in a Red Sox uniform. He had Tommy John surgery in 2011, and he bounced back and forth between Boston and Triple-A Pawtucket. The left-hander actually pitched very well during his time in the majors, though, so there’s reason to believe he could catch on and have a role with the Tribe.

Hill, who will turn 33 in March, was 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA in 31 2/3 innings with the Red Sox between 2010 and 2012. The lefty went 1-0 with a 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings spread out over 25 appearances last season.

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Felix Hernandez has reportedly signed a seven-year, $175 million extension with the Mariners, making him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. The 26-year-old phenom had two years remaining on his deal, but by inking the monster extension, Hernandez will no longer hit the open market following the 2014 season.

The funny thing about Hernandez’s record-setting contract is that it’s hard to argue with Seattle’s logic, and that never seems to be the case when teams ink players to such megadeals. There are few players you can point to, though, and safely say without hesitation that they’re worth giving up the farm to land. Hernandez is one of those special players, and yet the Mariners — despite struggling recently — have repeatedly stuck to their guns and refused to move the coveted hurler. Now, after laying down an obscene amount of cash, it looks like Hernandez isn’t going anywhere, and that’s a crushing reality for those teams perhaps already allocating their funds in a manner that would have enabled them to make a run at the superstar following the 2014 season.

Thursday’s news, while major, isn’t exactly shocking. The length and dollar amount are unrivaled, but there had been a report earlier this offseason that the Mariners were considering offering the right-hander a four-year, $100 million deal. That would have given Hernandez the same $25 million average annual salary and also allowed him to hit the open market a bit earlier than 2019, but you can’t fault a guy for pushing for long-term financial security.

Hernandez will be 33 when his contract expires after the 2019 season. Cliff Lee was 32 when he signed his five-year $120 million deal with the Phillies before the 2011 season, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Hernandez could someday command a second nine-figure contract. The wear and tear on Hernandez’s arm by then will be much more substantial, considering the Venezuelan began his major league career at the age of 19, but who knows what the pitching market will look like at that point?

Hernandez’s next contract is a ways away, though, and a lot can happen between now and then. After all, Brandon Webb was the NL Cy Young winner seven years ago and he’s now out of baseball after multiple failed comeback attempts. The more appropriate route in making sense of Hernandez’s new deal is to see what it means right here and now.

First and foremost, it shows that the Mariners have their heads on straight. They know what they have in Hernandez, who is a bona fide ace — the likes of which don’t come around very often. Rather than dealing him away in the hopes of landing “the next Felix Hernandez,” Seattle made the wise decision to lock up its franchise cornerstone for the duration of his prime years. For the next seven years, the Mariners have the luxury of knowing who will be their Opening Day starter, who will be the team’s workhorse and who will spearhead Seattle’s quest to regain AL West supremacy.

Hernandez enters 2013 on the heels of five straight seasons of 200-plus innings and four straight seasons with more than 200 strikeouts. He earned AL Cy Young honors in 2010, and his resume would probably include even more accolades if he was playing in a bigger, more successful market. Clearly, Hernandez is OK with being a part of building something in Seattle, though, and he has and will continue to be the team’s most marketable player.

Hernandez’s deal also means that other pitchers, including David Price and Clayton Kershaw, are in line for huge paydays. That may have been the case all along, but Kershaw should be especially happy about the deal given to Hernandez. The Dodgers left-hander is still just 24, and is currently slated to hit free agency after the 2014 season, when he’ll be 26. Sound familiar? It’s probably safe to assume that Hernandez’s extension will serve as a baseline in those negotiations. (Ching ching.)

Keeping the free-spending Dodgers out of this deal, though, Hernandez and the Mariners are a perfect match, and the extension is one that works for both sides. It’s a whole lot of money, yes, but the price won’t look too steep when Hernandez continues to show who he really is: one of baseball’s best.

This isn’t the last of the moaning and groaning from MLB executives when it comes to Hernandez. You won’t hear a peep from the Mariners’ front office, though. It’ll be too busy enjoying the show.

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Felix Hernandez has agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract with the Mariners, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The deal reportedly should be finalized before spring training, and it will make Hernandez the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history.

Hernandez will reportedly earn $25 million annually as part of the deal, which will run through the 2019 season. The 26-year-old was slated to make $19.5 million in 2013 and $20 million in 2014 before signing the extension, which exceeds the length of the deal Seattle was reportedly considering offering earlier this offseason.

In signing Hernandez to the megadeal, the Mariners now have one of the best pitchers in baseball for the foreseeable future. The three-time All-Star won the Cy Young award in 2010, when he compiled a sparkling 2.27 ERA over 249 2/3 innings. Hernandez finished second in Cy Young voting the year prior, and he finished fourth this past season, when he posted a 13-9 record an a 3.06 ERA.

Hernandez has exceeded the 190-inning mark each of the last seven seasons, and has surpassed the 200-inning plateau each of the last five. He’s also had more than 200 strikeouts each of his last four campaigns.

There was some question as to whether Hernandez would opt to let his current deal expire and then test the open market, but the righty has said that he loves playing in Seattle. Apparently, he wasn’t bluffing.

Hernandez’s reported deal blows past the seven-year, $161 million contract the Yankees gave to CC Sabathia before the 2010 season.

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According to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford, a major league source said that it is “highly unlikely” the Red Sox will sign Lohse, who is considered the top free-agent pitcher remaining on the open market.

The Sox have been linked to Lohse in the past, but that was before Boston opted to sign Ryan Dempster, who now figures to be the team’s No. 3 starter behind Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. A very confident John Lackey is also still in the mix, while Felix Doubront figures to round out the staff — with Franklin Morales also capable of starting some games.

You can never have too much pitching, and you can certainly never have too much quality pitching. Lohse, who is coming off a season in which he went 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA for the Cardinals, fits the mold of a quality pitcher. However, signing Lohse would require the Red Sox to give up draft pick compensation in addition to making a sizable financial commitment.

That’s something general manager Ben Cherington probably isn’t too keen on, even if the Red Sox still have money available.

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Photo via Flickr/Keith Allison

Jed Lowrie

Lowrie, who the Red Sox traded to the Astros last offseason, has been dealt to the Athletics along with Fernando Rodriguez in exchange for Chris Carter, Brad Peacock and minor leaguer Max Stassi.

Lowrie batted .244 and smacked 16 home runs in 97 games with the Astros last season. The Red Sox dealt him away last winter in exchange for reliever Mark Melancon, who Boston has since traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Joel Hanrahan deal.

Lowrie, who will turn 29 in April, is a former first-round pick who was once a very highly regarded prospect. Injuries have hampered his career thus far, though, and his production has often suffered as a result. Still, Lowrie has shown flashes of being a solid major leaguer from time to time, so the Astros wanted to make sure they received multiple pieces in exchange for the infielder.

“This trade gives us power, pitching and catching,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said in a statement released by the team. “Three valuable commodities that will help improve our organization.”

Lowrie spent most of his time at shortstop last season, but he has shown an ability to play all over the infield.

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Franklin Morales

According to The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, a few teams have contacted the Sox about Morales this offseason and a few others have the left-hander on their list of pitchers to watch closely in spring training.

Morales went 3-4 with a 3.77 ERA in 37 appearances last season. While the lefty served primarily in a relief role, the Red Sox did use him as a starter for nine games, which evidently was enough to intrigue some teams. Cafardo notes that teams will be interested this spring to see if Morales can consistently maintain his high velocity — around 96 mph to be exact — for a full outing.

While it’s unclear which teams contacted the Red Sox about Morales, Cafardo thinks that the Nationals could be a suitor if Gio Gonzalez is forced to miss any time as a result of his alleged involvement with a PED-selling, anti-aging clinic in Miami.

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Valverde is close to signing a one-year deal with the Marlins, according to ESPN.com’s Enrique Rojas.

Valverde, who is a three-time All-Star, has reached the 40-save plateau on three separate occasions, leading the league in every instance. He put together a fantastic campaign in 2011, saving all 49 of his chances while donning a 2.24 ERA. He regressed a bit in 2012, though, which has the 34-year-old still seeking employment just prior to spring training.

Valverde — who also owns one of baseball’s better nicknames in “Papa Grande” — saved 35 games for the Tigers last season and sported a 3.78 ERA in 69 innings.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka

According to The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, the Astros and Mets are “kicking around the possibility” of adding Matsuzaka, whose six-year stint in Boston wasn’t exactly illustrious.

Matsuzaka won 18 games in 2008, compiling a good-looking 2.90 ERA along the way, but the rest of his tenure with the Red Sox was marred by both injuries and inconsistent production. Now, he’s facing a very uncertain future.

As Cafardo points out, Matsuzaka could opt to return to Japan, where he became a legend before embarking on his subpar major league career. If the righty thinks he has a good chance of cracking a big league squad, though, he could decide to stick around, although whichever team signs him will be hoping he ups his level of play.

Matsuzaka went 1-7 with a 8.28 ERA in 11 starts last season. Overall, he’s 50-37 with a 4.52 ERA.

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According to Peter Gammons, before signing Overbay, the Red Sox had an NL team offer to get them Chris Coghlan from the Marlins as part of a three-way trade.

Obviously, this news doesn’t mean a whole lot, as it’s unclear if those talks ever went anywhere or whether Coghlan is someone the Red Sox would be interested in pursuing even in the wake of signing Overbay. If nothing else, though, it shows that some team over in the Senior Circuit was trying to set Boston up to fail.

Coghlan, a former first-round pick of the Marlins, has been in a downward spiral since earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2009. The 27-year-old hit .140 with a .393 OPS in 93 at-bats last season before the Fish had enough of his woes and sent him down to Triple-A in June for the remainder of the season.

It should be noted that Coghlan has never played first base in his big league career, although he would have represented a potential left-handed bench option for the Red Sox. Overbay, on the other hand, fits both of those descriptions and doesn’t stink, which is always a plus.

Before signing Lyle Oberbay, Boston had an NL team offer toget them Chris Coghlan from Miami in 3-way. .850-.595 4-yr. OPS scary.

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) February 1, 2013

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Photo via Facebook/Chris Coghlan

Baseball America — which compiles a list of minor league transactions that are conveyed by Major League Baseball — reports that the Red Sox have signed right-hander Charlie Haeger and left-hander Christian Perdomo. Both hurlers join the organization with rather interesting stories.

Haeger is a 29-year-old knuckleballer with 34 big league appearances to his credit. He last pitched in the majors with the Dodgers in 2010, going 0-4 with an 8.40 ERA in nine games (six starts). The righty is 2-7 with a 6.40 ERA in 83 career innings.

If Haeger’s name sounds familiar, it’s because this isn’t his first stint with the Red Sox organization. He actually pitched in five games with Double-A Portland during the 2011 season, going 4-1 with a 3.24 ERA in eight starts. The Sox released Haeger prior to last spring training, and he didn’t pitch at all in 2012.

Perdomo, meanwhile, arrives in Boston as an undrafted free agent who attended Advanced Software Analysis Junior College in Brooklyn. The 6-foot-5 Dominican Republic native only pitched in three games last season, according to the school’s web site, but interestingly he previously attended George Washington High (the same school that produced Manny Ramirez).

It’s highly unlikely that either pitcher will make much of an impact in 2013, but aren’t the best feel-good stories the ones that come completely out of left field?

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The Sox have signed first baseman Lyle Overbay to a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to spring training, according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.

Overbay, who turned 36 on Monday, is a career .270 hitter in 12 big league seasons. He hit .259 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 116 at-bats split between Arizona and Atlanta last season. His best season came in 2006, when he hit .312 with 22 home runs and 92 RBIs in 157 games with the Blue Jays.

Overbay will give the Red Sox some depth at first base — something they truly need — as they get ready to enter spring training. Mauro Gomez and Mark Hamilton both figure to compete for a spot on Boston’s bench, but neither has much big league experience. Overbay, on the other hand, has plenty of experience to go along with his left-handed bat.

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Photo via Wikipedia/Lyle Overbay

Nelson Cruz

According to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers have not renewed their interest in free-agent outfielder Michael Bourn. Sullivan reports that even if the Rangers end up losing Cruz until the middle of June because of a suspension, the plan is still to go with what they have right now.

That obviously leaves the Rangers in quite a pickle, but as terrible as the outlook would be if Cruz was forced to miss any time, signing Bourn would only make a terrible situation that much worse.

There’s a good chance Cruz won’t end up getting suspended in the wake of Tuesday’s report due to the lack of a positive drug test. But as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out, a suspension is still possible in such cases, as there is a precedent to suspend players based on other information. Outfielders Jay Gibbons and Jose Guillen were suspended in 2007, although neither tested positive for a banned substance. Instead, they were found to have purchased HGH and steroids, and were then suspended based on the non-analytical positives. The same can be said for Astros outfielder Jordan Schaefer, who received a similar suspension as a minor leaguer in 2008.

Now, let’s put all of that (very important) mumbo jumbo aside for a minute, and look at what the Rangers’ situation would look like if Cruz does miss time this season because of the whole PED debacle. Going with what they have right now would likely entail Mitch Moreland or Mike Olt shifting to the outfield. Moreland figures to be Texas’ starting first baseman with Cruz in the lineup, while Olt has played mostly third base throughout his minor league career.

There’s also a possibility that Ian Kinsler could shift to the outfield, paving the way for No. 1 prospect Jurickson Profar, who could play up the middle alongside Elvis Andrus. That situation is probably a lot less likely, as rushing Profar also doesn’t make sense, but it’s still something to consider since Kinsler said in the past that he’s open to a position shift if necessary.

None of these scenarios are ideal, but that’s obvious. Having one of your biggest offensive threats linked to a PED scandal is never a good thing, and it’s especially problematic when it requires the skipper to start shifting parts and crinkling up projected lineup cards before the season even begins. From that standpoint, adding a talented outfielder like Bourn, who could slide nicely into the lineup while allowing everyone to remain at their primary positions, makes sense. The Rangers still need to use their head and think beyond any potential Cruz suspension, though.

If Cruz gets suspended — which, again, is a big “if” — the Rangers shouldn’t pursue Bourn for the same reason other teams have been reluctant to this offseason: it’s a sizable investment for a good, but not great player. Bourn reportedly is seeking a five-year deal and, with Scott Boras as his agent, you can bet the outfielder will hold out as long as possible in an effort  to earn what the pair deem to be fair compensation.

There has been speculation in the past that Bourn could command a contract in the $75-80 million range. A five-year pact worth that much for Bourn is blasphemy in and of itself. Sure, he’s a two-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and a stolen base machine, but paying a premium price would require overrating his skill set drastically. Then, when you consider that Bourn is tied to draft pick compensation by way of the new collective bargaining agreement, signing the 30-year-old outfielder to a multiyear deal would undoubtedly represent a panic move by Texas.

Not only would the Rangers be forced to overpay financially in order to secure Bourn’s services, but they’d have to mortgage a little bit of their future in the form of a first-round pick. And for what? Even if Cruz gets suspended, he’ll likely be back in June, and the time away from the field could even help the oft-injured slugger remain healthy for the remainder of the Rangers’ 162-game grind.

For now, the Rangers should cross their fingers and hope that Cruz doesn’t get suspended. If he does, it’s still not a good enough reason to shove those same fingers into their deep pockets in order to overpay for a player like Bourn.

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Nelson Cruz photo (right) via Flickr/Keith Allison

The Yankees have expressed interest in Travis Hafner, according to MLB.com. WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that the Bronx Bombers might be close to a deal with the free-agent slugger.

It’s hard to imagine, but Hafner once jacked 42 home runs in a season. He was one of the American League’s more feared hitters during a three-year stretch from 2004 to 2006, but he has since seen his production drop off, in large part because of injury issues.

Hafner hit .228 with 12 home runs and 34 RBIs in 66 games with the Indians last season, but Cleveland opted to exercise a $2.75 million buyout rather than pick up his $13 million option for 2013. MLB.com reports that Hafner and the Indians have remained in contact, though.

Hafner could eventually land in New York, but we shouldn’t count out other options. According to CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees are talking to others, in addition to Hafner.

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Photo via Flickr/Keith Allison