Eyes had been opened around MLB when the Texas Rangers, who at the time have been in bankruptcy court, have been authorized to take on salary to get Cliff Lee in a trade in July, and Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux confessed on the night of the World Series that it had been a lucky break.

“I’ve got to say our MVP is Commissioner Selig (Allan Huber “Bud” Selig) , for letting us operate without a checkbook,” Michael Maddux said. “He’s got to be one of the unsung heroes of baseball, at least as far as the Rangers are concerned.”

Clifton Lee, who began Game 1 of the 2010 World Series over the San Francisco Giants last Wednesday, was obviously 1 of the key players to put Texas over the top.

It was a bit of a shocker when the Rangers acquired him from the Mariners. The Rangers took on much more than $4.5 million in salary when they Cliff Lee transferred and Mark Lowe from Seattle Mariners, who compensated for about half of that by sending the Texas $2.25 million as included in the deal.

During the time of the deal, Texas have been under the control of MLB thoughout the transition to new ownership.

On his 11 years with the Chicago White Sox as first baseman is Paul Henry Konerko who went to high school in Scottsdale and still makes his offseason home in the area, and if the Arizona Diamondbacks have their way he will be playing there year-round too. Bruce Levien of ESPNChicago.com reported Henry Konerko will be an offseason priority for the D-Backs once the free agency period starts in another week or so.

Diamondbacks received good but not excellent production out of Adam LaRoche this year (.261/.320/.468 with 25 homers), and this report appears to indicate that they’ll acquire out his $7.5MM mutual choice for $1.5MM instead of pick it up. Konerko had a great mlb season, hitting .312/.393/.584 with 39 home runs in 631 plate appearances. New General Manager Kevin Towers has shown interest in cutting down on his team’s strikeouts, something Konerko would definitely support with; he struck out 62 fewer times than LaRoche in 16 much more plate appearances.

The 34-year-old first baseman informed the reporters back in September that he could retire if he is not happy with the way his offseason shakes out, but I am confident playing close to home will be an interesting choice. Konerko also said that contract length is not significant priority since he is not certain how much longer he wants to play. He just wrapped up 5-year deal that paid him $12MM annually.

Another heart warming day for the White Sox as Frank Thomas officially announced his retirement at the U.S. Cellular Field Conference and Learning Center, first hand news by MLB.com Thursday night. Thomas who broadcasted about his illustrious 18-year-career, with 15 coming as part of the White Sox organization has finally decided to put his bat to rest and leave his career in Major League Baseball for good.

Thomas honestly speaks about his accomplishments. The two time American League Most Valuable player joined the Hall of Famers Mel Ott, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams as one of four players to have a .300 average, with 500 home runs, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 runs scored and 1,500 walks in his career. Frank Thomas ranks in the top 30 all-time in eight statistical categories, including sitting in a tie for 18th with Willie McCovey and Williams at 521 home runs. These numbers certainly indicate how well he did his homework, keep countless hours in the weight room yet spent just as much time going over film to get extremely prepared.  Thomas played for 18 years, which is a long time in this game and undoubtedly for his indefinite absence, he’ll be missed.