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New Year’s resolutions for all 30 MLB teams are difficult to craft.

With the big time free agents starting to find homes and the trade market heating up, next years teams are starting to take shape.

Technically, every team’s 2011 New Year’s resolution is to win the World Series in October.

But if you play in Pittsburgh or Kansas City, that probably doesn’t seem too likely.

Now for the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and a few other club it’s too easy to say their resolution is to win the title. So we’ll try to add a little more suspense to it than that.

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Joe Blanton is not definitely on his way out of Philadelphia yet.

As NESN.com is reporting, a team source said “(I) don’t know where this is coming from,”

As Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal suggested via twitter, the Phillies might want to keep him as a backup plan: “Some with Phillies want to keep Blanton. 2 yrs left. Safety valve in event of injury or Oswalt exit after ’11. Payroll the issue.”

The Red Sox may have improved their lineup tremendously, by adding Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, but there remain some questions about their rotation. Josh Beckett is coming off an injury plagued 2010 and John Lackey had a disappointing season, so there is naturally some interest in enhancing the rotation, especially since Daisuke Matsuzaka has struggled with injury and inconsistency lately.

If the club can somehow move Matuzaka and his huge contract Blanton would be a great replacement. But if that doesn’t happen (and it’s unlikely that a team would want to pick up the $8.3 milliion contract of a play whose went 13-12 the past two seasons), Blanton might be headed elsewhere.

For more on the MLB offseason, see MLB Free Agents: The Latest on Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Others

Joe Blanton might be the only member of the Philadelphia Phillies who wasn’t ecstatic to hear that the team signed free agent ace Cliff Lee.

Lee’s addition now gives the team two Cy Young winners, a former World Series MVP, and Roy Oswalt. Because he now seems expendable, some reports have Blanton being shipped to the Boston Red Sox.

But Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports suggested that the franchise might be leary about dealing away Blanton. He tweeted this morning “Some with Phillies want to keep Blanton. 2 yrs left. Safety valve in event of injury or Oswalt exit after ’11. Payroll the issue.”

Blanton is 30 and came to the Phillies in the middle of the 2008 season. In those two and a half seasons, he has posted a 4.38 ERA and a 25-14 record in 118 starts.

Blanton made $3 million last season so he was relatively cheap, but is scheduled to make $8.5 million each of the next two seasons before becoming a free agent in 2013.

For more on the MLB offseason, see MLB Free Agents: The Latest on Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Others

Cliff Lee Phillies marriage has Boston Red Sox fans giddy this Tuesday morning.

Obviously, the Yankees losing out on a front line starter is a big deal: anytime the Yankees lose anything Red Sox fans have to be happy.

But because the club’s biggest offseason acquisitions (outfielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez) were both left handed bats, the Yankees missed out on having a great response to their AL East rival.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are now reports that the Red Sox are going to acquire Joe Blanton from Philadelphia. The Phillies now have Lee, 2010 NL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt, so they do not need to pay Blanton more than $3 million per season.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman, tweeted this morning “word now is, Philly has a deal in place with Boston for Blanton.”

On the other hand, Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal reponded via twitter, “Some with Phillies want to keep Blanton. 2 yrs left. Safety valve in event of injury or Oswalt exit after ’11. Payroll the issue.”

For more on the MLB offseason, see MLB Free Agents: The Latest on Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Others

MLB Rumors are starting to turn into fact.

Cliff Lee has a familiar new home for the 2011 season (and far beyond).

Where does that leave Zack Greinke, who many would consider the next in line to be shopped to a contender?

But Greinke and Lee aren’t the only ones out there who could be changing addresses.

As free agency continues on there will be much more dealing by general managers desperate to make their team better.

And since things seem to be changing by the minute, we will try to keep you informed of what is taking place out there on this Tuesday morning.

Check out these quick hits.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 10 biggest laughing stocks of free agency are described as such not necessarily because they aren’t (or weren’t once) fine players.

Although some of them are far past their prime.

But the main reason why teams would be foolish to sign them is because of the likely very high asking price.

Maybe the aging veterans whose production has dwindled would take a reduced deal, one-year to hang or try to resurrect their career. But that’s not likely.

And maybe the free agents who aren’t over the hill, aren’t seeking contracts far better than they’re worth.

That’s not likely either.

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MLB trade rumors are going to start swirling this week with the winter meetings kicking off today in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

As you know by now, there have already been some huge moves out there: Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter re-signed with the New York Yankees. Adam Dunn joined the White Sox for big dollars. And Jayson Werth just got an enormous contract from the Washington Nationals.

But Adrian Gonzalez being dealt to the Red Sox is probably the most momentous of all the offseason moves in 2010-2011. Gonzalez will take up residence in Fenway Park next spring.

That has us wondering how the other teams in MLB are going to compete in 2011. What moves might be out there to match the Gonzalez-to-Boston deal?

Inside we’ll choose one move each team might make, from least impactful across the league to most impactful, with a guess at how possible each move is.

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Ron Santo passed away today at the age of 70.

One of the most beloved Chicago Cubs figures of all time, Santo had been battling a myriad of physical problems the last few years.

Today, the Chicago Cubs chairman, Tom Ricketts released this statement:

“My siblings and I first knew Ron Santo as fans, listening to him in the broadcast booth. We knew him for his passion, his loyalty, his great personal courage and his tremendous sense of humor. It was our great honor to get to know him personally in our first year as owners. Ronnie will forever be the heart and soul of Cubs fans.”

Inside is a brief look at the longtime Cubbie.

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MLB rumors are starting to heat up about some of the league’s biggest stars.

And with the winter meetings just a week away, there is sure to be a lot of wheeling and dealing.

Between the 2011 free agency class, the one to follow a year later, and the changes to a few managers/front offices (Mets, Cubs, Toronto, Atlanta) the makeup of several teams is likely to change over the next few weeks.

Inside we’ll take a look at the top 50 players who could be on their way to be in a new locker room next spring.

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Small-market stars are few and far between in today’s modern MLB. Sure there are plenty of players who come up with the league’s have-nots: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Milwaukee.

But they don’t seem to stay there for very long. Do we really expect Prince Fielder to stay in Milwaukee forever? Or Zack Grienke in Kansas City? We just saw Dan Uggla shipped to Atlanta for very little in return, partly because the Marlins didn’t want to pay him a huge, long-term deal.

It hasn’t always been like that. Plenty of great, future Hall of Famers spent the bulk (if not all) of their careers with a team outside of the “big markets.” And they make the top of this list.

But first, a loose definition of “small market.”

Obviously, the big cities, like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston don’t count. St. Louis and San Francisco have to be on the list too.

So do certain franchises, no matter how large or small, that broke the bank to win a championship. Oakland may be “small market,” but when Charlie Finley was running the club in the early 1970s, they shouldn’t be lumped in with today’s Pittsburgh Pirates as “small market.”

The same goes for the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks or 1997 Florida Marlins who were not shy about spending tens of millions of dollars to secure a pennant.

And since there were only eight teams in each league before 1961, it’s hard to say that any of those clubs were “small market”, to be on this list, you have to have played the bulk of your career AFTER the majors started expanding and markets became more watered down.

Let the debate begin…

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