Salty dreams.

• "Jarrod Saltalamacchia can't hide his excitement when he hears rumors of being traded to Boston. Nothing against Texas, he insists, . . . [b]ut the Red Sox are a team he has respected and enjoyed from afar. He grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla., and his favorite catcher - and idol, of sorts - was Jason Varitek. . . . 'That would be a dream come true,' said Saltalamacchia, 23. 'I'd love to go there and either work under Jason for a year or two or just go there and catch full-time.'" Saltalamacchia adds that his elbow is 100 percent healthy, he was cleared to throw a month ago, and he expects to be playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic next week, staying for about a month (as told to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe) • According to a local reporter, the Rangers are in on 22-year-old Japanese righthander Junichi Tazawa, who has drawn interest from a number of clubs (including Atlanta, Boston, Florida, and the Cubs, if not Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, and the Mets as well) and already has an offer from the Braves, if not others. Tazawa was eligible to be chosen in the Japanese amateur draft a week and a half ago but went undrafted, based on his wishes to bring his mid-90s fastball, power curve, and splitty to the United States. A story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution suggests Tazawa profiles as Tim Hudson with a better curve. • As noted a couple days ago in a national story, a local report notes that the Rangers are showing interest in right-handed reliever Chad Cordero. • Texas continues to show "substantial interest" in third baseman Casey Blake (John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus) • "Rangers insiders" tell Jim Reeves of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Elvis Andrus's eventual arrival could result in a move of Michael Young back to second base and Ian Kinsler to third base, rather than Young to third. • Angels first baseman Kendry Morales is hitting .440/.483/1.040 through seven Dominican Winter League games, with four home runs and three doubles among his 11 hits. Go Kendry, go. • Two more thoughts on Pedro Strop, following up on yesterday's report: (1) No offense to Mark Hamburger, but if Colorado had offered Strop to Texas for Eddie Guardado, you'd think we'd have jumped on that trade . . . this is not an insignificant signing at all; (2) since Strop signed a minor league contract, he can be drafted a month from now via Rule 5 unless Texas adds him to the 40-man roster in the next 11 days. The 40-man roster decisions were already going to be tough in a couple cases, and now they get even tougher. Jose Vallejo, John Mayberry Jr., and Strop would seem to be locks, which means righthanders Omar Poveda and John Bannister (if not others) might be tough adds unless Texas designates three or four pitchers off the 40-man roster – not out of the question. (I go into a ton of detail on this decision process in the "40-Man Roster Conundrum" chapter in the 2009 Bound Edition.) • And to button all this up, if the Strop signing leads Texas to the decision to leave Poveda exposed to the draft and risk losing him, and Saltalamacchia isn't enough by himself to land Boston righthander Clay Buchholz, I wouldn't hesitate to make Saltalamacchia's dream come true by adding Poveda to try and close that deal. In fact, two months ago (September 15), I wrote this: Clay Buchholz and 20-year-old shortstop Yamaico Navarro for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and 20-year-old righthander Omar Poveda. . . . Who says no? They can keep Navarro. Jamey