Elephant Rumblings: Outfield market heating up as 2019 comes to a close

A’s Coverage:

• Haft: Top 10 A’s home runs of the decade...
• Kleinschmidt: A’s of this decade - Eight defining moments for Green and Gold in 2010s...
• Jaffe: JAWS and the 2020 Hall of Fame Ballot - One-and-Dones, Part 1...
• Byrne: Remaining Needs - AL West...

Best of AN:

• Nico: Blogfather Denied Xmas Pony For 13th Straight Year...

MLB News:

• Heyman: White Sox have talked to outfielders Nick Castellanos, Yasiel Puig...
• Pavlovic: Giants’ status as Castellanos front-runners “overblown”...
• Todd: Latest Chatter On Japanese OF Shogo Akiyama...
• Heyman: Mets, Pirates have exchanged names on possible Starling Marte trade...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Miller: Mickey Mantle cried after strikeouts and 8 other surprising things I learned this year...
• Jessop: How Wasserman agents found success repping first-rounders in all 6 major North American league drafts in 2019... ($$$)
• Simons: My Favorite Memory of the Decade - Hometown Hero...
• Posnanski: The Baseball 100 - No. 92, Bullet Rogan... ($$$)

Today in Baseball History:

• 1919 — One day after secretly working out a deal to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee says his team will deal any player except Harry Hooper. But Hooper will be sent to the Chicago White Sox after the 1920 season.
• 2012 — OF Hideki Matsui announces his retirement at a press conference in New York, NY. He had hit .304 with 332 home runs as a three-time MVP during his prime in Japan, then added 175 homers, a World Series MVP award and a .282 average winding down his career in the US.

Best of Twitter:

• Larry Walker belongs in the Hall...

• And it looks like he might be on his way...

• Three of the greatest peaks of our generation, but keep in mind, Pedro thrived in the heart of the steroid era — insane...