Mr. Hamm. Arn Tellem, Nomar's agent, on #5's desire to stay with the Red Sox: "People are overanalyzing this. It's not a complicated issue. He wants to stay (in Boston) until the end - meaning to the end of his career and winning a World Series there. ... If they feel the same way Nomar feels, there should be no reason we can't make a deal at some point."

Jayson Stark on the madness of MLB running the Expos amid Vladimir Guerrero's free agency. ... Nick Cafardo reports that Gump Little has received more than 25 inquiries from teams looking to hire him in some way, possibly as a "special assistant to a general manager." ... Quote of the Day: A scout on Kaz Matsui: "I think he has [Derek] Jeter's intangibles."

Also: An assassination attempt on president-elect JFK on December 11, 1960 and a few Jacko thoughts from Tom Mangan.