With the GM meetings lumped in between, this has been quite the news-filled week here in Red Sox Nation.

Before we get into the Red Sox specifically, Major League Baseball handed out some hardware over the past week. On Tuesday, the BWAA named Roy Halladay as the National League Cy Young Award-winner. Two days later, Felix Hernandez took home Cy Young honors in the American League, as predicted here on SoxSpace. Red Sox ace Jon Lester finished fourth in the AL Cy voting, with Clay Buchholz coming in at sixth after his breakout 17-7 season.

On Wednesday, the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire was named the American League Manager of the Year, with the San Diego Padres’ Bud Black winning the award in the NL, despite a late-season collapse by his club. Red Sox manager Terry Francona checked in at fourth place in the American League voting.

Monday, the Red Sox claimed right-handed reliever Taylor Buchholz off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. After missing all of 2009 and a majority of 2010 after Tommy John surgery, the Red Sox hope to get Buchholz back to his 2008 form, which saw the right-hander post a 2.17 ERA in 63 appearances setting up for the Rockies.

On Tuesday, with all of the interest in Victor Martinez on the free agent market and John Buck signing a three-year, $18 million deal with the Florida Marlins, Theo Epstein went on the record saying that he was "comfortable" with Jarrod Saltalamacchia being atop the Red Sox depth chart at the catching position.

Also on Tuesday, SI.com’s Jon Heyman tweeted that the trade market for Jonathan Papelbon is "very weak," and SoxSpace evaluates why.

Heyman also reported on Tuesday that upwards of twelve teams are interested in signing free agent third baseman, Adrian Beltre. On Wednesday, Nick Cafardo reported that the Red Sox would not exceed four years and $52 million in their offer to Beltre. Later that day, Juan Mercado of El Dia (a newspaper in the Dominican Republic) reported that the Oakland Athletics had made a five-year, $45 million offer to Beltre.

Though the years were what Beltre and his agent Scott Boras were in search of, the $45 million was very much short of the $15 million annually that the third baseman is seeking this winter. Less than two hours later, Enrique Rojas tweeted that the offer from Oakland was actually five years and $64 million, which is identical to the contract that he signed with the Seattle Mariners after his 48-homer season in 2004 with the Dodgers. If this report is true, then you can just about kiss Beltre goodbye, because the Red Sox will not come close to matching the A’s proposal.

Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com added to the Marco Scutaro trade rumors, reporting that six teams have interest in the 35-year-old infielder, who was hampered with shoulder issues towards the end of the 2010 season. Although the Red Sox are not inclined to move Scutaro, they would be willing to trade him for the right return, which most assume would be a quality bullpen arm. Teams rumored to be interested in acquiring Scutaro are all National League squads: the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds.

On Wednesday, SoxSpace covered the full extent of the Justin Upton trade rumors, then we were more than happy write some more when Ken Rostenthal said that discussions between the Red Sox and Diamondbacks are now “on the backburner.” Not long after that story hit the web, Jon Heyman tweeted that an American League executive said, “What the Diamondbacks want [in return for Justin Upton] is ridiculous.” SoxSpace has a round-up blog about that, too.

In case you didn’t hear, Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale was in the running to become the newest manager of the New York Mets, but was not invited back for a second round of interviews.

David Ortiz spoke with Jackie MacMullan of ESPNBoston.com, and he said that he was “fine” with the Red Sox picking up his $12.5 million option for the 2011 season, but that he wanted "something else." That "something else" was a two-year deal. "I thought what I've done here in Boston was well-deserving of two years, but I can't do nothing about it now except come back and play."

While speaking to WEEI, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner made a few interesting comments. First, he dismissed any idea of a "bridge year" in 2011, and he justified that by saying, "I think that we are going to sign, I won’t promise, but we’re going to sign a significant free agent. We are going to make a trade to improve ourselves. I want to assure everybody that there is no bridge year here this year. [In] 2011, we’re committed to win."

Boom. Now you’re all caught up. You’re welcome.

-Jared Carrabis