Odds and Ends: Hunter, A-Rod, Bedard

Sunday morning minor rumor collection... There's always some skepticism from readers regarding Charley Walters rumors. Nonetheless I'll report that he names the Nationals, White Sox, Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers as teams that will bid for Torii Hunter. I don't see the Braves getting involved at $15MM per. And are the Dodgers ready to move Juan Pierre to left field already? The other clubs named seem reasonable. As expected, the Cardinals interviewed Chris Antonetti for their open GM position. No doubt it's an attractive position but you have to wonder what kind of autonomy he'd have with Tony La Russa around....

You're The GM: Philadelphia Phillies

Randy Miller weighed in yesterday morning with his plan for the Phillies. The team has $23MM to spend, by his count. He wants to sign Curt Schilling, David Riske, Mark Loretta, and Mike Cameron and also re-sign J.C. Romero. He also would ship Pat Burrell and Geoff Geary to the Angels for "two decent minor leaguers." Well. Start with the good - I think most of us can agree that Schilling at $13MM is solid. The bad: Riske's $2.85MM club option for '08 is very likely to be exercised by the Royals [Update: turns out the club option became a...

Cardinals Sign Pineiro For Two Years

Rather than test the market, Joel Pineiro has come to a two-year agreement with the Cardinals. I'd mentioned earlier that I thought he was in line for a Jason Marquis 3/21 type deal. According to Ken Rosenthal, it's a two-year, $13MM pact. This seems like a solid move by John Mozeliak. That's the going rate or even a mild discount for a fourth starter, and Pineiro could be decent. The Cards now have Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper, and Pineiro locked into the '08 rotation. According to Joe Strauss (linked above), the goal remains to acquire a "front-line" starter. The Cards...

Dunn's Option Likely To Be Exercised

The Cincinnati Enquirer's John Fay reports that the Reds are likely to exercise Adam Dunn's $13MM option for 2008, based on comments from club CEO Bob Castellini. What's more, an extension is not out of the question. Last we'd heard, it was "hard to see" the Reds picking up the option. Back in August, the Enquirer noted that the Reds would either pick up the option and trade Dunn or just not exercise it. Dunn, however, gets full no-trade protection until June 15th if the Reds exercise his option. He might have to be convinced to approve a deal this...

Cubs, Mariners Interested In Hiroki Kuroda

The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan had some information regarding Japanese starter Hiroki Kuroda in his column yesterday. Apparently the Cubs and Mariners are leading the pack for his services, should he choose to opt out of his contract. According to Sullivan, Kuroda signed a four-year, $10.4MM deal with the Hiroshima Carps last winter. He would have no problems getting three years, $12MM over here. Kuroda, a 32 year-old righty, won the Central League ERA title in '06 with a 1.85 mark. That ballooned to 3.56 this year as the command master saw his home run and hit rates rise. Kuroda...

Odds and Ends: A-Rod, Boras, Pettitte

Early Monday morning reading material... Interesting article in the New York Daily News regarding Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez. Boras insists that many of his clients have not taken the largest deal offered to them, giving examples. The article also touches upon recent Boras clients connected to performance-enhancing drugs (Rick Ankiel and Scott Schoeneweis). Boras' agency is known for its obsessive attention to detail for all of its clients, and seeing a few of them busted raises some questions. Last winter, we discussed the possibility of Hiroki Kuroda coming over from Japan. Well, he's a free agent again, and Nick...

Luis Castillo Hopes To Stay With Mets

Luis Castillo had wanted to play for the Mets for some time before they brought him aboard in a summer trade. By most accounts he fulfilled his obligations: he got on base, played sound defense, and did those #2 hitter things that always draw praise. John Delcos of The Journal News quotes Castillo as saying he wants to come back in 2008. Presumably the deal would be for something like two years, $10MM. It would add a little stability to second base for the Mets. Delcos says the only other free agent 2B who might rival Castillo is Kaz Matsui,...

State Of The Marlins

The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson has all sorts of info concerning the state of the Florida Marlins. We've heard this before - the Fish can't afford to keep both Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. Do you trade the cheaper guy, or the more valuable one? As Jackson says, it really just depends on the offers. It wouldn't be a complete shock to see both traded if the Marlins received separate knockout offers on each. The Marlins are likely to non-tender Miguel Olivo, with an eye on bringing Paul Lo Duca back to Florida to provide veteran leadership for the young...

More Mariners Info

I just learned that Larry LaRue of the Tacoma News Tribune has his own blog. Here's some recent info from him to complement our Mariners Needs and Luxuries post. Regarding that starter they need to add this winter...how about Johan Santana? LaRue had a post a couple of weeks ago indicating the Twins have scouted the Mariners and would start the discussion with Adam Jones. With a negotiating window, it's something the Ms would have to consider. Santana and Felix Hernandez fronting the rotation would get all of Venezuela tuning in for 40% of Mariners games. LaRue seemingly takes a...

Odds and Ends

Here are some various trade rumors that didn't quite have enough behind them for individual posts. There's a gossip section in the Boston Herald called Inside Track, written by Gayle Fee, Laura Raposa, and Erin Hayes. They heard that Coco Crisp told fans at the recent Division Champs celebration that he expects to be dealt this winter to make room for Jacoby Ellsbury. By most accounts Crisp has developed into a fine defensive center fielder, and he's under contract for $4.75MM in '08, $5.75MM in '09, and an $8MM club option in '10. Perhaps Crisp could be used to acquire...

Buy A Text Link At MLBTR

MLBTradeRumors.com is expected to generate more than 1.7 million pageviews in October, before things really explode in November and December. I'm going to add some sponsored text links to the lefthand sidebar of the site. You can snag a spot for your link for the rest of the month for $100. They'll be stacked under the Boston Red Sox Tickets link in the order they're purchased. I'll be selling five spots. If you'd like to get your website/product/whatever some exposure for the rest of October, drop me a line.

Marlins To Focus On Rotation, Defense

Marlins starters posted a 5.58 ERA this year, worst in the National League. The five with the most starts were Dontrelle Willis, Scott Olsen, Sergio Mitre, Byung-Hyun Kim, and Rick VandenHurk. Only Mitre was able to avoid posting an ERA above 5.00. Marlins president Larry Beinfest has labeled the rotation the team's #1 area of need this winter. Olsen and Mitre are cheap, and you can find positives with both. VandenHurk whiffed a batter per inning, and deserves a look in the #5 slot. Kim will depart via free agency. Josh Johnson will miss all of 2008 with Tommy John...

Santana Would Consider Waiving No-Trade Rights

Johan Santana gets a full no-trade clause for 2008 if he finishes top three in the Cy Young voting this year. In 2007 Santana was fifth in VORP and doesn't even crack the top ten in ESPN's Cy Predictor. Though I have to question the validity of any tool that puts Joe Borowski ninth. Anyway, mostly because of the Twins missing the playoffs, it's safe to say that Santana will not finish in the top three. Instead, he gets to choose 12 teams he cannot be traded to. As Nat Boyle recently noted, Santana could theoretically strategically select the 12...