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Morning Tidbits

By Tim Dierkes [November 23, 2007 at 8:47am CST]

Hmm. Not much really going on this A.M. Hopefully we'll see some rumors crop up as the day progresses. Until then, here are just a few teasers on this Black Friday.

Remember when the Blue Jays claimed Cory Haerther off waivers from the Cardinals? Well, now the Cardinals have claimed Haerther off waivers from the Blue Jays and have added him to the 40-man roster, thus protecting him from the Rule 5 draft.

"Indications are" that the Twins are talking with closer Joe Nathan about a contract extension. Nathan has one year left on his deal, and could price himself out of the Twins range. No word on the number offered.

C.J. Henry was a 2005 first-round draft choice of the Yankees. After a rough introduction to the pros, Henry was sent to the Phillies in 2006 as part of the Bobby Abreu deal. Well, the Phils have released him, and despite stories that he was going to play college basketball, he has re-signed with the Yanks.

Infielder Ramon Vazquez has re-upped with the Rangers for one year and $810,000. He hit .230/.300/.373 in 300 at bats in 2007.

Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.

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Comments

If I'm the Twins I trade Santana and Nathan for major league ready talent. They could get 3-5 stud prospects for those players and really fill some future holes and leave themselves financial flexibility for the future.

This would give them a team that is competitive when they open the new stadium. With a young competitive team they would make tons of money and could reinvest in the the prospects they have for the long term.

Just my thoughts.

Posted by: striker | November 23, 2007 at 10:08 AM

CJ Henry has been horrible at the plate, but now that he has contact lenses he supposedly hit .300 in the last month of the season. maybe we will luck up and he turns into a fairly productive player.

Posted by: krosch | November 23, 2007 at 10:31 AM

Or maybe he should just go play college basketball.

Posted by: Positive/Negative | November 23, 2007 at 10:37 AM

Santana can easily get 2 great prospects and a 3rd useful player.

Nathan doesn't have much trade value since very few teams need a closer and can afford to give him an extension. W/o a good chance of extending him, I don't see a team trading for 1-2 top prospects for him.

Right now I have only the Braves as a possible destination. And I have to imagine they would try to sign Cordero or even Gagne before trading top prospects for Nathan.

Just so everyone is clear, Nathan's trade value is related to teams needing a top closer and not his top 3 closer status.

I think he'll either be traded in July if a contending team has an injury or ineffective closer. Or he will be a type A FA next offseason and get the Twins 2 draft picks.

Posted by: kab21 | November 23, 2007 at 10:56 AM

Dont count on Cordero, supposedly the Reds are the front runners.

Posted by: GmblngPtchr20 | November 23, 2007 at 11:49 AM

I beg to differ on Nathan's trade value. This guy could very well be the best closer in baseball. He's posted ERA's under 1.90 3 of the last 4 years, he always has a WHIP around 1.00, and he has a great strikeout rate. He's in that upper echelon of closers with Hoffman, Putz, K-Rod, Papelbon, etc. There is definately a team that would give up a top prospect to get this guy. Even though there aren't a lot of teams with a serious need at closer, the difference between Nathan and some of these guys might be enough for a contending team. I wouldn't be surprised by the Yanks offering something like Melky and Horne, which is a decent offer at best though.

Posted by: scribbletone | November 23, 2007 at 11:56 AM

Melky and Horne wouldn't get it done.

Horne is a useful and talented piece, but Melky really isn't at this point in his career.

He has a gun but that's about it.

The Reds should make a play for him. Or the Braves with their 4 OF prospects or whatever that they have running around.

Santana should net 3 studs and a 4th good prospect.

Posted by: henry14theking | November 23, 2007 at 12:04 PM

I think Melky and Horne are bad trading pieces for the Yankees. I don't think their perceived values are particularly high and I think they'd be more valuable to the Yankees not being traded. That said, if either was a deal breaker in getting Santana, I'd be all for it, but I really doubt any deal for Johan would be centered around one of them. Cano, at the least.

Posted by: johnflaherty | November 23, 2007 at 12:58 PM

I think both the Reds and Braves will try to get Gagne or Cordero before giving up top MLB ready prospects. The Reds also might not have the necessary payroll to keep Nathan long-term. Although they are rumored to be talking to Cordero.

As much as I agree that Nathan is an absolute stud at closer, he's only a marginal upgrade for many of the contending teams. And that isn't enough of an improvement to trade top prospects for. And their current closer isn't going to be happy as a setup man. And the importance of closers overall are overrated.

Posted by: kab21 | November 23, 2007 at 01:19 PM

I agree that closer's are overrated and that they are also overpaid. They make as much, if not more, than starters and pitch about 1/3 the number of innings.

Not that this would happen, but if you were the Dodgers GM and I was the Twins, would you do this trade:

Dodgers Get:
Santana
Nathan

Twins Get:
Frucal
Kemp
Broxton
Billingsley/Kershaw
Pierre
Laroche

I would then probably flip Frucal and Pierre if I could find buyers.

Posted by: striker | November 23, 2007 at 02:09 PM

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