Here are today’s odds and ends before I head off to my poker game tonight.
- The Padres have had "cordial and informative" talks with free agent Mike Cameron. The talks sound pretty low level right now. According to Cameron’s agent, the Nationals, Rangers, and Cubs also like him.
- New stuff from Rosenthal. Melvin Mora would waive his no-trade clause for the Phillies or other nearby teams, and would also move to left field if need be. Problem is that Mora would be below average at either position and has roughly $16MM left on his deal.
- Rosenthal adds that Salomon Torres, Damaso Marte, and John Grabow of the Pirates are drawing plenty of interest. Marte is garnering the most.
- The Astros signed Geoff Blum. Woo-hoo?
- The Phillies really did make a four year, $50MM offer to Mike Lowell despite all they said to the contrary. So all bets are off as to whether they’ll spend money on non-pitchers.
- Drays Bay interviewed Andrew Friedman. Nice score for the blogging man!
- This link is in Japanese – apparently the Hanshin Tigers would like to acquire Detroit Tiger Marcus Thames. How they would arrange for that, I do not know.
- I linked to this article before, but keep getting emails about it. Apparently the Giants’ willingness to unload Bengie Molina is catching readers’ eyes. That should come as no surprise – the Giants should be willing to ship out all of their veterans. And the catching market is shrinking a bit.
- Per South Side Sox – the White Sox have designated Scott Podsednik for assignment.
