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Stark's Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka

By Tim Dierkes [December 19, 2007 at 3:57pm CST]

ESPN's Jayson Stark dishes some good rumorage in his latest column.

Stark dug around to find all the Mark Prior suitors and came up with this list: Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros, Giants, Reds, Nationals (11 teams). Let's compare notes. MLBTR readers have seen the Yankees, Mets, Cards, Padres, Astros, Reds, and Nats linked to Prior already. So Stark has added the Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, and Giants. The idea of the Mariners runs contrary to this MLB.com article. Stark did not name the Rangers, who are said to be aggressively pursuing Prior. Prior is dead set on a one-year deal and would take a big league mound in May in the best case.

The Phils are focused on Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron, offering two year deals to each. They might just take the first one to accept. Stark says Kenny Lofton could be an option if both decline. Lofton batted a career-best .335 for the Phils in '05.

Stark rattles off a laundry list of pitchers the Phillies are interested in: Akinori Otsuka, Byung-Hyun Kim, Roberto Hernandez, Kris Benson, John Parrish, Sidney Ponson, Chad Durbin, Kyle Lohse, and Jeremy Affeldt. Given Stark's 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I imagine he has a connection or two. Most of those are new names besides Benson, Lohse, Ponson, and Affeldt.

A source of Stark picks the Yankees as the favorite for Johan, but it should be noted that they're having internal debates about pulling Phil Hughes off the table.

For all the crazy Cubs fans we've got here: Stark says they've talked to the Orioles about both Brian Roberts and Erik Bedard, but couldn't pull off a deal for both. They favor Roberts even though they need Bedard much more.

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Comments

When it's all said and done, Mark Prior will be a Padre. There's nowhere better for him to rebuild value and this is just an exaggerated case of the Marcus Giles situation last year when he was flirting with the Mets and a few other teams, even though it was clear the Padres would land him.

Posted by: WestCoastBias | December 19, 2007 at 04:04 PM

Not to mention that pitching in a pitchers park from July-September might just give him good enough numbers for teams to go crazy and offer those 4/$40 deals that are in vogue.

Posted by: CubFan81 | December 19, 2007 at 04:17 PM

i'm really hoping the Yankees can pull off a deal for Johan without including Hughes, that would be a dream come true for me. A package of Kennedy, Melky, Horne, Tabata could do the trick, I think. That's a lot of talent for one year of Johan.

(this feels like a rehash of an old debate, so I'm sorry if this sounds tired)

Posted by: Ellis | December 19, 2007 at 04:18 PM

As much as Prior has been linked to the Padres, is this really a Towers kind of move? What's his history with signing rehab projects on gauranteed 1 year contracts, especially half-season players...

Do the Padres really have the $$ in the budget when their priorities are obviously elsewhere than pitching high-risk gambles?

Posted by: Dave | December 19, 2007 at 04:38 PM

I'd disagree that SD is the best place for Prior to rebuild value. I realize Prior is from SD but I don't see how it is in any way better than NYY or BOS. Unless he's interested in taking a hometown discount I don't see the Pads being very competitive.

Yankee Stadium is a pitchers park and they're legit WS contenders (can't say that about SD) and they can certainly roll the dice to the tune of $4-5 million to see if Prior can return to form.

Posted by: PriorandAramisfan23 | December 19, 2007 at 04:38 PM

It's not gonna happen but it's nice to see a relatively young guy like Prior, 27 in the mix for the Giants. Because all this Tony Clark and Pedro Feliz talk was bound to make me randomly slap the hell out of some old dude because Sabean continues to piss me off.

Posted by: The Giant Villalona | December 19, 2007 at 05:28 PM

PriorAramis - How can you say SD is not a contender? Obviously you don't pay enough attention to West Coast teams. The Pad's have won the NL West 2 out of the last 3 years and it came down to a 1 game playoff last year for the wild card. And who is to say who is really a world series contender, because I know you didn't have Colorado going to the series last year.

But if Cameron was to take 2 years from the Phillies that would be ridiculous, considering the Pad's offered him 2 years and reasonable money. Maybe the Padres just called his bluff.

Posted by: Friar_Chris | December 19, 2007 at 05:31 PM

Only way Giants sign Prior or Benson is if they plan on trading Cain or Lincecum..

Which would suck both ways!!!

Posted by: zito4cyyoung | December 19, 2007 at 05:46 PM

Prior Should go pitch for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp now that Hiroki Kuroda is a Dodger. He can get some geishas to pamper his sorry....

Posted by: Bleacher_Buddha | December 19, 2007 at 07:04 PM

What's with all the teams hot and heavy on Jenkins and ignoring Sean Green. Both are helpless vs. LH and Green has better numbers vs RH. Why would the Pads wait on Jenkins when Southern California boy Green would probably have already signed?

Is there something about Green I'm not aware of that things are so quiet on him?

Posted by: WillRain | December 19, 2007 at 09:31 PM

Lofton hit his career best in 1994 with .349 avg with more at bats and games (all 112) then his lone year with the Phils.

Posted by: grimace455 | December 20, 2007 at 02:37 AM

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Stark's Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka

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