Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braun, Holliday, Kouzmanoff, Greene, Sabean

Let's take a look at what is being said about some recent rumors, trades and signings in the Blogosphere... Right Field Bleachers sees the signing of Ryan Braun and Corey Hart to long-term deals as a "must" for the Brewers. Brewers Nation sees the Braun deal as evidence that Prince Fielder will not sign an extension even if the two situations are very different. Oleanders and Morning Glories thinks that if Nats' management was hoping to sign Ryan Zimmerman to a Troy Tulowitzki-type deal, Braun's deal may have raised the bar. Squawking Baseball sees the recent trend in giving long-term...

Rockies Could Trade Holliday

In Ken Rosenthal's latest column, he sees Matt Holliday as a prime candidate to be traded this summer. Rosenthal notes that the Rockies are already ten games back and have very little chance of signing Holliday to an extension. Holliday is signed through '09 with $13MM due next season. Previously, Rosenthal speculated that the Rockies might be willing to go to six years and $96MM to keep last year's NL MVP runner-up. However, all we know of Holliday's demands are that he wants more than a four-year deal. Rosenthal sees the Indians, Cardinals, Yankees, A's, Tigers, Blue Jays, Mariners, and...

Blocked Prospects: Joe Koshansky

25 year-old first baseman Joe Koshansky played for the same University of Virginia team as Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds. Like Reynolds he was drafted in 2004, falling (to the surprise of some) to the sixth round (pick 190). He's moved steadily through the Rockies system and in 2005 was named Baseball America's Rockies Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .291/.373/.603 with 36 home runs in 453 A ball at bats. He's maintained similar averages at Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs, although his power has steadily declined. On top of that, Koshansky plays at the highest elevation...

Rosenthal's Latest: Thames, Konerko, Ellis, Atkins

Ken Rosenthal has a new column up; let's take a look. Rosenthal dissects the outfield options for the Mets, many of the names we've been speculating. He notes that the Mets' talks for Marcus Thames fizzled during the Winter Meetings. He says Paul Konerko "remains quietly available," and expresses the opinion that the Mets or Yankees could both use him. Rosenthal believes Chicago's biggest need is starting pitching. Rosenthal speculates that six years at $18MM per might be the Rockies' limit for Matt Holliday. Will the Scott Boras client demand full market value? Also, Colorado doesn't seem to have any...

Atkins, Holliday Wait For Big Payday

With yesterday's signing of Brad Hawpe the Rockies have now locked up five young players through at least 2010 over the past 14 months. Impressive. The Denver Post says Garrett Atkins would be "the next logical candidate" for a deal, but that his situation continues to be complicated by Ian Stewart, who the Rockies are attempting to move over to second to avoid a logjam. Naturally Matt Holliday's name came up in light of the Hawpe signing, but owner Dick Monfort tried to keep that at bay, calling the situation "a different animal, not related to these contracts." This spring...

Holliday Wants More Than Four Years

The Denver Post's Troy Renck noted two weeks ago that the Rockies planned to offer a four-year, $60MM extension to MVP candidate Matt Holliday. Holliday is on vacation in Hawaii and hadn't heard those whispers. When informed, he said he was honored but that four years wouldn't be enough. The tough thing for the Rockies is that Coors Field inflates stats but doesn't necessarily translate to a salary discount. Holliday should probably be a $13-14MM per year player, but don't go telling that to Scott Boras. He's going to be asking for at least $18-20MM to buy out additional years...