Pat Gillick told reporters a few minutes ago that Tadahito Iguchi has reconsidered his stance to market himself strictly as a second baseman. Iguchi is now open to playing third, and the Phillies might bring him back.
Archives for December 2007
Tigers Getting Cabrera, White Sox After Andruw?
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:22pm: Joe Frisaro at MLB.com says Cabrera and Willis are on the verge of becoming Tigers. And to think some people called the Winter Meetings boring. The Marlins got some absolute studs here, though it’s surprising they couldn’t get more dealing the two separately.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:15pm: Ozzie Guillen confirms Chicago’s interest in Andruw, despite his agent.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:04pm: This is out of control! Now Jim Molony is saying the Tigers are nearing a blockbuster eight-player deal to get Cabrera and Willis for Maybin, Miller, and four others. In the same breath Molony adds that the White Sox are after Andruw Jones.
FROM 12-4-07 at 5:01pm:
This is unexpected. Joe Capozzi says the White Sox "are making a strong push" to acquire Miguel Cabrera. What’s more, some kind of major announcement is coming soon and White Sox sources admitted it involves Cabrera.
Josh Fields, Gio Gonzalez, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd could all be involved. This would be an incredible move if Kenny Williams can pull it off. I never though those guys could net Cabrera against all other offers.
Capozzi adds that that the Tigers also made a push for Cabrera this afternoon.
Barmes For Burke Offered
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Rockies have offered shortstop Clint Barmes to the Astros for second baseman Chris Burke. Seems a reasonable swap of blocked middle infielders.
The Rockies will also meet with Mark Loretta’s agent tonight. Loretta is coveted by the Mariners as well.
Talks with the Astros about Brian Fuentes fizzled, so the Rockies will probably just keep him as a luxury.
Odds and Ends: Jose Lopez, Green, Silva, Fukumori
Let’s round a few more rumors up, because they just don’t stop coming.
- Says Jim Molony: no less than 10 teams have expressed interest in Carlos Silva. Weak – 11 have expressed interest in Bedard, loser.
- Other guys in the 10 interested teams club – Livan Hernandez and Kazuo Fukumori. At least, that’s where their agents would like everyone to think.
- The Padres can only afford one of Mike Cameron and Kosuke Fukudome. They think Fukudome can play an adequate center. Kevin Towers is still in talks with Cameron.
- The Mariners are shopping Jose Lopez, who Jeff Passan names as a possible non-tender. However Lopez already is already all tendered up through 2010 on a long-term pact. So to ditch him the Ms would have to trade him or else cut him and eat the money, Russ Ortiz style.
- Passan suggests the Rays might prefer to go with Shawn Green for their right field vacancy, as Geoff Jenkins and Brad Wilkerson want multiyear deals. The Giants also like Green, for some reason. Nick Cafardo suggests Trot Nixon could be the guy behind the guy for the Rays.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Mahay, Cordero
Ken Rosenthal busts out a few new ones.
- The Royals have been in touch with Ron Mahay’s agent. Rosenthal names the Yankees, Giants, and Astros as other interested parties. Why the Giants? The Royals would trade Jimmy Gobble and then sign Mahay. Regarding the Yankees, Rosenthal says that the Santana situation somehow affects their willingness to sign Mahay. Meanwhile, Jayson Stark says the Rays are also in on Mahay.
- The Nationals asked for Chad Qualls and Luke Scott for Chad Cordero and were rebuffed by Ed Wade and the Astros. It’s not the craziest offer but how many outfielders do the Nationals need? 12? We heard two hours ago that Scott was almost a Padre, but haven’t had any follow-up. Buster?
Braves Offer James For DeJesus?
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 4:21pm: Debunked! David O’Brien says the Braves aren’t in talks about DeJesus, and the Royals have a negative opinion of James anyway.
FROM 12-4-07 at 2:09pm:
According to the KC Star’s Bob Dutton, the Jose Guillen signing puts the Royals in a better position to trade David DeJesus or Joey Gathright. The Rangers and Braves are on DeJesus’ trail. Dutton believes the Braves offered up lefty Chuck James for him. It seems a little light, as I’m not sure James could be effective in the American League. Royals GM Dayton Moore, of course, came from the Atlanta organization.
Dutton says not only is Hiroki Kuroda looking for four years, he may want $48MM. The Royals could move on and spend the money on Andruw Jones instead, if he’ll take a one or two-year deal. The money could also be diverted to Carlos Silva if he’ll take 4/40. Otherwise the Royals will just chase rehab guys like Jason Jennings, Kris Benson, and Matt Clement.
Brewers Rolen Talks Cool
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 4:18pm: Haudricourt says the Brewers-Rolen deal croaked over something, but not the intra-division part. Didn’t make sense in the first place. Also, Doug Melvin expressed his disinterest in Pedro Feliz.
FROM 12-4-07 at 2:45pm:
You don’t need Insider to read this one. ESPN’s Jayson Stark says the Brewers talks with the Cards about Scott Rolen have cooled. The Cards are hesitant about trading Rolen within the division. It’s weird because it’s not like that’s a new development, the intra-division factor.
The Brewers had already worked who was paying what and agreed to send Chris Capuano and a "top prospect" over. Stark’s source says that most likely, the deal won’t happen.
The Giants and Dodgers are in on Rolen, however.
O’Brien’s Latest: Vizcaino, Wang
Newsday’s Kat O’Brien checks in with a couple of new Yankees tidbits not related to Johan.
- O’Brien spoke to the man himself, Bean Stringfellow. Bean says Luis Vizcaino is looking for Linebrink money. So, the fact that he "likes New York" isn’t going to matter much. The Yanks may pass, but the Viz is talking to the Mets, White Sox, Royals, and Dodgers. If the Viz returned to the White Sox at 4/19…that would be just wrong.
- Chien-Ming Wang’s agent, Alan Nero, wanted to talk to the Yankees about a long-term deal for him. The discussion ended when the Yankees requested that Nero make the first move.
- That reminds me of when Homer Simpson went to Mr. Burns’ mansion in possession of Burns’ childhood teddy bear, repeating to himself that he will reject Burns’ first offer no matter what. Burns: May I offer you a drink? Homer: Sorry Burns, no deal. [takes the bear and leaves].
Brewers Considering Crede, Blalock, Feliz, LaRoche, Tejada
What, you thought the Brewers were dead set on Scott Rolen? Not so, according to Tom Haudricourt. They’re considering the following options at third base, mostly because the left field options are worse.
- Joe Crede – I can see this one happening, Doug Melvin and Kenny Williams get along. And Kenny really has nowhere to play Crede.
- Hank Blalock – Trading Blalock now is generally seen as selling low, so this seems unlikely.
- Pedro Feliz – I’m going to disagree with Haudricourt that Feliz is intriguing.
- Andy LaRoche – Now this one is intriguing, hitting the Dodgers up for LaRoche. I imagine Colletti may want to include LaRoche in other, bigger deals though.
- Miguel Tejada – He’s been discussed, but all the well-known warts make this unlikely.
Heyman’s Latest: Andruw, Bedard, Kuroda
Here’s a link to Jon Heyman’s latest column at SI.com. The new stuff is below.
- Extreme longshot, but the Brewers could peek their head in on Andruw Jones. Who would’ve thought Andruw would be so unpopular this winter? Another bigtime longshot is the Mets…but they haven’t been ruled out either. Someone would have to swallow his ego and play right field, probably Jones.
- The Orioles are expected to take their time finding the best offer for Erik Bedard, if they even trade him.
- Heyman throws out three years, $45MM for Hiroki Kuroda as a possibility. Say whaaaat?
