Cafardo’s Latest: Inge, Marte, Fuentes, Lohse

TUESDAY: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post has an update to Cafardo’s Yankees/Fuentes item.  Renck says that while the Yanks have scouted Fuentes, Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowd says there’s "zero chance" of a trade at this time.  I imagine he wants to see a healthy Luis Vizcaino before considering it.

MONDAY: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe checks in with plenty of rumors in his Sunday column.

• The Red Sox checked in on Brandon Inge during the Winter Meetings, but found his contract prohibitive.  Most teams seem to feel the same way.
• The Yankees are eyeing southpaw relievers Damaso Marte and Brian Fuentes, who’ve seemingly been on their radar for months.  Fuentes makes $5.05MM this year, Marte makes $2MM this year with a $6MM club option for ’09.
• Cafardo believes the Noah Lowry injury could cause the Giants to swoop in on Kyle Lohse, and could also get in the way of a Joe Crede acquisition.  Lowry’s only supposed to miss two to three weeks though.  Kenny Williams says exactly two clubs have talked to him about Crede, but he’s saying Crede may still be his Opening Day third baseman.