Slow day for rumors, and yet Ken Rosenthal gets two posts! No surprise there. This time from his nifty sidebar Notes of Importance:
- With John Smoltz returning as the closer, the Braves will be exploring trades for a starter. Rosenthal says Atlanta could afford to give up prospects but won’t overpay. MLBTR covered this a couple days ago.
- Doing his best Monty Python, Rosenthal looks on the bright of life and sees the Troy Tulowitzki injury as an opportunity for Clint Barmes to rebuild his trade value. If he can produce anywhere near the level of his 80+ games in ’05 then Barmes could generate a lot of interest. If not, then we’ll continue to mention venison whenever Barmes comes up in conversation. I think Barmes has a lot of proving to do to be looked at favorably by scouts as he’d become a bit of a liability for the Rockies both in the field and at the plate.
- At the moment, the Nationals are carrying three catchers: Paul Lo Duca, Johnny Estrada, and Wil Nieves. Lo Duca is off the DL and returning to starting. Estrada is making $1.25MM and could be released, suggest Rosenthal. Nieves, however, signed with the Nats for less money over the Yankees in the offseason, hoping for a better opportunity. If the Nats put him on waivers, the Yankees – who wanted to retain Nieves – may indeed claim him if they view him as a better option than Chad Moeller.
By Nat Boyle
