Here's the latest out of the Windy City from both the White Sox and the Cubs…
- The Sox are talking to Kevin Youkilis about returning to fill their hole at third base, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The Phillies and Indians are also in the mix for Youkilis, who had his $13MM option for 2013 bought out by the White Sox for $1MM.
- Four rival executives name Gordon Beckham, Alejandro De Aza, Gavin Floyd and Dayan Viciedo as players the White Sox would be open to trading, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com. If the Sox were looking for salary relief, two executives say that trading Alex Rios and the $26MM remaining on his contract will be much easier after Rios' strong 2012 season, though neither exec is certain that Rios is available.
- A.J. Pierzynski tells Dan Hayes that he is much more prepared for free agency now than he was in 2010. Pierzynski said he would like to return to the White Sox or possibly play for the Rays in his home state of Florida, though his childhood dream of playing for the Braves is unlikely with Brian McCann on board.
- The Cubs have reached out to Jeff Samardzija about a multiyear extension, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Samardzija, who enjoyed a breakout year in 2012 in his first season as a starting pitcher, is arb-eligible for the first time this winter and is under team control through 2015.
- The proposed trade between the Angels and Cubs and would've brought Dan Haren to Chicago indeed fell through due to the Cubs' concerns about Haren's recent injury history, reports CSNChicago.com's David Kaplan.
- Haren denied that he was injured in an e-mail to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. “I’ve never missed any time because of injury other than the three weeks this year because of my back," Haren said. "When I came back, I had to be cleared by doctors, so obviously, I was healthy."
I’m still glad the Cubs didn’t make this trade (Haren).
Cubs fans when trade was on – “Hell yeah! Theo is a genius! What a steal!”
Cubs fans when trade was pulled back – “Good. Hoyer almost made a terrible deal. I’m glad it didn’t happen”
Wrong. Concern about Haren’s health was a red flag all along, especially in Cubs’ discussions; it just took the med reports once interest was shown to back it up (pun intended).
Haren might have to settle for a low salary contract with incentives.
if haren is indeed healthy what did j.d. do?
I’d love for AJ to wind up in Atlanta. I’ve never been a fan of The Doughboy and Pierzynski would give the Braves an edge they’ve lacked for far too long. I know it’s not going to happen, but it’d be great if it did. I wonder what McCann could fetch from say the Twins…
If McCann was made available i think the braves could get a nice return from just about half the teams out there.
Why would the Twins want McCann when they’ve already got Mauer? Now McCann to the Yankees I could see – then they can let Russell Martin walk.
Mauer only played 72 games at catcher last year and 52 the year before. His days of being a full time catcher are over. He’ll be a 1B/DH sooner than later.
I see zero reason to trade De Aza unless he brings back Adrian Beltre. He’s a cost controlled center fielder who’s done pretty much everything right since coming to Chicago. Beats the hell out of Juan Pierre leading off.
To fill the hole at 3B, the Pale Hosers don’t need Youk; they need a bulldozer.
I think I agree, though I am not sure what a bulldozer is. I want to see a high average gap hitter, a 40 doubles guy with maybe 20HR give or take. He needs to be a lefty too, especially if we lose AJ.
I may be in the minority but I think A.J. Pierzynski woul be a good signing for the Rays. He would provide them with much needed hiiting and his veteran leadership would work well with the starters. I realize it’s wishful thinking, just hate to see Molina back there and feel as though the other options such as Gimenez, Lobaton, Chirinos and Vogt are very iffy. A.J. could be a big piece of the puzzle in validating the Rays as a championship caliber team.