As Day Three of the Winter Meetings in Orlando comes to a close, plenty of free agents are still seeking new teams. Here are the latest updates on a few of them:
- Rockies people tell Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link) that nothing has changed with Nelson Cruz. There's interest in the free agent outfielder, but it's not being characterized as serious at this point.
- The Mariners have been ardent Cruz pursuers from the start of the winter, and one baseball source tells Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com they'll continue to be in the mix for him even after adding Robinson Cano, Corey Hart, and Logan Morrison.
- Teams believe reliever Joaquin Benoit's likeliest destinations are the Indians, Padres, Mariners, Cubs, or Yankees, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports.
- Agent Scott Boras says client Jose Valverde, who turns 36 in March, intends to continue his big league career and has drawn interest from two big league teams, writes James Schmehl of MLive.com. The Tigers released their former closer in August after his Triple-A reboot didn't go as well as he hoped.
- Earlier in the evening, assistant GM Bobby Evans expressed optimism that San Francisco would find a left fielder by trade or free agency by the day's end, with Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com naming Franklin Gutierrez as a candidate. However, the Giants no longer expect resolution on their left field situation tonight, says Baggarly (via Twitter). The CSN Bay Area scribe also takes a more in-depth look at some of the club's options.
- Catcher Kurt Suzuki is talking with the Rockies, Cubs, and Twins, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
lol Jose Valverde…..Just more proof that closers are the most overrated, overpaid things in baseball.
I don’t see Valverde being anything like he was a few years ago. That being said he could be a bargain for the right team.
Unless he goes to the rays,they seem to fix broken pitchers.
I could see him going back to Houston on a 1 year or minor league deal. He could rebuild his value and not have to deal with a whole lot of pressure. He is only a couple of years off of being a really good closer.
That certainly couldn’t hurt the Astros.
PLEASE Mariners, don’t sign Cruz…
100% agreed
Apparently, the Mariners are in on EVERYBODY.
Come on Giants, Gutierrez is another mediocre outfielder. Why are you zeroing in on those type of outfielders?
They don’t have the money to sign a top free agent nor do they have the prospects to acquire a good hitter. Guti is not the most sexy name out there, but he would compliment Blanco in a platoon and is tremendous defensively. But his health is also what scares me.
Yup. They want a platoon LFer, not an everyday starter. and they’re not willing to part with their draft pick, so that really limits the FA market to mostly mediocre/avg. options
Mariners should sign Perez or O’Flaherty for bullpen, try to trade for Gardner or Austin Jackson, and decide if Paxton and Walker are ready for the rotation. If we need a number 3 pitcher, there are plenty of good ones–we do not need Price, specially at the cost of Walker and/or Paxton!
Hudco67