Cardinals Rumors: Greene, Ludwick, Pitching
Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted a few Cardinals rumors online today:
- Miklasz spoke with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak and found that the Padres aren’t paying Khalil Greene any of his $6.5MM salary next year. Earlier in the week, it wasn’t clear whether they’d be chipping in.
- Talk that the Cards could trade Ryan Ludwick to the Braves was mostly rumor and “never had traction.”
- Mozeliak hopes to build on the Trever Miller signing and acquire more pitching. Specifically, he’d like a starter, a reliever who could close and another lefty.
- Not surprisingly, Mozeliak says there’s no chance the Cardinals will go after any of the high-profile free agents on the market.
- Second base doesn’t appear to be a priority for the Cardinals.
Mets Likely To Offer Deals To Closers
Andrew Marchand of ESPN radio 1050 in New York has a source who says the Mets will "probably" offer a deal to a closer at the Winter Meetings. Finding a closer remains a priority for the Mets, who may prefer Francisco Rodriguez over other options. Buster Olney recently wrote that the Mets will offer deals to multiple closers during the Winter Meetings and will give the closer’s job to the first free agent to accept his offer.
Marchand’s source said that Bobby Abreu, who wasn’t offered arbitration, and Raul Ibanez, who was, could be targets for the Mets once they make progress in the bullpen.
Manny Ramirez is apparently not on the Mets’ radar.
Twins No Longer Talking With Blake
According to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins have broken off talks with free agent Casey Blake. Neal heard from a source that discussions ended when the Twins, who preferred a two-year deal with an option, wouldn’t offer a guaranteed three-year contract.
The Twins have varying levels of interest in Adrian Beltre, Garrett Atkins, Jason Donald and Jack Wilson. Neal writes that Minnesota balked earlier this year when the Rockies requested Kevin Slowey and Denard Span in exchange for Atkins.
Since shortstops are disappearing fast, Neal’s source says the Twins felt pressure to improve their infield and didn’t want to negotiate for too long with Blake.
Neal heard that the Twins have received calls about Delmon Young, but aren’t in a hurry to trade him for infield help, regardless of how well he fits into their outfield.
There’s a chance the Twins could restart talks with Blake, but for now the Dodgers are the frontrunner for his services, according to Neal.
Odds and Ends: Michaels, Greene, Prior
Links for Saturday…
- Jason Michaels is confused by the lack of interest from the Pirates, who have said they want him back.
- Khalil Greene says he’s frustrated to have let the Padres down and Tim Sullivan writes that it wasn’t for lack of intensity. The Padres still won’t be dropping their grievance against Greene.
- Buster Olney expects Mark Prior to sign a minor-league deal with the Padres.
- Jason Beck writes that the Tigers could afford to trade either Jeff Larish or Matt Joyce in a deal for Jack Wilson. Detroit has other weaknesses to address though, so Beck thinks they could hold onto their trade chips and sign a player like Adam Everett.
- Arbitration could work for both Jason Varitek and the Red Sox, suggests Sean McAdam.
- Tony Massarotti has five reasons to keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen.
- The Angels signed South Korean righty Pil Joon Jang to a minor league contract.
- Jay Jaffe plays Yankees GM at Baseball Prospectus.
- MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo ranks the best Rule 5 Draft selections since 1990.
- Tom Verducci looks back at the career Greg Maddux had.
Pedro To Play Again Next Year
According to Christian Red of the New York Daily News, Pedro Martinez plans on playing again next year.
“I do want to play,” Martinez told the Daily News.
Now, Martinez is in the Dominican Republic, working out to prepare for the season, but we won’t see him sign a contract any time soon. He says he’s not going to try to find a team until January.
Odds And Ends: Tazawa, Hoffman, Halladay
Links for Saturday…
- Junichi Tazawa is expected to announce early next week that he will sign with the Red Sox. He turned down offers from the Rangers, Mariners and Braves.
- The Padres recently offered to talk with Trevor Hoffman, but he hasn’t responded. Tom Krasovic also has a Sandy Alderson quote that the Padres are "highly unlikely" to offer Hoffman arbitration.
- Robert MacLeod talked to Blue Jays insiders who believe trading ace Roy Halladay would send "the wrong signal" to fans since the Jays want to compete in 2009.
- Rob Neyer wonders how C.C. Sabathia‘s weight will affect his performance going forward.
- Joba Chamberlain tops Peter Abraham’s list of the 20 most important people to the Yankees organization.
- Peter Gammons asks five post-Thanksgiving questions about free agents and trades. Also within that blog post, Gammons mentions that Kevin Towers went to Sunday’s Chargers game with Brad Ausmus and hopes to sign him.
- Larry LaRue writes that the Mariners could use a couple good outfielders to go along with Ichiro.
- Bob Verdi expects a quiet retirement accouncement from Greg Maddux.
A’s Rumors: Furcal, Embree, Thomas
Joe Stiglich of the Contra Costa Times has a few A’s rumors:
- Stiglich spoke with Rafael Furcal‘s agent, Paul Kinzer, and heard that it will be the middle of next week at the earliest that Furcal decides where he’d like to sign. It no longer seems likely that Furcal will narrow his options down to two teams this weekend.
- In a poll earlier in the week, 32% of MLBTR readers said they expected Furcal to sign with the A’s, who had the most votes of any team by far.
- The Rockies are interested in free agent reliever Alan Embree, but the A’s are considering brining him back for another year.
- And the A’s are deciding whether to offer arbitration to Embree and Frank Thomas.
Mets Will Try To Trade For Bullpen Help
The New York Times has sources who say the Mets will look to improve their bullpen through trades before starting more involved discussions with Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes.
According to the article, the Mets have had discussions with various teams about trading for Jose Valverde, J.J. Putz, Huston Street and Bobby Jenks and are considering free agent relievers Kerry Wood and Trevor Hoffman.
Even if the Mets add one of these relievers, they could still sign K-Rod or Fuentes in their efforts to completely remodel their bullpen.
This week Mets GM Omar Minaya said Fuentes’ asking price was “a bit high,” so the Mets are considering alternatives even though they will continue to pursue K-Rod and Fuentes.
Astros Rumors: Wolf, Brocail, Ross
Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle has the latest on the Astros:
- Astros GM Ed Wade said that he’s had to slow down negotiations with free agent lefty Randy Wolf because he’s unsure how much payroll he’s working with. Negotiations are on hold at least until next week, but the Astros would still like to sign Wolf to a multi-year deal.
- The Astros still hope to bring back reliever Doug Brocail, but they haven’t negotiated with his agent in over a week.
- Wade said he’ll try to address the team’s catching needs via trades or free agency. Houston is interested in free agent catcher David Ross.
- The Astros are also reportedly interested in converting free agent pitcher and former NCAA home run champion John Van Benschoten into a hitter.
Griffey Drawing Interest
According to Jim Street of MLB.com, Ken Griffey Jr. is attracting lots of interest already.
Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, told Street that he has been in contact with nine teams regarding his client – six in the American League and three in the National League. Keep in mind that Goldberg initiated contact with some of these teams. All of this information was first reported by John Fay on Monday.
Goldberg said that Griffey, who’s open to moving around, won’t price himself out of a job and would consider a contract with incentives.
Goldberg said that Griffey is open to a one-year contract from "the right team in the right place." The Mariners are one of the nine clubs, but Goldberg contacted them and the response was said to be "polite."