Mets, Nationals Pursuing Jason Marquis
THURSDAY, 10:09am: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says there's no chance of Marquis returning to the Rockies.
WEDNESDAY, 5:46pm: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark hears that the Phillies do indeed have interest in Marquis.
4:58pm: The Mets and Nationals are pursuing free agent starter Jason Marquis, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. He adds that we should not rule out the Phillies (though Marquis seems pointless for them to me). Earlier today we learned from Yahoo's Steve Henson that the Rockies are open to re-signing Marquis at less than his $9.875MM 2009 salary.
Marquis, 31, posted a 4.04 ERA, 4.8 K/9, and 3.3 BB/9 in 216 innings for the Rockies this year. He's been portrayed as having a lousy second half, but he really only struggled in September.
Rule 5 Picks
A look at the first round of the Rule 5 draft…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that the Yankees will take outfielder Jamie Hoffmann from the Dodgers with the first pick, which they acquired from the Nationals for Brian Bruney earlier this week.
- The Pirates selected outfielder John Raynor from the Marlins, tweets MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
- The Orioles picked lefty Benjamin Snyder from the Giants, and he'll go to the Rangers as part of the Kevin Millwood deal tweets Evan Grant.
- The Royals selected lefty Edgar Osuna from the Braves, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
- The Indians selected righty Hector Ambriz from the D'Backs, tweets MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince.
- The D'Backs took lefty Zach Kroenke from the Yankees, reports MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. The Marlins took Kroenke from the Yanks in the Rule 5 a year ago but returned him.
- The Mets took righty Carlos Monasterios from the Phillies, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday. Monasterios was then traded to the Dodgers for cash, reports Newsday's David Lennon.
- The Astros took third baseman Jorge Jimenez from the Red Sox, and they'll ship him to Florida as part of the Matt Lindstrom deal reports Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
- The A's took righty Bobby Cassevah from the Angels, says Ben Badler of Baseball America.
- The Jays took righty Zech Zinicola from the Nationals, says MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.
- The Brewers took lefty Chuck Lofgren from the Indians, says Castrovince.
- The Cubs took pitcher Mike Parisi from the Cardinals, says Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He had Tommy John surgery in August of '08.
- The Rays took lefty Armando Zerpa from the Red Sox, says Baseball America's John Manuel. The Dodgers then acquired Zerpa for cash, says Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times.
- The Giants took Orioles righty Steve Johnson, reports Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. Johnson was part of the George Sherrill trade with the Dodgers.
- The Cardinals took lefty Ben Jukich from the Reds, says MLB.com's Matthew Leach.
- The Phillies took righty Ken Herndon from the Angels, reports MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
- The Mariners took pitcher Kanekoa Texeira from the Yankees, says Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger. Texeira was part of the Nick Swisher trade with the White Sox.
- J.J. Cooper of Baseball America has blurbs on each of the 17 players chosen.
Mariners Re-Sign Josh Wilson
The Mariners signed infielder Josh Wilson to a minor league deal, tweets Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. Wilson, 29 in March, hit .219/.279/.333 in 211 plate appearances for the D'Backs, Padres, and Mariners this year, mainly playing shortstop.
Rockies Nearing Two-Year Deal With Torrealba?
THURSDAY, 1:24pm: Steve Henson of Yahoo! Sports says that Torrealba is currently exhausting all of his options, but "it's only a matter of time before he accepts" the Rockies' offer.
WEDNESDAY, 6:24pm: Tracy Ringolsby of FOX Sports reports that the Rockies are at a standstill with Torrealba. He wants $6MM over the course of the contract, but they're currently offering $5MM.
2:50pm: Renck now says the Rockies have not spoken with Torrealba's people today but they are the frontrunner.
2:32pm: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies are "on the verge" of re-signing Torrealba. He believes the two-year deal will be in the $5-5.5MM range.
1:18pm: The Rockies are "nearing resolution" on a two-year deal with catcher Yorvit Torrealba, writes ESPN's Buster Olney. Torrealba had been reported as the Mets' Plan B after Bengie Molina. Looks like two-year deals for catchers are the norm so far this year, outside of Gregg Zaun.
Orioles Acquire Kevin Millwood
8:46pm: Evan Grant reports that the Orioles will send their third overall Rule 5 pick to the Rangers.
5:26pm: The trade is official, according to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com.
3:36pm: Evan Grant hears that only the medical report approvals remain before this deal is done. He believes the Rangers would use some of the money saved to sign a free agent starter.
2:08pm: Rosenthal is hearing the Rangers will pick up $3MM of Millwood's $12MM tab.
1:38pm: The two sides have a tentative agreement, reports Zrebiec. He says the deal could be completed as early as tonight. However, ESPN's Jayson Stark tweets that a Rangers official said his team hasn't signed off on the trade.
1:20pm: The Orioles and Rangers are close to swapping pitchers Kevin Millwood and Chris Ray, reports Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports agrees. The Rangers would of course send cash in the deal. Ray hasn't heard anything yet, according to MASN's Steve Melewski.
The Rangers allowed Millwood's option to vest in late September, triggering a $12MM salary for 2010. The righty, 35 later this month, posted a 3.67 ERA in 198.6 innings with a 5.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. He dealt with a strained gluteus muscle around July. Ray, 27, closed for the Orioles in '06 and part of '07 but needed Tommy John surgery in August of '07. The arb-eligible righty is under team control for two more years.
Astros Acquire Matt Lindstrom
7:56pm: MLB.com's Brian McTaggart says the Marlins will also obtain the Astros' pick in tomorrow's Rule 5 Draft.
5:44pm: Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweets that the Marlins obtain righty Robert Bono and shortstop Luis Bryan for Lindstrom.
4:22pm: The Astros have acquired Lindstrom, reports ESPN's Peter Gammons. The reliever is flying to Houston for a physical.
3:29pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Astros are close on Lindstrom – swapping medicals (acknowledged by Lindstrom himself). Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel agrees that the deal is close.
3:14pm: MLB.com's Joe Frisaro tweets of a rumor that the Marlins will make a deal today. He's unsure whether it'll be Lindstrom, Dan Uggla, or Renyel Pinto on the move.
1:55pm: The Astros are close to acquiring reliever Matt Lindstrom from the Marlins, writes Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post. Capozzi notes that the Marlins have been close on other deals that failed to materialize, however. The Astros are also considered a finalist for Rafael Soriano; I imagine they won't get both.
Lindstrom, 30 in February, lost his closer job to Leo Nunez midseason as he dealt with an elbow strain. He's arbitration-eligible for the first time.
Milton Bradley Rumors: Wednesday
7:05pm: Ian Browne of MLB.com says there's "no chance" the Bradley-Lowell deal goes through. Sounds about right. But ESPN.com's Gordon Edes says the Cubs really did ask.
6:43pm: A Cubs official didn't dismiss the Milton Bradley for Mike Lowell rumor, speaking to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Still, that swap seems unlikely.
3:10pm: Cubs president Crane Kenney implied to the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers that the team won't be releasing Bradley.
2:46pm: The White Sox don't consider Bradley a fit, but GM Kenny Williams had kind words for the player today (Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald reporting).
12:38pm: ESPN's Buster Olney says the Cubs would be open to swapping Bradley for Mike Lowell, but that deal is "unlikely to happen." Lowell, like Pat Burrell, seems like someone the Cubs would have to flip. Regardless, Sullivan talked to a Cubs official who seemed to shoot this rumor down.
9:53am: With the Cubs' desire to trade Milton Bradley by the end of the Winter Meetings common knowledge, the words "imminent" and "close" have been tossed around a little too freely. At any rate, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune still likes the Rays as the favorite, while noting the presence of a possible mystery team. This is good…I always like to bust out my "Mystery Team" category on a post (although MLB.com's Carrie Muskat says there is no such team). Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times weighs in on the Rays possibility here.
Yesterday, we saw the Mariners, Blue Jays, Rangers, and Royals pretty much dismissed as Bradley suitors.
Brewers, LaTroy Hawkins Reach Agreement
6:53pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today has the specifics: Hawkins gets $3MM next year, plus a $500K signing bonus. He makes $4MM in 2011 and can earn an extra $275K in incentives.
1:53pm: Hawkins' agency tweets that the pitcher received a two-year, $7.5MM deal. Hawkins was disappointed the Astros would not offer a second year. The D'Backs were also unwilling to go to two years.
1:30pm: Rosenthal says the Brewers have an agreement with Hawkins, pending a physical. He says it's a two-year deal. The signing was confirmed by Hawkins' agency, Reynolds Sports Management.
9:48am: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the Brewers are looking at reliever LaTroy Hawkins. Bob Nightengale of USA Today does him one better, saying the Brewers are "moving fast" on Hawkins and "could sign him today."
Hawkins, 37 later this month, posted a 2.13 ERA in 63.3 innings for the Astros with a 6.4 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. He earned more than $3.5MM for this efforts.
Padres Discussing Kouzmanoff
618pm: Stark hears that the Padres offered Kouzmanoff up for Lewis and Frandsen. That doesn't match with the reports below, which suggest the Padres wanted more. Stark agrees with Nightengale that the Padres wanted more than Glen Perkins in return from the Twins.
WEDNESDAY, 5:21pm: Jayson Stark of ESPN.com hears that the Padres are aggressively trying to move Kouzmanoff. The Twins and Giants are interested.
TUESDAY, 5:39pm: The Twins offered Perkins for Kouzmanoff, but the Padres want more, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
4:50pm: MLB.com's Corey Brock hears that Kouzmanoff has drawn interest from as many as eight teams. The Padres aren't interested in Lewis or Frandsen.
1:47pm: USA Today's Bob Nightengale tweets about an NL West trade discussion: the Giants are talking to the Padres about third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, but the Padres want more than Fred Lewis and Kevin Frandsen. I'm guessing the Padres would prefer not to pay Kouzmanoff the $3-5MM he'll get through arbitration.
Meanwhile La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Padres would like to discuss Kouzmanoff with the Twins. He wonders if they'd be interested in Glen Perkins, who is available. Neal notes that Pedro Feliz's agents would like to talk to the Twins as well.
Dodgers Rumors: Wolf, Belisario, Wade
Dodgers hot stove info courtesy of Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times…
- Why didn't the Dodgers offer arbitration to Type A free agent Randy Wolf? They feared he'd accept and get $15MM. Do you agree with that logic? The Dodgers were given one last chance to sign Wolf this morning, but GM Ned Colletti passed.
- Free agent possibilities at second base: Ronnie Belliard, Juan Uribe, Craig Counsell and Jamey Carroll.
- The Dodgers offered only a minor league deal to Juan Castro, so he went with the Phillies.
- The Mets have inquired on Dodgers relievers Ronald Belisario and Cory Wade.