Wolf Open To All Teams
According to Ken Rosenthal, free agent southpaw Randy Wolf is open to all teams. He won’t limit himself to the West Coast. Wolf first revealed this info on September 26th. Rosenthal wonders if a return to the Phillies could be in order if they don’t re-sign Jamie Moyer.
Corey Patterson No Longer With Boras
According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, free agent outfielder Corey Patterson switched from Scott Boras to Jim Bronner and Bob Gilhooley. Crasnick figures Patterson will sign a minor league deal given his .205/.238/.344 line in ’08.
Brewers Sign Todd Coffey
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Brewers signed reliever Todd Coffey to a one-year, $800K deal with $200K in incentives. He had been arbitration-eligible. Coffey, 28, tossed 7.1 scoreless innings after joining the Brewers after they claimed him off waivers in September. The Brewers added Jorge Julio to their pen a few days ago.
Renck also reports the Rockies signed catcher Paul Phillips to a minor league deal to add depth.
Red Sox Rumors: Bloomquist, Lugo, Varitek
Red Sox linkage…
- Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the name of Willie Bloomquist continues to be associated with the Red Sox.
- Silverman says the Sox have been floating around Julio Lugo‘s name; no interest yet.
- Silverman sees the Tigers, Marlins, and maybe Yankees as potential suitors for Jason Varitek. Scott Boras would have a hard time getting two years, $20MM from any of those teams. The Marlins or Yanks would have to give up their first-round pick, too.
Cards Switch Focus To Free Agency
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak recently shifted his focus from trades to free agency in regards to his pitching staff. They briefly mulled the idea of jumping in on Jake Peavy but decided against it.
Strauss suggests four free agent starters the Cardinals might consider signing for the short-term: Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf, and Brad Penny. The Cards have about $15-17MM to work with, but they won’t be chasing the big fish free agent starters.
Straus adds that it now looks like the Cardinals will retain second baseman Adam Kennedy.
Tigers Acquire Gerald Laird
1:21am: Morosi says the second pitching prospect is indeed Melo.
12:12am: Morosi says an agreement has been reached, and the second prospect is a pitcher. There’s speculation that prospect could be Carlos Melo, as he fits Rosenthal’s description.
11:27pm: Ken Rosenthal says the Tigers acquired Laird for Moscoso and a second prospect. The second prospect "is a 17-year-old who spent last season in the Dominican Summer League." Could it be shortstops Samuel Ortiz or Domingo Gonzales? Pitchers Rayni Guichardo or Carlos Melo? The deal will be announced Monday. Laird, a Scott Boras client, is under team control through 2010.
Rosenthal adds that the Tigers are considering Adam Everett and Nick Punto as shortstop options.
9:26pm: According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, "The Tigers and Texas Rangers have made significant progress toward a trade that would send catcher Gerald Laird to Detroit and pitching prospect Guillermo Moscoso to the Rangers." It’s not known whether the Tigers would include anyone else.
Baseball America ranks Moscoso tenth among Tigers prospects, noting shoulder woes but suggesting a high ceiling. They say he could end up a #3 or #4 starter. He’s drawn some comparisons to Jair Jurrjens.
D’Backs Interested In Beimel
We can add a new name to the Joe Beimel sweepstakes: the Diamondbacks. Jack Magruder of the East Valley Tribune says they’ve had talks with his agent. Of course, Josh Byrnes is eyeing all kinds of free agent relievers now that Brandon Lyon declined arbitration.
The Tigers are another team known to be in on Beimel.
Only Oliver, Weathers Accept Arb Offers
SI.com’s Jon Heyman says relievers Darren Oliver and David Weathers were the only two players of the 24 who accepted offers of arbitration. That means Juan Cruz, Orlando Hudson, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, and Jon Garland declined in addition to those we’ve already reported.
Pirates Rumors: Wilson, Millar, Bautista
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette checks in from Vegas with the latest Pirates rumors.
- At some point during the Meetings, the Pirates and Tigers will meet to discuss Jack Wilson. It has been suggested that the Tigers are backing off on Wilson; they worked out Adam Everett last week. The Dodgers are also in the mix, with recent discussions involving the possible restructuring of Wilson’s contract.
- Other trade candidates: John Grabow, Ronny Paulino, Freddy Sanchez, and Adam LaRoche.
- The Pirates’ "power bat" addition could be Kevin Millar, muses Kovacevic.
- Reliever Denny Bautista is a non-tender candidate. We’ll add him to the list.
- The Pirates have not yet made extension offers to Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, or Paul Maholm.
Odds and Ends: Teahen, Mastny, Clement
Sunday evening links…I will add to this post as needed.
- Dejan Kovacevic describes what it’s like for a reporter at the Winter Meetings.
- The Royals do not want to trade Mark Teahen. They’ve received inquiries on Teahen, David DeJesus, Jose Guillen, and Billy Butler. They mainly seem willing to move Guillen, which Jayson Stark reported earlier.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along nuggets on Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara. He says the Angels contacted Kawakami’s agent, while the Tigers and Giants have been in touch with Uehara’s.
- Newman also says the Yokohama BayStars acquired reliever Tom Mastny from the Indians.
- Free agent infielder Nick Punto admitted to LEN3 that it’d be hard to leave the Twins.
- John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus says the Pirates are "willing to take a flyer on free-agent local boy Matt Clement." Clement may also consider Cleveland if they’ll have him.
- Other teams are pulling ahead of the Rockies in the pursuit for free agent lefty Joe Beimel. Nothing against Beimel, but it seems that every year one free agent lefty reliever is elevated beyond his true value. It might be Beimel this year.
- Jon Paul Morosi discusses trading Dontrelle Willis.
- The Marlins figure to hang on to Dan Uggla.
- Roch Kubatko says Orioles exec Mike Flanagan won’t be attending the Meetings, sparking speculation about his future with the team.