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Marlins Notes: Kennedy, Reed, Cantu

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A couple of Fish-related tidbits from the land of Dwyane Wade and Dexter Morgan tonight….

  • Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Marlins have made finding relief pitching a priority over replacing Ross Gload.  Jackson mentioned Adam Kennedy and Jeremy Reed as left-handed hitters "mentioned in informal talks" that Florida might be interested in signing once they take care of their bullpen.
  • It looks as if Dan Uggla will still be a Marlin when the 2010 season starts, reports Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  Rodriguez thinks that if the Fish can't find a trade partner for Uggla, they may shift gears and "start taking calls" about Jorge Cantu.  Cantu's ability to place both first and third base makes him an attractive option to teams looking for help at the corners.  Could Baltimore be interested?  We know they're still in the market for a corner infielder, and the Orioles and Marlins touched base with each other about an Uggla trade earlier this winter.

LaRoche Turns Down Giants’ Offer

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ESPN's Buster Olney reports (via Twitter) that Adam LaRoche turned down a two-year, $17MM deal from San Francisco, and now the Giants may have pulled their offer back altogether.  LaRoche has been mentioned as a possible target for the Giants this winter and would certainly fill their need for a left-handed hitter, but as Olney notes in a follow-up tweet, San Francisco is "discussing alternatives" to signing the first baseman. 

The Giants' stance could also be a negotiating tactic to get LaRoche to drop his asking price given that, as Olney pointed out, LaRoche seems to be down to just the Giants and Orioles as potential suitors.  (The Mariners were scratched from the list given their acquisition of Casey Kotchman.)

Matt Holliday, Cardinals Could Agree This Week

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10:06pm: Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa says that any deal should be finalized this week, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The piece offers plenty of detail about this past weekend's negotiations, which have left the Cardinals with "a sense of optimism" regarding Holliday.

5:30pm: Sources tell ESPN.com's Buster Olney that the Cardinals and Holliday "are close to a deal."

12:35pm: It's been suggested that the Cardinals have offered multiple contract scenarios to Holliday.  One might have been seven years and $112MM, according to SI's Jon Heyman.  Also, Heyman talked to one source who believes the Orioles are "laying in the weeds" despite recent denials.

Meanwhile, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers his take, in which he notes that silence from Cards GM John Mozeliak might be a positive sign.

8:30am: A Friday tweet by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had some fans wondering if a Matt Holliday signing was imminent, but Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contacted La Russa to get an explanation exceeding 140 characters.  La Russa explained to Goold:

"We're getting ready to move.  I know they’ve been talking a lot with Matt. I know we have a really smart Plan B…(It) could be on Plan A, or it could be our Plan B. The point is, we're not going to get stuck."

La Russa told Goold he was not referring specifically to Holliday with his "Soon the Cards will be smart too" tweet.  However, Goold did learn from one source that there could be a Holliday resolution this week.  Goold speculated that of the various packages offered to the slugger, six or seven years with a guarantee over $100MM might do the trick.  Tracy Ringolsby of FOX Sports suggested on Wednesday that Holliday aims to top the $18MM average annual salary he passed up from the Rockies in '08.  It will be interesting to see how high the Cardinals are willing to go given the lack of a clear second suitor for Holliday.

Odds & Ends: Orioles, Braves, Indians

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Lots of other bits of information to get to on a busy Monday:

  • The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly has several pieces of information about once and perhaps future Orioles. Former Oriole Melvin Mora has three suitors, according to Mora's agent, two National League teams and one American League team.
  • Mark Hendrickson, by contrast, could well return to Baltimore. He lives in nearby York, PA and wants to play in Baltimore. His agent, Joe Urbon, said both sides have talked, but there's been no movement yet.
  • David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution believes that if his price tag drops to well below $10MM, Johnny Damon could be a good fit for the Braves. You'd have to think the Yankees would get back involved at that price, however.
  • Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs.com thinks a disparity in GM talent could be behind the gap between the National and American League.
  • And if Cleveland fans weren't upset enough over recent deals for Cliff Lee, C.C. Sabathia and Victor Martinez, MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince checks in with when he expects Cleveland to begin looking to trade Grady Sizemore in his latest Inbox.
  • MLB.com's Chris Haft thinks the Giants should take a look at Mike Jacobs.

Odds & Ends: Bay, Adrian Gonzalez, Cardinals

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Some links for your viewing pleasure on the first Sunday of 2010:

Olney On Gonzalez, Holliday, Dodgers

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ESPN.com's Buster Olney offers some storylines to look for in 2010 and turns up some rumors along the way. Here they are:

  • The Padres will, "in all likelihood," gauge the market for Adrian Gonzalez this summer and deal him before the July 31st trade deadline. The Mets, Mariners and Red Sox could all bid for the slugger, but the list of suitors could change drastically by mid-summer.
  • One GM expects the Mariners to consider offers for Felix Hernandez if they don't lock him up long-term. "They may seriously have to think about trading him," the GM said. Locking Felix up won't be cheap, either. As Olney notes, Hernandez could command C.C. Sabathia-type money ($161MM) if he were a free agent. Luckily for Mariners fans, Felix won't hit the open market until after the 2011 season at the earliest.
  • Olney says the Orioles offered Matt Holliday $70MM or so at one point before moving on. Here's a look at some other offers Holliday has received.
  • Executives tell Olney that the Dodgers' quiet offseason is giving other teams confidence and emboldening them to make more moves. 

Matt Holliday Rumors: Thursday

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12:57pm: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Scott Boras might consider one or two-year offers for Holliday. However, there are nine-figure offers out there, so, as Miklasz says, a short-term deal seems "highly unlikely." Miklasz hears that Boras won't go for a five-year offer from the Cardinals. The agent seems to be going for a seven or eight-year deal, but the Cards remain confident in their chances of bringing Holliday back.

8:17am: Yesterday we heard that the Cardinals were "working toward an agreement" with Matt Holliday. Talks are picking up and the Cards' offer is apparently considerable. Jon Heyman and Buster Olney suggested that the Cards have offered $100MM or more, Tracy Ringolsby heard that the Cards offered $140MM and Derrick Goold said the sides have even discussed an eight-year deal.

One team that won't be interested at that level: the Orioles. Team president Andy MacPhail told Jeff Zrebiec that there is no validity to Ringolsby's report of a $130MM offer.

Today, John Tomase of the Boston Herald reports that Holliday and agent Scott Boras asked for a deal worth $170MM when the Red Sox offered $85MM back in early December. That's Mark Teixeira territory, so the Red Sox moved on.

Orioles Rumors: Bordick, Chapman, Waters

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Mike Bordick signed a one-year deal to become a minor league coach with the Orioles, according to Dan Connolly and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. The former Oriole says he wants to emphasize situational hitting and "small ball." 

Baltimore's search for pitching has them interested in Cuban prospect Aroldis Chapman. So far, team president Andy MacPhail says the O's have only spoken with the lefty's representatives in "generalities." The O's have yet to make the Hendricks Brothers a formal offer and have not heard from the agency recently. The Marlins, A's, Red Sox and Yankees are among the many teams interested in Chapman.

And Chris Waters is one left-hander who won't be signing with Baltimore. The Brewers agreed to a minor league deal with the former Oriole, who was designated for assignment last month by the Orioles. The 29-year-old has a 5.07 ERA in parts of two seasons with the O's.

Matt Holliday Rumors: Wednesday

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10:42pm: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Holliday and the Cardinals are "working toward an agreement" that is "gaining momentum."  Due to this progress, a deal is possible next week.  Goold says multiple contract structures have been discussed – five guaranteed years with a higher salary, and even an "eight-year framework."

7:21pm: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reports that Holliday didn't accept a contract offer of at least six years and "presumably" worth more than $100MM offered by St. Louis "in the past couple weeks."  Heyman also tweeted that Holliday "is still talking to multiple teams." 

3:20pm: ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Cardinals' offer to Holliday "is believed to be over $100MM" (guaranteed, he tells me).  Additionally, Ringolsby replied to my email and clarified that he's been told the Cards' eight-year, $140MM offer is guaranteed both in years and dollars.

1:55pm: Talking to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, MacPhail moved quickly to shoot down Ringolsby's report of the Orioles making an eight-year, $130MM offer for Holliday.

1:01pm: Tracy Ringolsby's FOX Sports column today contains information on Matt Holliday's current contract demands as well as a couple of offers that have been made.

Ringolsby says Holliday wants to top the $18MM average salary of a four-year, $72MM deal the Rockies once offered.  But if you look at our post from Monday, you'll see that the Rockies' reported offers are all over the map.

Ringolsby says the Cardinals "made a proposal that could reach $140 million over eight years."  This fits with Joe Strauss' mid-December article for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that said the Cardinals offered "around $15 million-$16 million a season for up to eight years."  In both cases the vague wording makes me wonder whether the offer was eight years guaranteed, or just five years plus options as some have suggested.  I have an email out to Ringolsby for clarification.

Ringolsby adds that the Orioles made an eight-year, $130MM offer to Holliday.  What's more, he says Andy MacPhail "did discuss the possibility of arranging a meeting between himself, Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Holliday in Austin, Texas, where Holliday is living in the offseason."  If true, the Orioles could be more serious about Holliday than previously thought.

Odds & Ends: Mariners, Gomes, Holliday, Bay

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Links for Wednesday…

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