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Rangers Focused On Trading For Starting Pitching

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The Rangers are more focused on trading for a starter than signing Prince Fielder or bidding on Yu Darvish, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Here are the details on the Rangers…

Brewers Will Not Bid On Prince Fielder

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Albert Pujols is off the board with a $254MM contract from the Angels, but Scott Boras is going to let the Prince Fielder market simmer this month.  The latest:

  • GM Doug Melvin confirmed to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Brewers are out on Fielder (Twitter link). "I think Scott [Boras] understands that," Melvin told Haudricourt.
  • The Cubs are definitely in the mix for Fielder, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  He adds that the Mariners are trying and the Blue Jays and Rangers are "among teams showing interest and thinking hard about it."  At the Winter Meetings, Rangers president Nolan Ryan told reporters his team is not in on Fielder.

Minor Moves: Bianchi, Threets, Gallagher, Atilano

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Here are some of the day's minor transactions…

  • The Cubs have acquired minor league infielder Jeff Bianchi on a waiver claim, the team announced.  Bianchi was designated for assignment by the Royals last week to make room for Jonathan Broxton on their 40-man roster.  Bianchi was a second-round pick for K.C. in the 2005 draft and has yet to reach the majors, though he missed close to two full seasons recovering from a torn labrum (2006) and reconstuctive elbow surgery (2010).
  • The Athletics have signed left-hander Erick Threets to a minor league deal, tweets Matthew Eddy of Baseball America.  Threets, 30, last pitched in the Majors in 2010, throwing 12.1 scoreless relief innings for the White Sox.
  • The Reds signed right-handers Luis Atilano and Sean Gallagher to minor league deals, reports Eddy.
  • The Brewers have signed catcher Mike Rivera to a minor league contract, reports MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.  The deal includes an invitation to the Brewers' big league spring training camp and is worth $500K if Rivera makes the Major League roster.  Rivera, 35, has spent five of the last six years in the Brewers' organization and will provide the club with extra catching depth.
  • The Rangers signed Alberto Gonzalez to a minor league contract with an invite to the Major League spring training camp, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.  Gonzalez was released by the Padres last month.  The utility infielder has a career .242/.281/.317 line in 908 Major League plate appearances over five seasons with the Padres, Nationals and Yankees.
  • The Yankees have designated Colin Curtis for assignment, tweets MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.  The move creates space on New York's 40-man roster for Freddy Garcia, whose signing was made official today.  Curtis, a fourth-round draft pick in 2006, has 64 Major League plate appearances to his name.

Sherman On Darvish, Buehrle, Fielder, Jones

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Joel Sherman of the New York Post shares a few Yankees items and more from around baseball…

  • The Yankees have a number of concerns about Yu Darvish and team officials "sounded pessimistic about making a significant posting bid, if they submit one at all."  Given how the Yankees have been linked to Darvish for months, it's hard to believe they won't be bidding on the star pitcher, so this could well be some misdirection on the Bombers' part.
  • The Yankees were interested in Mark Buehrle but wouldn't offer the veteran more than a two-year contract.  This clearly wasn't going to get it done given the large market for Buehrle, who signed a four-year, $58MM pact with the Marlins.
  • After "canvassing executives," Sherman finds the consensus is that Prince Fielder will sign with the Cubs.  The belief is that Theo Epstein won't pass up the chance to acquire a slugger like Fielder given the lack of power hitters coming onto the market, and Epstein wants to make "a statement sign" in his first year in Chicago.
  • Andruw Jones is likely to re-sign with the Yankees but the team will see if they can address starting pitching before taking care of their backups.  Jones, for his part, plans to compete for a starting job this spring.

Cubs Acquire Ian Stewart In Four-Player Trade

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The Cubs have acquired Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers from the Rockies in exchange for Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post.

Each team acquires a 26-year-old former first round pick coming off a disappointing season. Stewart, a non-tender candidate, has long been the subject of trade rumors and hit .156/.243/.221 in limited action in 2011. Colvin, who isn't yet arbitration eligible, hit .150/.204/.306 in 222 plate appearances.

LeMahieu, 23, has a career .753 OPS in the minors and saw his first big league action for the Cubs in 2011. He'll compete for time at second and third base, according to Renck (on Twitter). Weathers, 26, was also a first-round pick, but has yet to pitch above Double-A, where he posted a 5.32 ERA in 45 2/3 innings this year. The right-hander has excellent stuff (career 11.3 K/9), but hasn't been able to control it (7.1 BB/9).

Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported yesterday that the two teams were discussing a deal involving Stewart and Colvin.

Cubs Lack Cash For Prince Fielder?

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Yesterday word was the Marlins and Rangers were not in on Prince Fielder, despite Scott Boras' Jimmie Foxx comparisons.  The latest…

Rockies Acquire Kevin Slowey

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THURSDAY: The Twins acquired righty Daniel Turpen from the Rockies to complete the Slowey deal, they announced today.  Turpen, 25, posted a 4.83 ERA in Double-A this year.  He was taken by the Yankees from the Red Sox in last year's Rule 5 draft, then returned to Boston and later traded to Colorado.

TUESDAY: The Rockies agreed to acquire starter Kevin Slowey from the Twins for a player to be named later, reports MLB.com's Thomas Harding.  The Twins have since announced the trade.

Slowey

Slowey, 27, was widely regarded as a non-tender candidate had he remained with the Twins until next week's deadline.  He projects to earn $2.7MM through arbitration in 2012, and is under team control through 2013.  One of the game's most extreme flyball pitchers, Slowey (pictured) doesn't seem a great fit for Coors Field.  The other concern is that Slowey hasn't compiled big innings totals in the Majors.  Still, he limits free passes as well as anyone and could be a useful back-end rotation addition for Colorado.  The Rockies also added starter Tyler Chatwood last week in a trade with the Angels.

The Rockies may have other irons in the fire, as Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post reported earlier that they've discussed a deal with the Reds involving closer Huston Street for starter Edinson Volquez.  It's unclear whether those talks are still active given the Slowey acquisition.  Renck also wrote that the Rockies have interest in trading for the Phillies' Placido Polanco or the Braves' Martin Prado, and asked the Cubs about D.J. LeMahieu and Scott Maine in Ian Stewart talks that have since lost momentum.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

2011 Rule 5 Draft Results

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Rule 5 players must stay with their new big league club all year or be offered back to the old team. MLB.com has a full recap of both the Major League and minor league portions of the draft. The results of the Major League phase are listed below:

  1. Astros take Rhiner Cruz from Mets.
  2. Twins take Terry Doyle from White Sox.
  3. Mariners take Lucas Luetge from Brewers.
  4. Orioles take Ryan Flaherty from Cubs.
  5. Royals take Cesar Cabral from Red Sox; traded to Yankees for cash.
  6. Cubs take Lendy Castillo from Phillies.
  7. Padres
  8. Pirates take Gustavo Nunez from Tigers.
  9. Marlins
  10. Rockies
  11. Athletics
  12. Mets
  13. White Sox
  14. Reds
  15. Indians
  16. Nationals
  17. Blue Jays
  18. Dodgers
  19. Angels
  20. Giants
  21. Braves take Robert Fish from Angels.
  22. Cardinals take Erik Komatsu from Nationals.
  23. Red Sox take Marwin Gonzalez from Cubs, traded to Astros for Marco Duarte
  24. Rays
  25. Diamondbacks take Brett Lorin from Pirates.
  26. Tigers
  27. Brewers
  28. Rangers
  29. Yankees take Brad Meyers from Nationals.
  30. Phillies

Rangers Not Confident They Can Land Garza

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3:27am: FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal (who apparently doesn't sleep) tweets that the Rangers are "not at all" confident that they will be able to pry Garza away from the Cubs. Texas considers Chicago's asking price to be too steep.

10:06pm: The Cubs and Rangers are discussing a possible swap of Matt Garza for prospects, but aren't close to matching up yet, tweets Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago. Danny Knobler of CBS Sports confirms (via Twitter) that the Rangers are trying to acquire the right-hander.

The Cubs are rumored to be seeking an "overwhelming offer" for Garza.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

Free Agent Arbitration Offer Decisions

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37 free agents were offered arbitration in November, but Jonathan Papelbon, Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, Rod Barajas, Clint Barmes, Matt Capps, Bruce Chen, David DeJesus, Ryan Doumit, Mark Ellis, Frank Francisco, Freddy Garcia, Aaron Harang, Ramon Hernandez, Jose Molina, Jon Rauch, and Mark Buehrle have already reached agreements.  The deadline is tonight at 11pm central time.  For MLBTR's handy chart that can be filtered by team, type, and whether the player was offered and/or accepted, click here.

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