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Odds and Ends: Roberts, Otsuka, Walker, DaVanon

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A few minor moves to speak of…

  • The Cubs don’t appear to be concerned about Brian Roberts’ steroid admission.
  • The Padres’ talks for Xavier Nady are "on hold," according to Bill Center.  Also, the Friars continue to eye Akinori Otsuka.
  • Aside from the aforementioned Michael Barrett, the Padres signed Robert Fick and Jeff DaVanon.  DaVanon, a switch-hitter, has had some decent years against righties.  Ken Rosenthal believes the Padres may consider their outfield situation settled now after missing out on Geoff Jenkins and signing DaVanon.
  • Todd Walker, remember him?  He was released by the Padres this year in Spring Training and hooked on with Oakland.  After a month and a half there, they designated him for assignment.  He wasn’t picked up, and enjoyed spending the time with his family.  Now, however, the Rockies have had preliminary conversations with him according to Tracy Ringolsby.  Walker played for the Rox in 2000, posting a .929 OPS in limited duty.  He had another half season in Colorado in ’01 before being traded to the Reds for Alex Ochoa.
  • Excellent team blogs are going corporate – Bucco Blog was purchased by Baseball Interactive Media, and MetsBlog partnered with SNY.  Both seem like positive developments for readers – Jake and Matthew maintain editorial control, but perhaps gain additional access and technology.

Stark’s Latest: Prior, Lofton, Otsuka

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark dishes some good rumorage in his latest column.

  • Stark dug around to find all the Mark Prior suitors and came up with this list: Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros, Giants, Reds, Nationals (11 teams).  Let’s compare notes.  MLBTR readers have seen the Yankees, Mets, Cards, Padres, Astros, Reds, and Nats linked to Prior already.  So Stark has added the Red Sox, White Sox, Mariners, and Giants.  The idea of the Mariners runs contrary to this MLB.com article.  Stark did not name the Rangers, who are said to be aggressively pursuing Prior.  Prior is dead set on a one-year deal and would take a big league mound in May in the best case.
  • The Phils are focused on Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron, offering two year deals to each.  They might just take the first one to accept.  Stark says Kenny Lofton could be an option if both decline.  Lofton batted a career-best .335 for the Phils in ’05.
  • Stark rattles off a laundry list of pitchers the Phillies are interested in: Akinori Otsuka, Byung-Hyun Kim, Roberto Hernandez, Kris Benson, John Parrish, Sidney Ponson, Chad Durbin, Kyle Lohse, and Jeremy Affeldt.  Given Stark’s 21 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I imagine he has a connection or two.  Most of those are new names besides Benson, Lohse, Ponson, and Affeldt.
  • A source of Stark picks the Yankees as the favorite for Johan, but it should be noted that they’re having internal debates about pulling Phil Hughes off the table.
  • For all the crazy Cubs fans we’ve got here: Stark says they’ve talked to the Orioles about both Brian Roberts and Erik Bedard, but couldn’t pull off a deal for both.  They favor Roberts even though they need Bedard much more.

Crisp/Lugo For Cabrera Speculation

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Been getting this Phil Rogers blog post emailed to me quite a bit lately.  In it he speculates that the White Sox could send Orlando Cabrera to the Red Sox for Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp.  Or, they could send Cabrera to the Cubs for prospects.  Third, he suggests the Sox could sign Cabrera for around four years and $50MM, the offer they made to Kosuke Fukudome.

Nothing wrong with the speculation, Phil is just spitballing here it seems.  However, this talk gets passed around a couple of times, people don’t actually read what Phil wrote, and then people start saying this is a rumor or that there have been talks of this nature.  To me, speculation doesn’t graduate to a rumor until someone reports that it’s been discussed by execs of one or more teams.  Just my two cents on why this is not a trade rumor.  But, feel free to discuss.   

Cubs Interested In Bedard?

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With the volume of rumors that flew around during the Winter Meetings, it’s easy to get confused.  Luckily MLBTR has archives of everything.  That’s how we were able to research the Cubs’ alleged interest in Erik Bedard.

It started on December 4th with Joel Sherman saying the Cubs were part of a pool competing for Bedard that contained 8-10 teams.  Then three days later, Bruce Miles reported that Bedard was "not on the Cubs’ radar screen."

The latest, per an uncredited blurb on ESPN Rumor Central: "In recent days, the Cubs let their interest be known."  The blurb also references the Seattle PI, perhaps this article, but there’s no Cubs reference there.

Anyway, it makes sense that Jim Hendry and Andy MacPhail would at least have a high-level Bedard discussion.  The Cubs need a pitcher like him, they’ve liked him before, and they do have some decent young talent.

Cubs Like Joe Nathan

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UPDATE, 12-14-07 at 2:47pm: George Ofman of WSCR radio 670 out of Chicago says the Twins would indeed want Marmol in a deal for Nathan.

FROM 12-13-07 at 11:26pm:

LENIII has just a single-line teaser for us at the end of his column:

The Cubs are interested in trading for closer Joe Nathan if he’s available.

That’s a new one; who knew the Cubs were looking for a closer?  Their deficiences seem to be at shortstop and perhaps in the rotation.  It seems that some combination of Carlos Marmol, Bob Howry, and Kerry Wood can handle the ninth inning.

What would the Cubs have to give up?  I’m drawing a blank trying to find a precedent – an elite closer dealt with one year left before free agency.  Billy Wagner was dealt in the 2003-04 offseason, but he had two seasons left on his deal.  How about Keith Foulke?  The A’s acquired him with one year left; the White Sox received Daylon Holt, Neal Cotts, and Billy Koch.  Maybe the Twins would ask for Marmol plus one more good young player.

Astros Interested In Prior

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According to Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle, the Astros have contacted Mark Prior’s agent.  Prior is a free agent for the first time in his career after the Cubs non-tendered him on Wednesday.  By the way, I’ve previously erroneously named Prior’s current agent as Scott Boras.  That changed at some point – he’s with John Boggs now.

Astros GM Ed Wade admitted to his interest in Prior but not much else.  He told McTaggart that a lot of teams have contacted Boggs about Prior (nine, to be exact).  Prior figures to miss a few months of the 2008 season due to his April ’07 shoulder surgery.  Wade told McTaggart he contacted a couple of non-tendered players; here’s the list if you want to guess.

The Cubs didn’t feel Prior would return to his "high-level form" until 2009.  They insisted on a club option for that year, and their offer was "not received well" by Prior and his agent.

Today’s Non-tenders: Towers, Prior, Everett, Durbin

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Tim’s out for the night, so we’ve got a fresh post started for the non-tenders.  MLB.com has a running list as well.

These guys are the officials as of now:

  • As expected, the Marlins non-tendered catcher Miguel Olivo.  Johnny Estrada was another casualty; these two make up the market for starting catchers.
  • The Blue Jays non-tendered Josh Towers, a surprising move.  Some NL team could offer him two years and get league average work out of him.
  • Mark Prior has been non-tendered.  Honestly if I were the Cubs, I would’ve tossed the $3.5MM his way just to see.
  • Aaron Miles is now a free agent.
  • The A’s cut Kiko Calero loose.
  • The Padres have non-tendered four: Morgan Ensberg, Jason Lane, and pitchers Jack Cassell and Ryan Ketchner. RotoWorld speculates that the latter two, not arbitration eligible, could be offered minor league deals.
  • The Royals cut the cord on Emil Brown.  He turns 33 soon; he hit an ugly .257/.300/.347 in 2007.  Brown earned $3.45MM in ’07.
  • The Tigers non-tendered Chad Durbin, toss him into the free agent pool.  Guess those trade talks with the Bucs didn’t work out.
  • The Twins have let go Jason Tyner.
  • The Nats have cut bait with Nook Logan and LHP Michael O’Connor.
  • The Dodgers wave goodbye to Mark Hendrickson.
  • The White Sox have non-tendered Andy Gonzalez and LHP Heath Phillips. Joe Crede sticks with the Pale Hose for now.
  • Adam Everett has lost his job with the Astros. It’d be kind of funny if the Orioles signed him.
  • Per RotoWorld, the Angels have non-tendered Dallas McPherson. He’s full of potential, but he’s never come through. He’s only 27, though, so he could still catch on somewhere. Unless, RotoWorld notes, he has an agreement in place with the Angels.
  • The Braves have non-tendered Willie Harris, though he had already been DFA’d.

–Joe and Tim

Kosuke Fukudome Projections

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For all you fantasy geeks out there, I compiled projections from three sources to try to get a read on Kosuke Fukudome will do in his first season with the Cubs.  The Cubs care most about his OBP, and the consensus is that it’ll be at least .370.   His stolen base total will be of interest to fantasy owners, and that’s anyone’s guess. 

Would Mets Consider Marquis?

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On November 29th, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick mentioned that the Cubs are "listening on Jason Marquis."  This would clearly be a salary dump, as Marquis will earn $16.25MM over 2008-09.

Since then we haven’t heard of any teams interested in the 29 year-old righty.  However, Mets manager Willie Randolph brought up Marquis yesterday as a consideration for the team’s rotation.  The article’s author, Adam Rubin, added that the Cubs are fans of Endy Chavez.  It wouldn’t be fair to equate the two players, however.

Hat tip to MetsBlog on this one.

Levine On Fukudome

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Interesting stuff from ESPN 1000’s Bruce Levine this morning regarding Kosuke Fukudome.

  • The Rangers offered the most money.
  • The White Sox were not outbid – they offered about the same as the Cubs.  However, Fukudome did not want to displace Jermaine Dye from right field.
  • Fukudome was just intrigued by the Cubs, and liked the idea of being their first Japanese player.

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