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Rangers, White Sox, Blue Jays Interested In Olivo

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Miguel Olivo is drawing "varying levels of interest" from several clubs, including the Rangers, White Sox, and Blue Jays, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Morosi adds that the Red Sox could also be interested if Victor Martinez signs elsewhere.

Olivo is seeking a two-year contract, so it appears likely that he would turn down an arbitration offer from the Jays, who acquired him from the Rockies earlier this month. In that case, perhaps Toronto's interest would dwindle, since they'd earn a supplemental pick if Olivo signed with another team.

With John Buck and Ramon Hernandez already locked up to deals, the catching market behind V-Mart is thinning rapidly. Check out our list of remaining free agent backstops here.

Odds & Ends: Gordon, Anderson, Phillies, Park

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Links for Wednesday, the second day of the GM Meetings, as Ron Gardenhire and Bud Black take home Manager of the Year honors…

Minor Deals: Balentien, Bailey, Hoffpauir, Miller

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Collecting the day's minor league signings…

  • Outfielder Wladimir Balentien is joining the Yakult Swallows in Japan, according to this report passed along on Twitter by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.  The 26-year-old hit .282/.337/.536 with 25 home runs in 452 Triple-A plate appearances for the Reds' affiliate.
  • The Twins signed 32-year-old outfielder/first baseman Jeff Bailey, reports Seth Stohs.  Bailey hit .289/.387/.462 with 12 home runs in 564 Triple-A plate appearances for the Diamondbacks' affiliate.
  • The Twins also signed infielder Chase Lambin, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy. The 31-year-old hit .252/.327/.414 with 15 homers in 548 plate appearances for the National's Triple-A affiliate in 2011. He has never played in the the big league, but did spend 2009 in Japan.
  • MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reports that Micah Hoffpauir has signed a one-year deal with the Nippon Ham fighters. The 30-year-old hit .251/.312/.421 in 394 plate appearances with the Cubs over the last three seasons.
  • The Mariners have signed right-hander Justin Miller according to Eddy (via Twitter). In 24.1 innings with the Dodgers last year, the 33-year-old pitched to a 4.44 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. The Mariners are his ninth organization.
  • Seattle also signed shortstop Sean Kazmar, tweets Eddy. He hit .275/.326/.381 for San Diego's Triple-A affiliate this year, and saw some big league action with them back in 2008.
  • The Rays signed righty reliever Cory Wade, says Eddy (via Twitter). The 27-year-old had a 2.27 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 71.1 innings for the Dodgers in 2008, but he missed most of 2009 and all of 2010 after having shoulder surgery.
  • Eddy tweets that the Athletics have signed outfielder Jai Miller. They lost him on a waiver claim to Kansas City back in April. The 25-year-old hit .252/.326/.490 in Triple-A last year, then .236/.300/.345 in 60 plate appearances with the Royals.
  • The White Sox signed third baseman Dallas McPherson, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.  The 30-year-old hit .267/.339/.541 with 22 home runs in 354 plate appearances for Oakland's Triple-A affiliate this year.  He hasn't spent significant time in the bigs since '06.
  • The Phillies signed lefty reliever Dan Meyer, reports Bill Evans of the Gloucester County Times (hat tip to Matt Gelb).  The 29-year-old signed with his hometown team after drawing interest from the Giants, Astros, Pirates, Padres, and Twins.  Meyer, a big part of the Tim Hudson trade six years ago, had a strong '09 but was designated for assignment by the Marlins twice this year.  He posted a 3.38 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 40 Triple-A innings in 2010.

Stark On Cubs, Kemp, Werth, Quentin

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ESPN's Jayson Stark leads his latest Rumblings and Grumblings with scouts' opinions on pitchers Jorge de la Rosa, Vicente Padilla, Carl Pavano, Brian Fuentes, Randy Choate, Joaquin Benoit, and Koji Uehara.  His rumors:

  • Adrian Gonzalez's labrum cleanup surgery downgrades the chances of an offseason trade considerably.
  • The Cubs "seem a lot less inclined" to trade Kosuke Fukudome and Carlos Zambrano, though some clubs believe they'd discuss the latter.  Stark says there's a vibe the Cubs will not go after Adam Dunn for their first base opening, instead looking for an above-average defender.
  • One team official who kicked the tires says of the Dodgers, "They ain't trading Matt Kemp."
  • The Phillies are far apart with Jayson Werth and are exploring right field replacements.  They've done extensive groundwork on Chicago's Carlos Quentin, and are considering Jeff Francoeur or Jermaine Dye for lesser roles.  The Red Sox, by the way, are not willing to spend $100MM on Werth.

White Sox Willing To Discuss Gavin Floyd

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The White Sox are willing to discuss righty Gavin Floyd, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  I'm sure the return would have to be significant, as Floyd is locked up affordably through 2012 with a club option for '13.

Floyd, 28 in January, posted a 4.08 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9, and career-best 49.9% groundball rate in 2010.  He'd be preferable to almost every other available starter, even Cliff Lee if you're not keen on top dollar six-year free agent commitments for pitchers.  The Brewers, Rangers, Yankees, Marlins, Nationals, Astros, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Dodgers are among the teams I'd expect to have interest in Floyd.

Heyman On Weeks, Matsui, Pujols

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SI's Jon Heyman is gathering all kinds of information at the GM Meetings; here's the latest…

  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin will talk to second baseman Rickie Weeks today about a possible extension, tweets Heyman.  The arbitration eligible Weeks is one year away from free agency.
  • Heyman tweets that the White Sox are talking to free agent designated hitter Hideki Matsui, who would fit as one of two lefty bats they hope to acquire.  The Sox have already had preliminary discussions with Adam Dunn's agent.  Heyman says the Cubs have not appeared to be big suitors for Dunn so far.
  • Regarding Albert Pujols, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt does not want to repeat Alex Rodriguez's ten-year, $275MM contract.  In fact, he believes the Yankees would retract A-Rod's deal if they could.  Heyman floated an eight-year, $240MM deal to DeWitt, who questioned the $30MM salary.
  • Expensive closers Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Cordero are on the trade market, with the Red Sox and Reds willing to kick in money.  Still, Heyman sees the Red Sox retaining Papelbon, whose trade market is weak.
  • Heyman could see something around three years and $57MM for Derek Jeter.
  • Heyman believes the Orioles are looking at Paul Konerko and/or Adrian Beltre for their corner infield openings.

White Sox Meet With Dunn’s Agent

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While many expect the Cubs to pursue Adam Dunn this offseason, it was their neighbors to the south that met with Dunn's agent recently according to ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine. White Sox GM Kenny Williams had preliminary discussions with Dunn's people to gauge what the free agent first baseman is seeking in terms of a contract. One GM said that three years and $40MM would be the starting point for discussions.

"Anytime you spend time opening up dialogue and building on relationships, it can't help but to forge a deal at some time," said Williams. "Whether that helps this year or not remains to be seen."

"We are in the process right now of determining whether or not adding to the current mix we have would be the most prudent thing to do and gives us the best chance to win a championship or turning some of our players into young, impact guys," he added. "What we don't want to do is we don't want to be in the middle."

The Nationals had a three-year contract offer on the table for the last three months, so it makes sense that three years would be a starting point if he turned that down. Dunn, 31, hit .260/.356/.536 with 38 homers this season, and in terms of OPS it was his least productive season since 2006. I broke down his free agent stock just a few days ago.

Melvin: “We’re Not Shopping Prince”

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Prince Fielder has just one more year to go before becoming eligible for free agency, and as a result many around the game expect the Brewers to shop their hulking first baseman. GM Doug Melvin told USA Today's Bob Nightengale that isn't the case however, saying explicitly "We're not shopping Prince." Here's the full quote…

"We're not shopping Prince,'' said the Brewers GM. "I'd like to keep him. He's a homegrown player who wants to play every inning of every game. But we'd like to get something done by the end of the off-season. I don't want to negotiate during the year.''

Melvin indicated that the end of Spring Training is the team's deadline for working out an extension with their two-time All Star. Fielder, 26 and a Scott Boras client, is a .279/.385/.535 career hitter, averaging 38 home runs in his five full seasons as a big leaguer.

Nightengale also lists a number of players that are already "under discussion," including Zack Greinke, Dan Uggla, Adrian Gonzalez, Bobby Jenks, Jonathan Papelbon, Nick Swisher, Jason Bartlett, Mark Reynolds, and both Justin and B.J. Upton. 

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Cox, Crawford, DeJesus

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Two years ago today the Athletics acquired Matt Holliday from the Rockies in exchange for Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, and Greg Smith. Holliday hit .286/.378/.454 in exactly 400 plate appearances with Oakland before being dealt to the Cardinals for a package led by Brett Wallace at the 2009 trade deadline.

Street has battled injuries but has been solid when on the mound for Colorado, pitching to a 3.30 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 109 innings. Smith has appeared in just eight games for the Rox (all starts), putting up a 6.23 ERA. The real get was CarGo, who will certainly be in the MVP mix after a .336/.376/.598 season with 34 doubles, 34 homers, 26 stolen bases, and a batting title.

The hot stove league will certainly bring us more blockbuster trades, but for now you'll have to settle for this long collection of links, the best the blogosphere had to offer this week…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Potential Suitors For Gordon Beckham

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Rival teams believe the White Sox will listen to offers for Gordon Beckham, according to Yahoo's Tim Brown. Let's take a look around the league to determine which teams could become suitors for the infielder. The 24-year-old has a career .260/.331/.416 line and extensive big league experience at second and third. It seems likely that more than half the teams in baseball would have some interest in the former first rounder, despite the extended slow start he had in 2010. Here's a list of teams with potential interest:

  • Orioles – Josh Bell didn't do much in his 2010 debut, so Beckham could play third and Bell could become trade bait.
  • Blue Jays – The Blue Jays could non-tender Edwin Encarnacion and play Beckham at third. He strikes me as the sort of player the Blue Jays would have serious interest in.
  • Red Sox – The Red Sox could play Beckham at third and let Adrian Beltre walk as a free agent.
  • Indians – The Indians are considering options for third base, but would GM Kenny Williams deal Beckham to a division rival?
  • Tigers – It seems unlikely that the Tigers could pry Beckham from the White Sox, but it's fun to imagine him at second base.
  • Twins – Orlando Hudson will probably sign elsewhere, but the Twins face the same problem the Tigers and Indians do.
  • Royals – The Royals aren't an immediate threat to the White Sox and I bet they'd love to add Beckham to their organization. 
  • A's – The A's could non-tender or trade Kevin Kouzmanoff and play Beckham at third.
  • Angels – The Angels could insert Beckham at third if they don't land Beltre.
  • Marlins – Chris Coghlan will likely play third for Florida next year and Dan Uggla is under team control, but Coghlan could also play in the outfield and Uggla may become a trade candidate.
  • Mets – The Mets would have to create space by trading Luis Castillo.
  • Cardinals – Beckham would be a nice fit at second base.
  • Cubs – The Cubs could have interest in working out a deal with their cross-town rivals and handing Beckham the second base job.
  • Astros – It wouldn't be shocking if the Astros had some interest in Beckham.
  • Dodgers – GM Ned Colletti might like the idea of making Beckham his second baseman.
  • Padres – Beckham would be a great fit for the Padres, since he's cheap and David Eckstein is a free agent.
  • Giants – Pablo Sandoval is falling out of favor in San Francisco.
  • D'Backs – Beckham does strike out a fair amount, but he could be a consideration if the D'Backs move Mark Reynolds.
  • Rockies – If the Rockies non-tender Clint Barmes, they could have interest in Beckham.

The Yankees (Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano), Rays (Evan Longoria, Sean Rodriguez, Ben Zobrist), Mariners (Chone Figgins, Dustin Ackley), Rangers (Michael Young, Ian Kinsler), Braves (Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, Omar Infante), Phillies (Placido Polanco, Chase Utley), Nationals (Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa), Reds (Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips), Brewers (Casey McGehee, Rickie Weeks) and Pirates (Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker) have long-term options at third and second. Beckham's promise, affordability and versatility would likely make him one of the most highly coveted players on the trade market if the White Sox do make him available.

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