ESPN’s Latest: Sosa, Prior, Kuroda, Reyes
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:19pm: Ah, the truth comes out. Sammy Sosa‘s people approached the Royals, but they weren’t interested.
FROM 12-4-07 at 3:17pm:
ESPN has a huge team at the Meetings; here are some tidbits that haven’t appeared elsewhere on MLBTR.
- Enrique Rojas says the Royals have interest in Sammy Sosa. Could that indicate a Mark Teahen trade is in the works also? Teahen is expected to move to first base to accomodate Jose Guillen, which would push Billy Butler to DH. But Sammy can only DH.
- Buster Olney says the Rangers and Padres are in on Mark Prior.
- The Padres also like lefties Glendon Rusch and Shawn Estes, and may sign both after the Rule 5 as a means of adding starting depth.
- Jayson Stark says the Mariners made an offer to Hiroki Kuroda in the range of four years, $45MM.
- Jerry Crasnick says Anthony Reyes is generating a lot of interest. The Cards, by the way, are open to trading Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan, or Jim Edmonds.
- The Rockies have gotten in touch with Marcus Giles‘ agent.
- The Astros aren’t interested in Jon Lieber, despite previous reports. They liked Matt Clement a bit among the injury guys but are over him now.
- Ryan Howard‘s agent and the Phillies will sit down soon to talk about a long-term deal.
Padres Fail To Acquire Luke Scott
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 10:07pm: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Padres and Astros were unable to reach an agreement on Scott.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 9:15pm: Talks are ongoing. Chase Headley and Matt Antonelli won’t be involved, but names like Nick Hundley, Will Venable, Josh Geer, and Wade LeBlanc have been mentioned.
FROM 12-4-07 at 2:39pm:
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Padres are nearing a deal to acquire Luke Scott from the Astros. No word on the return yet. I’m curious – Scott seemed like a solid bargain acquisition and it’s no surprise Kevin Towers got him.
Astros Rumors: Tejada, Loretta
MLB.com’s Alyson Footer chased down a few Astros rumors today.
- The Astros’ chances at Miguel Tejada were graded a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 yesterday. Now they’re at a 0. So, that’s that.
- Mark Loretta has until Friday to decide whether to accept the team’s offer of arbitration. He may not want to accept since he wants a full-time job. His agent contacted Ed Wade about that today. Dan O’Dowd suggested that the Astros "got him back."
Angels, White Sox, Rockies, A’s Interested In Burke
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 9:45pm: A White Sox source told MLB.com’s Alyson Footer not to look too much into their supposed interest in Burke.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 9:25pm: The Rockies have made a trade offer for Burke, according to the Denver Post.
FROM 12-4-07 at 8:07pm:
Just talked to a source close to Chris Burke. So far four teams have contacted Burke’s agent: the White Sox, Rockies, A’s, and Angels.
The 2001 first rounder is almost certain to be traded by the Astros; he just wants an opportunity to start somewhere. The Angels’ could have an opening if they trade Howie Kendrick.
Mets Rumors: Kuroda, Livan, Estrada, Colon
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:49pm: Jayson Stark says the Mets haven’t talked to the the A’s or Orioles at all in Nashville, meaning no talks for Haren or Bedard as of yet.
FROM 12-4-07 at 8:05am:
What’s cooking with the Mets? Let’s round ’em up.
- Mark Hale reports that the Mets have advanced to "Round 2" of the bidding process for Hiroki Kuroda. They did this by indicating a ballpark of what they might offer but without actually making an offer. Hale says 8-10 teams are in on Kuroda, including the Royals, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. The Ms reportedly have some kind of offer out to him, either 3/30 or 4/44. The Phils are said to have an offer out as well. Hale doesn’t name the Dodgers but it’s been said they’re getting aggressive on him too. The Cubs and Rangers are other teams that have been connected to Kuroda.
- The Mets appear to have mild interest in Livan Hernandez, perhaps as a fallback innings-eater option. The Phillies, Cardinals, Nationals, and Astros are other known suitors for Livan.
- The big fish are still out there in Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren. The Mets won’t include Jose Reyes, David Wright, or Carlos Beltran in any deal. It’s been said that a Carlos Gomez/Aaron Heilman/Philip Humber package was offered for Bedard and rejected.
- Dan Graziano says the Mets also inquired on Dontrelle Willis, Ben Sheets, and Roy Oswalt and were told none of the three are available. Graziano adds that the Mets are looking into signing Bartolo Colon.
- Omar Minaya will meet with the agents for Octavio Dotel and Shawn Chacon today.
- Minaya disputes Ken Rosenthal’s report that he sought an extension from the Mets and didn’t get one. Ownership told him he’ll be there "a long time."
- Though they didn’t want him in the Lastings Milledge deal, the Nationals are interested in acquiring Johnny Estrada for their catcher vacancy. Damian Miller is also known to be a target of Jim Bowden’s.
Barmes For Burke Offered
According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Rockies have offered shortstop Clint Barmes to the Astros for second baseman Chris Burke. Seems a reasonable swap of blocked middle infielders.
The Rockies will also meet with Mark Loretta‘s agent tonight. Loretta is coveted by the Mariners as well.
Talks with the Astros about Brian Fuentes fizzled, so the Rockies will probably just keep him as a luxury.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Mahay, Cordero
Ken Rosenthal busts out a few new ones.
- The Royals have been in touch with Ron Mahay‘s agent. Rosenthal names the Yankees, Giants, and Astros as other interested parties. Why the Giants? The Royals would trade Jimmy Gobble and then sign Mahay. Regarding the Yankees, Rosenthal says that the Santana situation somehow affects their willingness to sign Mahay. Meanwhile, Jayson Stark says the Rays are also in on Mahay.
- The Nationals asked for Chad Qualls and Luke Scott for Chad Cordero and were rebuffed by Ed Wade and the Astros. It’s not the craziest offer but how many outfielders do the Nationals need? 12? We heard two hours ago that Scott was almost a Padre, but haven’t had any follow-up. Buster?
Rockies Rumors: Fuentes, Fogg
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:28am: More from Renck. He confirms the Red Sox’ interest in Fuentes and adds the Astros to the mix. While the Rox like Burke, the teams don’t really match up because that’s not enough.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:01am: The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck has more.
- Brian Anderson – remember him? – is on the radar as a lefty swingman. The 35 year-old hasn’t pitched in the bigs since ’05.
- Renck ponders whether the Rox might revisit talks for Matt Morris, a sentiment echoed by Jenifer Langosch.
- Nothing seems to be imminent on the Fuentes-Lowrie rumor.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 9:21pm: A suitor for Fuentes has emerged. ESPN’s Amy Nelson says the Red Sox are interested and the Rockies could seek Jed Lowrie. Lowrie would be a nice fit at second base.
FROM 12-3-07 at 8:28pm:
MLB.com’s Thomas Harding checks in with some Rockies nuggets.
- The Rockies have no pressing need to trade Brian Fuentes, so they’ll sit pretty with two closers unless an impressive and helpful offer comes along. Dan O’Dowd believes four or five clubs might have the goods and need to get Fuentes. We’ll see.
- The Rox let Josh Fogg‘s agent know they’d like to explore bringing him back. No figures were exchanged.
- The team still hopes to bring LaTroy Hawkins back, but they’d have to go to two years to pull that off. They already chose not to exercise an effective $3.5MM option on him. It seems the Rockies may have underestimated the interest in Hawkins.
Odds and Ends: Guillen, Patterson, Clark, Andruw
Let’s keep things rolling along with a morning Odds and Ends collection.
- U.S.S. Mariner is not amused with the Ms’ decision not to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen.
- Andruw Jones hasn’t been getting much player, and his camp initiated contact with the Royals yesterday. The mutual interest may have been what pushed Guillen to sign.
- With the David Riske to Milwaukee signing not official, the Orioles apparently had talks with his agent yesterday. He’ll be too pricey for them, anyway. By the way, the Cubs checked in on Brian Roberts, but nothing is really stirring right now on that front.
- Corey Patterson seems a little down, as he’s no one’s first choice in center field. The Orioles are apparently moving on. Patterson wouldn’t say whether he’d take a one-year deal. As a Scott Boras client, I imagine he won’t.
- Summing up the Rockies’ external second base candidates: Chris Burke, Marcus Giles, and Mark Loretta. The agents for both Giles and Loretta have contacted the Rockies, and Loretta would play there at a discount.
- Evan Grant has his Rangers column up, but we already hit upon most of the points yesterday (he was the source then, too). One new note is that the Rangers don’t want to give Tony Clark anything more than one year plus an option, while Clark wants a two-year deal. The Rays, Dodgers, and Twins are said to like Clark.
Burke To White Sox For Reliever?
According to ESPN’s Steve Phillips, the Astros could trade second baseman Chris Burke to the White Sox for an unknown reliever. Nick Masset and David Aardsma are both out of options, so one of them may be Ed Wade’s target.
The White Sox are apparently looking to build up second base depth. Right now the internal candidates are Juan Uribe and Danny Richar.