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Alfonso Soriano

Soriano Suitors Down To Two

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Word from a source is that the teams still standing in the Alfonso Soriano sweepstakes are only the Astros and Angels.

The White Sox, Tigers, and Twins appear to be out of the game, decreasing Jim Bowden’s leverage.  Would’ve been nice to play off the AL Central rivals against one another. 

Plenty of trade candidates have been connected to the Astros in recent days, including Roy Oswalt, Morgan Ensberg, Willy Taveras, Brad Lidge, and Adam Everett at the Major League level.  L.A. seems to be dealing more in prospects, with Erick Aybar likely on the way out.

Brent Clevlen Gets The Call

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Is there any reason to call up a Double A outfielder who’s hitting .224/.307/.350?  Brent Clevlen joins the Tigers today, in the midst of his best month with the Erie SeaWolves (a .776 OPS in July).

One possibility is that a trading partner wanted the kid showcased and the Tigers obliged.  Entering this season, Clevlen was ranked Detroit’s second-best position player behind Cameron Maybin.

Clevlen is a 22 year-old right fielder with above average power potential, according to Baseball America.  Back on July 17th, Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press mentioned that the Tigers could offer a package of Clevlen, Jair Jurrjens, and Humberto Sanchez for Alfonso Soriano.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 6 Days Left

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What’s new in the world of trade rumors?

It wasn’t just Humberto Sanchez missing a start – Tigers prospect Jair Jurrjens is skipping two starts because of a stiff neck.  While it certainly seems that recent trade winds could be at play here, it may just be a case of bad luck for Detroit.  Both players can still be dealt despite the minor injuries.

A few more nuggets concerning the White Sox’s efforts to acquire Alfonso Soriano surfaced in newspapers today.  Phil Rogers notes sources indicating that Scott Podsednik, and not Brian Anderson, would be part of a package for Soriano.  In addition, Sam Borden of the New York Daily News suggests that Jim Bowden requested Double A pitcher Lance Broadway but was rebuffed.

Didn’t get to hear Tim Purpura on the radio yesterday personally, but it seems he may have inadvertently indicated that Willy Taveras is not in the team’s future center field plans.  I imagine plenty of teams would have interest in Taveras despite his .280/.319/.331 line in 905 career ABs.  On the plus side, Taveras truly is an excellent defender according to The Fielding Bible.  They actually think he deserved the Gold Glove last year over Jim Edmonds.

Harold Reynolds got the axe from ESPN today; Deadspin has the thirdhand info. 

Dayton Moore did well with reliever Elmer Dessens in a trade back to the Dodgers.

Many thanks to all those who visited MLBTradeRumors.com yesterday. June 24th was our best-ever day for traffic, beating out December 8th.  Keep on comin’ back for all the latest trade rumors; I love writing about this stuff.

Soriano, Sanchez, Meche: Much Ado About Nothing

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Seems that a couple of the more interesting rumors to come up today have proven to be nothing at all.

The first was ESPN’s rumor that Brandon McCarthy would be included in a Soriano to the White Sox deal, which was to be extremely close.  It seems that the deal has fallen through at least in the short term, and Kenny Williams stated publicly that neither McCarthy nor Josh Fields will be traded.  Still in the stockpile: Brian Anderson, Ryan Sweeney, Jerry Owens, Sean Tracey, Lance Broadway, Casey Rogowski, and Charlie Haeger. 

It has also been noted that Humberto Sanchez missed his start tonight due to a tender elbow.  Not exactly a way to pump up a prospect’s value, so the Tigers may have to deal other prospects.  They’ve still got Brent Clevlen, Jordan Tata, and Jair Jurrjens, among others.  Still, Sanchez seems like the one available trading chip who could help bring a star player to Detroit.      

Also, we’re unclear at this point whether the rumored ESPN Radio report of a completed Aaron Heilman for Gil Meche trade is legit.  Indications are that it was a hoax.  Sorry ’bout that.  Here’s MetsBlog’s take on this (non)rumor.

ESPN: White Sox Alfonso Soriano Trade?

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Breaking news from ESPN is that the White Sox are "extremely close" to acquiring Alfonso Soriano.  It seems that Brandon McCarthy is the main piece of the deal.

The result would be a Murderer’s Row with five players currently slugging .539 or better: Thome (.632), Dye (.620), Soriano (.594), Konerko (.555), and Crede (.539).  The Sox already lead baseball in home runs with 146.

What’s more, ESPN also reports that Kenny Williams is looking to strengthen his bullpen by sending 23 year-old southpaw Double A starter Tyler Lumsden to the Royals for Mike MacDougal.  Lumsden isn’t striking anyone out, but still has a 2.69 ERA for Birmingham.  He had elbow surgery in January of last year.

MacDougal has thrown four scoreless innings for the Royals since returning from a shoulder strain.  He was able to cut his walks to a reasonable level last year and had his best season.

UPDATE: MacDougal is a done deal.  Another pitcher was added to complete the trade.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 7 Days Left

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Here’s the latest from around baseball…

Dejan Kovacevic mentions that the A’s are considering Sean Casey.  Casey’s doing his usual good batting average/low slugging thing and he’s getting $8.5MM for it.  The combined efforts of Dan Johnson and Nick Swisher have been inadequate at first, but would Casey really help?  Johnson is hitting .485/.575/.848 in 33 Triple A at-bats; maybe he deserves another look.  The Athletics, who are dead last in the AL in slugging, wouldn’t be helped by adding the powerless Casey.  They need Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Pat Burrell, or even Raul Ibanez to make a difference. 

The Yankees have decided to hold on to Philip Hughes, and the Phils aren’t biting on whatever else they offered.  According to George King, the Yanks think assuming Abreu’s contract and exercising his option should be enough.  Still, it would be cool to see a nasty young Phillies rotation in 2008 with Hughes, Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez, and Scott Mathieson.

Also, I’m hearing that WPEN in Philadelphia has mentioned a trade rumor: Tom Gordon for Trot Nixon.  Nixon is a good hitter (.400 OBP), though he’s 32 with declining power numbers.  Given that Flash would be hands down the best reliever on the market, I’d expect the Phils to get more.   

Kenny Williams didn’t deny the recent Soriano rumor, so now you know it’s legit.  Kenny has been pretty shrewd with the media, so this is probably all part of his plan.  Despite word of a possible contract extension with Washington, Buster Olney all but assured us of a Soriano trade in today’s blog.

Also, Olney nixed the A-Rod to the Cubs idea, explaining that Rodriguez is a bargain in the Yankees’ world.  This column is kind of weird to me.  Phil Rogers almost seems like he’s just cooked up a brilliant scenario or something, with Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones being swapped for A-Rod.  Thing is, Bleed Cubbie Blue broke out this exact trade rumor three weeks ago.

RotoAuthority has a look at which pitchers have been abused this season.

Trade Rumor Roundup: 8 Days Left

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To begin with, this just isn’t true.  With the Kearns deal and probably Soriano trade, the 2006 deadline just can’t be classified as a dud.  That honor belongs to 2005 for sure.  The trading action never matches the buildup, but this year’s still a good one.

Read Ken Rosenthal’s latest.  The White Sox are in the Soriano game, the Rangers have interest in Luis Gonzalez, the Braves could add another reliever, Julio Lugo still might become a Blue Jay, and the Brewers look like sellers.  In my opinion, some Brewers besides Carlos Lee that could be unloaded: Geoff Jenkins, Corey Koskie, Brady Clark, and Dan Kolb.  Koskie will need to recover quickly from his concussion, however.

Still hearing that the Cubs like Willy Taveras, which would definitely fit their m.o. of players who don’t get on base.  Phil Rogers also mentions that Seattle’s Rafael Soriano is being asked about. It would be surprising to see the Mariners deal that kind of young talent.

Tons of great rumors coming from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  He’s got a rundown of the Red Sox, all sorts of teams scouting Humberto Sanchez, and more. 

Buster Olney mentioned in his blog today that the Astros are among various teams scouting Elmer Dessens.  The Astros are also looking at Damaso Marte.

Unfounded rumor department: Could the Dodgers be after Aramis Ramirez?  Ramirez has picked a fantastic time to heat up, and L.A. has some top shelf young talent…is there anywhere Julio Lugo could go besides Toronto?  How about the Rockies?

Trade Rumor Roundup: 11 Days Left

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Let’s see what we’ve got churning in the rumor mill this morning.

Shea Hillenbrand, a player well-liked by his teammates, was designated for assignment last night.  Kind of reminds me of the Jose Guillen situation a couple of years ago.  Despite the unpleasantness, Bill Stoneman still managed to turn Guillen into Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis.  Let’s see how J.P Ricciardi does now that manager John Gibbons has forced him into this situation.  As we told you a couple of days ago, Gibbons may follow Hillenbrand out the door.  More on this situation in a bit.   

A Reds message board rumor has Ian Kinsler going to Cincy and Todd Coffey heading to Texas, among some other components.  I don’t know if this has any credence to it, just throwing it out there.  Doesn’t seem logical to me. 

The Jeff Keppinger for Ruben Gotay deal is official.  Score one for Omar Minaya.  In other Royals news, the Royals Authority advises fans not to panic about Luke Hochevar.

We saw what the Tigers would have to give up for Alfonso Soriano.  Apparently, to get Bobby Abreu they’d have to surrender Marcus Thames, Zach Miner, and a lot of money.  I’ll take option A.

Looking for an aging slugger who can maybe still hit lefties?  Sammy Sosa is again making noise about playing again.  This is not good for baseball.

Halos Heaven, a blog I know to have good sources, reports that the Orioles want the Angels to have Miguel Tejada.  Orlando Cabrera and J.C. Romero could be part of a package.

Word on the street is that Baseball Prospectus injury analyst Will Carroll is in talks with ESPN about a possible job.

A TV program encouraging fans to come and boo Dusty Baker?  C’mon, don’t kick a man when he’s down. 

RotoAuthority looks for the game’s true .300 hitters.

Tips for better living.

Rumor Roundup

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Here are some trade rumors from the last day or so that we haven’t covered.  All come from various newspapers or other published reports.

Yesterday ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported some Bobby Abreu interest coming from the Brewers.  It was a longshot from the start given Abreu’s contract.  Today it’s been revealed that Doug Melvin hasn’t even spoken to Pat Gillick on the topic, and the rumor was placed by a rival GM.  Any guesses who?

Something seems to be brewing between the Yankees and Royals, and Reggie Sanders is the name that makes sense. The Royals would do well to unload the 38 year-old right fielder’s $5MM commitment for ’07.  A deal could also include reliever Elmer Dessens, who’s signed through next season.  For the second trading deadline in a row, Brian Cashman seems to be taking a more level-headed approach.

Another option for the Yanks is Kevin Mench of the Rangers.  Mench has been jerked around a bit this year by Buck Showalter and could come at a reduced price.  I recently outlined a couple of possible career paths for Mench over at RotoAuthority.  His career may be at a fork in the road; he should take it.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners have become a major player for Alfonso Soriano.  Bill Bavasi has stumbled with some questionable signings, but Seattle remains just four games out in a weak division.  Don’t forget that Bavasi loves to deal with Kevin Towers more than any GM, so he may try to match up with the Padres somehow.

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