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Brian Fuentes

Stark’s Latest: Roberts, Fuentes, Lofton

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark has a new blog post jam-packed with hot stove rumors.

  • The Cubs are getting frustrated with the Brian Roberts situation, wondering if they’ll ever complete this trade.  The Orioles are scouting players but still haven’t given the Cubs the names they crave.  I got the exact same vibe from the source who told me Jose Ceda’s inclusion was never proposed by the Cubs.
  • The Tigers and Phillies are both hunting for bullpen help; Detroit’s sights are set higher than Philadelphia’s.  Unwanted players such as Wes Helms and Brandon Inge aren’t in demand.  And while Marcus Thames is desirable, he’s not enough to get Aaron Heilman from the Mets.  Brian Fuentes, also a Yankees target, may be the best available reliever.  But Stark says the Rox want a "high-upside young arm" for the southpaw.
  • My own guess at some useful relievers who may be available: Damaso Marte, Joe Nathan, Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, Huston Street, Alan Embree, Kevin Gregg, Jon Rauch, and Chad Cordero.
  • Stark names the Cubs, Rays, and Mets as the teams looking for an extra outfielder.  No deals appear imminent, though the Rays made an unsuccessful offer to Kenny Lofton.  The Mets and Cubs are considering the same names we’ve heard for a few weeks now.  The Cubs are in a holding pattern since they may get Jay Payton in a Roberts deal with Baltimore. 

Cafardo’s Latest: Fuentes, Sowers, Laffey

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Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Cafardo’s Sunday column has new hot stove material, as usual.

  • Cafardo notes that Kyle Snyder, Julian Tavarez, and Bryan Corey have all been heavily scouted by other clubs.  Snyder is out of options, so he’s a good trade candidate.  Cafardo mentioned on Thursday that the Orioles were taking a look at Corey, who might return to Japan if he doesn’t join a big league ’pen.  I imagine the Sox are going to want the insurance Tavarez provides.
  • The Phils are hunting for a southpaw reliever and another starter. Brian Fuentes remains on their radar, but they’re competing with the Tigers and Yankees for him. 
  • The Indians could make southpaws Jeremy Sowers and/or Aaron Laffey available, if Cliff Lee maintains his spring success.  Cafardo says the Cardinals, Phillies, and Astros are eyeing them.

Cafardo’s Latest: Inge, Marte, Fuentes, Lohse

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TUESDAY: Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post has an update to Cafardo’s Yankees/Fuentes item.  Renck says that while the Yanks have scouted Fuentes, Rockies’ GM Dan O’Dowd says there’s "zero chance" of a trade at this time.  I imagine he wants to see a healthy Luis Vizcaino before considering it.

MONDAY: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe checks in with plenty of rumors in his Sunday column.

  • The Red Sox checked in on Brandon Inge during the Winter Meetings, but found his contract prohibitive.  Most teams seem to feel the same way.
  • The Yankees are eyeing southpaw relievers Damaso Marte and Brian Fuentes, who’ve seemingly been on their radar for months.  Fuentes makes $5.05MM this year, Marte makes $2MM this year with a $6MM club option for ’09.
  • Cafardo believes the Noah Lowry injury could cause the Giants to swoop in on Kyle Lohse, and could also get in the way of a Joe Crede acquisition.  Lowry’s only supposed to miss two to three weeks though.  Kenny Williams says exactly two clubs have talked to him about Crede, but he’s saying Crede may still be his Opening Day third baseman.

Rockies Win Arbitration Case Against Fuentes

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The Rockies beat Brian Fuentes in their arbitration hearing, with the panel choosing the team’s $5.05MM figure over Fuentes’ $6.5MM.  Can’t hurt his trade value.

Fuentes, a 32 year-old southpaw, is set to enter 2008 as a setup man for the first time in quite a while.  Given that this is his contract year, it’s not ideal for him.  He’ll get paid regardless, but I’m sure he’d prefer to hit the market with another 30 saves in his pocket.  Here’s a look at the pecking order for saves on each of the 30 clubs.

The Braves were interested in Fuentes in December, but didn’t want to take on his entire salary.  The Mets and Red Sox also reportedly inquired that month.

Rockies May Head To Arbitration Hearings

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According to Troy E. Renck, the Rockies have only had two arbitration hearings in franchise history. I dug around and found that they beat Sun-Woo Kim over a $200K difference in ’06 and lost to Dennys Reyes over a $200K difference in 2002.

This year, the Rockies will be prepared for the possibility of multiple hearings.  They’ve got to deal with Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and Willy Taveras.  Renck notes that "significant gaps exist with Atkins and Fuentes."  Since we saw the Rox go to their only two hearings over $200K, we know it doesn’t take much of a disagreement sometimes.  If no contracts are reached by Friday each side must submit a salary for ’08 and an arbitrator will pick one later.  Teams typically like to avoid hearings partially because they can create some hard feelings.

The Rockies’ 2008 payroll should rise more than $10MM just to accomodate the five mentioned above.

Rockies Rumors: Atkins, Holliday, Giles

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Let’s see what’s going on with the Rockies this morning.

The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck writes about the Rockies’ rising payroll.  They’re going to have to cough up over $10MM extra in 2008 just to retain current arbitration-eligible players like Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, and Brad Hawpe.  Holliday might get the biggest bump, around a $5MM increase.  As far as team control, the Rox have Atkins through 2010, Holliday through 2009, Fuentes through 2008, and Hawpe through 2010.  There’s no rush but many of these guys might be trade considerations down the road.

Also, Tracy Ringolsby reports that the Rockies have agreed to a nonguaranteed deal with Marcus Giles.  He’s just insurance though – Jayson Nix is the favorite to play second base.  Nix’s Triple A performance in ’07 was equivalent to a .252/.290/.387 line in the bigs.

Braves Eyeing Brian Fuentes

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According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves are interested in Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes.  However, they don’t want to take on his entire salary.

Fuentes earned $3.5MM in 2007, and will get a raise in his last year before free agency.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him up around $5MM for 2008.  That’s the price of a good setup man these days.

Mike Gonzalez was supposed to be the Braves’ late-inning southpaw reliever, but he’ll probably be out until June due to Tommy John surgery.  It seems the Rockies’ asking price is steep for a year of Fuentes – they wanted Aaron Heilman and then some from the Mets, and Jed Lowrie from the Red Sox.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Santana, Fuentes, Heilman

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The execs may be on a plane home right now, but the writers are still filing all sorts of rumors.  Here’s Ken Rosenthal’s latest piece.

  • Rosenthal says the Mets did not talk to the Twins about Johan Santana today, which is surprising.  But they did talk earlier this week, at which point the Twins gave the Mets a list of players they liked.  The Mets were fine with everyone on the list, which probably included Carlos Gomez and Mike Pelfrey.  Rosenthal adds that the Mets are the only NL team firmly in the mix for Santana, and shipping him to the other league might be a factor for the Twins.
  • The Giants turned down an offer of Delmon Young for Tim Lincecum before Young was sent to the Twins.  This leaves skepticism that the Giants will accept three years of Alex Rios after turning down five of Young.
  • The Mets made a straight up offer of Aaron Heilman for Brian Fuentes.  As far as I can tell Heilman doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2010 season, so the Rockies would be doing pretty well here.  Plus, they could plug him into the rotation.  Oddly the dealbreaker was the Rox asking for Scott Schoeneweis as well.  I thought the 34 year-old had negative trade value.  Rosenthal adds that the Tribe took a glance at Fuentes as well.
  • The Rox offered Jamey Carroll for Josh Barfield, which is pretty lopsided even with the year Barfield had.  Of course the Indians declined.

Barmes For Burke Offered

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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.

Rockies Rumors: Fuentes, Fogg

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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. 

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