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Rosenthal On White Sox, Pedro, Baker

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The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports…

  • The White Sox are still trying to figure out their center field situation, but they are not involved on pricey veterans such as Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr.
  • Fantasy alert: Rosenthal names David Aardsma as the likely leader for the Mariners closer job, with Chad Cordero and Brandon Morrow lingering.
  • The Dodgers "continue to balk at Pedro Martinez's $5MM asking price."
  • Rockies utility man Jeff Baker, who is out of options, is drawing interest from the Phillies, Astros, and Pirates.  Rosenthal suggests recently-demoted Kyle Kendrick as a possible target for Colorado, assuming the Phils can move Geoff Jenkins or Matt Stairs to clear a spot.  Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Yankees are unlikely to acquire Baker.
  • The Blue Jays have been scouting shortstops Chin-Lung Hu, Juan Castro, and others in hopes of finding someone they can stash at Triple A for insurance.
  • Was Willy Taveras a bad move for the Reds?  Rosenthal says rival executives think so.

Gammons On Matthews, Teahen, Harang, Peavy

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12:07pm: John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer asked Reds GM Walt Jocketty about Gammons' Harang note.  Jocketty said, "I'm not going to comment on something when he doesn't know what he's talking about."

9:19am: ESPN's Peter Gammons had a new blog post yesterday discussing available players.

  • Gammons names Geoff Jenkins ($8MM remaining, limited no-trade), Brian Giles ($9MM remaining, full no-trade), Gary Matthews Jr. ($33.5MM remaining, full no-trade), Marcus Thames ($2.275MM salary), Nick Johnson ($5.5MM salary), Jason Repko, and Jeff Baker as players being dangled.  Gammons links Matthews to the Yankees but admits his contract will be an issue.
  • Mark Teahen has drawn interest from the Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees.
  • Gammons says the Reds "have let teams know that they will wait and see whether they need to move Aaron Harang during the season."  It'd be a shame to see the Reds break up that rotation.  Harang has about $36MM coming to him over the next three seasons if his 2011 option is exercised.
  • Brewers third baseman Bill Hall expects his team to pursue Padres ace Jake Peavy if available this summer.  Unlike C.C. Sabathia, Peavy is more than a rental.

Odds & Ends: Wade, Baker, Catalanotto

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Links for Friday…

Stark On Cameron, Ohman, Jenkins

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ESPN's Jayson Stark has a new blog post up.

  • The Astros plan to give Chris Johnson a chance to win the third base job, but Stark says Juan Uribe, Jose Bautista, and Jeff Baker "could still show up on their shopping list in the next two weeks."
  • Stark heard "rumblings the Yankees are poking around again on Mike Cameron's availability." Back in December, the Yanks and Brewers were pretty close on a deal.
  • Eric Milton is looking decent and appears to be the frontrunner for the Dodgers' fifth starter job (given Pedro Martinez's asking price).
  • Will Ohman seeks a one-year, $1.75MM deal with easily-reachable incentives for another million.  He also prefers the West Coast, and Stark believes the Padres and Giants are more likely than the Dodgers.  Like the Dodgers, the Phillies and Marlins have interest at a lesser price.  Stark has also heard the Phils connected to Giants lefty Jack Taschner.
  • Shawn Camp, Geoff Geary, John Buck, and Geoff Jenkins are currently available.  The Phillies would eat almost all of the $8MM owed to Jenkins.

Perrotto’s Latest: Giles, Crisp, Wells

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John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus has some hot stove tidbits to consider in his Sunday column.

  • Perrotto notes that Jeff Baker’s success this spring for the Rockies could lead to a trade of Marcus Giles.  Baker is hitting .316/.350/.579 in a 19 AB sample.  Giles is at .385/.500/.615 in 13 ABs (yes, it seems silly to be talking about these stats).  Giles hasn’t hit much since ’05, so I doubt he’d bring anything in return.
  • Perrotto says the Padres are "considering trying to trade for Coco Crisp."  However, Tom Krasovic wrote on Friday that the Padres pursuing Crisp was doubtful for many reasons.  Who knows; at the least, Theo Epstein and Kevin Towers get along.
  • David Wells is still kicking around wanting to play, and could have to wait and serve as a midseason reinforcement.

Atkins, Holliday Wait For Big Payday

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With yesterday’s signing of Brad Hawpe the Rockies have now locked up five young players through at least 2010 over the past 14 months. Impressive. The Denver Post says Garrett Atkins would be "the next logical candidate" for a deal, but that his situation continues to be complicated by Ian Stewart, who the Rockies are attempting to move over to second to avoid a logjam.

Naturally Matt Holliday’s name came up in light of the Hawpe signing, but owner Dick Monfort tried to keep that at bay, calling the situation "a different animal, not related to these contracts." 

This spring training is Stewart’s third with the team. He started and played four innings at second today, but didn’t have anything hit his way. He’s battling Jeff Baker, Omar Quintanilla, Jayson Nix, Clint Barmes, and Marcus Giles for the starting job in what should be one of the more interesting position battles this spring. Nix may have the edge, but the team would love for Stewart to help them avoid the Atkins question altogether by making a smooth transition.

Aaron Shinsano writes for East Windup Chronicle.

Failed Trades

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Let’s take a look at some deals that almost happened yesterday.

Kyle Farnsworth for Bob Wickman.  This would’ve been fun, reunions with former teams for both players.  However, the Braves wanted the Yankees to pick up all of Farnsworth’s salary, apparently.  Brian Cashman didn’t want to make him go away that badly, and Wickman would probably be a nonfactor back in the AL.

Mariners acquire Mark Loretta.  Eh.  Let’s not overstate the abilities of Loretta.  It sounds like Tim Purpura wanted some kind of legitimate prospect for him.

Rockies send Jeff Baker and others to Tampa Bay for Dan Wheeler.  We can’t really evaluate this one without knowing who else would’ve been involved.  And the Rays don’t really have a place to play Baker; they’re already squeezed finding playing time for Jonny Gomes.  If Rocco Baldelli ever gets healthy they’ll really have a pickle.  I mentioned in a recent interview at D-Rays Bay – Wheeler would probably be one of the ten best relievers available if he was a free agent after the season.  The Rays can pump up his value and get a promising young pitcher next year, as the Royals did with Octavio Dotel.    

Brewers send Tony Gwynn Jr., Zach Jackson, and another minor league for Eric Gagne.  This could’ve been the difference-maker that Scott Linebrink ain’t in a tight NL Central race.  But it doesn’t seem like Doug Melvin got a chance to counter the Red Sox offer, so you can’t really fault him.

Red Sox send Wily Mo Pena and Craig Hansen to White Sox for Jermaine Dye.  Well, there has to be some statistical way to evaluate whether this pair beats two draft picks.  You’d have to know the attrition rates of first/second rounders, and get some scouts on Pena and Hansen to see if they can ever reach their potential.  If I was the Kenny Williams I probably would’ve made the deal.  I think Pena gets docked in value from where he was two years ago, but still has pretty much the same upside if you manage him right.  Who knows, maybe Williams will go after Pena again this winter.

Angels Interested In Garrett Atkins

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Last year, Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins was the second-best hitter at his position, behind only Miguel Cabrera.  Atkins isn’t set to reach free agency until 2011, making him a very valuable commodity.  The Rockies had talks with him this offseason about a deal covering his arbitration years and first year of free agency, but no agreement could be reached.

Now, both the Denver Post and L.A. Times are reporting that the Angels are interested in trading for Atkins.  Troy E. Renck of the Post says Atkins’s name first came up during the Winter Meetings when the two clubs were discussing a Todd Helton deal.  Renck writes that Ervin Santana would be a must in any trade and that the Angels also have interest in Brad Hawpe and Jeff Baker.  He also says Atkins is still considered a core member of the team, so a deal is unlikely.  I wonder if Bill Stoneman is trying to take advantage of a subpar start for Atkins – his defense hasn’t been pretty and his power has been MIA.

From the L.A. side, Mike DiGiovanna adds several players on the Halos’ radar:  Kevin Mench, Jacque Jones, Pat Burrell, Emil Brown, Morgan Ensberg, and Edwin Encarnacion.  DiGiovanna agrees that Santana is the top trading chip.  Santana could really blossom in the National League.  With Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton struggling and Brett Myers in the pen, the Phillies probably have the strongest need.  Starters Joe Saunders and Dustin Moseley could be used if the Angels want to make a smaller deal.

As long as the Angels are making an all-out blitz for a third baseman, let’s speculate on some other possibilities.  Mike Lowell, Chad Tracy, Hank Blalock have all been rumored in the past; the Rangers clearly have the biggest need for a starter.  Santana, however, could be Brandon McCarthy all over again with his flyball tendencies.

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