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Julian Tavarez To Sign With Brewers

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MONDAY: Tom Haudricourt reports that the Brewers are set to sign Tavarez for bullpen depth.

SUNDAY: The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo writes that Bartolo Colon, a close friend of Julian Tavarez, said Tavarez told him that he would prefer to pitch for the New York Mets. Tavarez was recently DFA’d by the Red Sox and elected free agency rather than accepting an assignment to Triple A Pawtucket.

Tavarez could make sense for the Mets in many roles. Jason Vargas and Matt Wise have been ineffective in limited use, while Mike Pelfrey has been very inconsistent over the first two months of the season. The Mets, however, have yet to indicate whether they have interest in the veteran right-hander.  Baseball Prospectus’ John Perrotto has the Orioles and Brewers as the top suitors; I hadn’t heard Baltimore in the mix until now.

Gammons’ Latest: Bradley, Griffey, Padilla

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ESPN’s Peter Gammons has a new blog post to discuss.

  • Gammons says Cubs manager Lou Piniella would like to add a left-handed hitting right or center fielder to bat fifth.  Milton Bradley and Ken Griffey Jr. seem like long shots though.  It’s odd that the Rangers wouldn’t want to move Bradley.
  • Gammons notes that the Rangers wanted Mike Pelfrey, Aaron Heilman, and Deolis Guerra for Vicente Padilla in the offseason.  Even as a negotiation starting point, that’s a ton for Padilla.

Odds and Ends: Braun, Cueto, Pelfrey

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An assortment of links…

  • Ryan Braun’s agent is in town to talk about extension scenarios with the Brewers.  Perhaps the Brewers could get him for slightly more than the $30MM Troy Tulowitzki received.  As Tom Haudricourt writes, a Prince Fielder extension seems less likely.
  • The Blue Jays once offered Frank Catalanotto for Johnny Cueto, when Wayne Krivsky was new on the job.  Nice try, J.P.
  • Buster Olney believes tonight’s start by Mike Pelfrey might determine the likelihood of the Mets pursuing outside pitching help.  Claudio Vargas remains unsigned.

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.

Dan Haren Will Be Pricey

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UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:09pm: Hank Steinbrenner weighed in on the Haren-Yankees talks, calling Billy Beane’s request "ridiculous."  The Yankees are out on Haren.

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 2:00pm: Nick Piecoro’s source says Conor Jackson is not a part of the Haren talks, actually.

UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:13pm: The Boston Herald’s Rob Bradford says the A’s and D’Backs have had "constructive talks" about Haren for Carlos Gonzalez, Conor Jackson, and two others.

FROM 12-4-07 at 10:58am:

OK, you already knew that.  But Joel Sherman has details.

  • Billy Beane sees Dan Haren as equal in value to Johan Santana, all things considered.  Over the next three years, that could be true – plus Haren is much more reasonable in terms of salary.
  • Beane’s focus is young pitching.
  • Beane doesn’t want Melky Cabrera from the Yankees.  He wants a package starting with Phil Hughes and one of Ian Kennedy or Alan Horne.
  • Sherman says the Mets don’t have the blue-chippers in Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, and Kevin Mulvey. 
  • The Dodgers and D’Backs match up better for Haren than the Yankees and Mets, though Arizona doesn’t really have the young pitching.
  • Joe Blanton won’t be cheap either; Beane equates him with Brad Penny.
  • Athletics Nation believes Blanton is much more likely to be traded than Haren this winter.

Nationals Shopping Lopez, Kearns

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According to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, the Nationals are shopping shortstop Felipe Lopez and outfielder Austin Kearns.  Two targets: Mike Pelfrey of the Mets and Kevin Slowey of the Twins.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Omar Minaya flip Pelfrey for someone with more immediate value.  While the Mets could use Kearns in right field, he’s not the type of return one envisions for Pelfrey.  Maybe for a Phil Humber though.  Kearns will earn $5MM in ’08, and $8MM in ’09 plus a $10MM club option for ’10 with a $1MM buyout.  The 27 year-old hit .266/.355/.411 this year.

The match for Slowey seems better – Lopez could play short for the Twins and Kearns might be able to handle center.  However, trading Slowey and Matt Garza in the same offseason seems unlikely, and even less likely if Johan Santana is moved.  If Lopez’s defense is truly improved, maybe the Rays would have interest.

Another guy who could work for the Rays is Cristian Guzman.  Ladson says the Cubs were rumored in on Guzman but that one was shot down. 

Heyman’s Latest: Santana, Haren, Estrada

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Jon Heyman checks in with a couple of notable points.

  • Heyman sets odds for Johan Santana, going with the Yankees and then Red Sox.  I’ll let you click through for the rest.
  • While we’d recently heard from Ken Rosenthal that the A’s had cooled on certain young Mets, perhaps Omar Minaya and Billy Beane can still work something out. Heyman indicates that Beane still covets Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey.  He also likes Kevin Mulvey, Carlos Gomez, and Fernando Martinez. So maybe Keith Law was right today in his chat – the Mets can pull off a deal with the A’s despite popular belief.
  • The Mets are shopping Johnny Estrada, but it’s not known who’s on the receiving end of those calls.  Along with Estrada, the Mets aren’t jazzed about Bengie Molina.  Though he has been discussed.

Can Mets Acquire An Ace?

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We’ve discussed this before…it seems like the Mets don’t stack up with certain other clubs trying to acquire available frontline starting pitching.  Ken Rosenthal definitely feels this way – Carlos Gomez is considered a blue-chipper but the others may not be.

Rosenthal notes that a package starting with Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman doesn’t do much for Billy Beane.  The A’s don’t see Milledge as a long-term center field solution, and Heilman is a reliever.  Mike Pelfrey and Phil Humber aren’t the top-shelf pitching prospects the A’s covet in return for Dan Haren or Joe Blanton.  It seems as if the very best package the Mets can assemble might only be enough for Blanton.

The Mets are also after Johan Santana and Erik Bedard, but it’s the same story.  Unless they create a huge hole by trading Jose Reyes, it doesn’t seem they can offer the best package.  Though the Twins still want Reyes, Adam Rubin and Joel Sherman indicate that’s not an option.   

Dipping into the free agent market for Hiroki Kuroda or Carlos Silva seems to make more sense.  One option the Mets have been linked to in the past, Dontrelle Willis, may be off the market now.

Mets Rumors: A-Rod, Kim, Silva, Kuroda

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Plenty of new hot stove talk involving the Mets.  Let’s get into it.

Latest Mets Rumors: A-Rod, Silva, Blanton

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Plenty of action around the Mets lately; Omar Minaya has his work cut out for him.  Hat tip to MetsBlog for several of the links.

  • The sensational storyline here is that Minaya will meet with Scott Boras to discuss Alex Rodriguez.  However, Boras and Minaya might spend more time discussing Kyle Lohse and Eric Gagne than A-Rod – the Mets’ focus is pitching.
  • Newsday’s Ken Davidoff reminds us of past trade talks regarding Joe Blanton, Jose Contreras, and Jon Garland.  Those talks may be re-opened, though Davidoff notes that the White Sox aren’t enamored of Lastings Milledge.  Additionally, the Mets will meet with Carlos Silva’s people this week.
  • Buster Olney discusses the Mets’ pursuit for pitching today in his blog.  They need a horse, somebody who can chew up innings.  Aside from the aforementioned Silva and Blanton, Olney names Roy Oswalt, Dan Haren, Scott Kazmir, and Dontrelle Willis as possible targets (though Marc Lancaster considers the declaration of Kazmir’s availability to be "dubious at best."  Meanwhile one exec thinks the Rays would only make him available if "his arm is about to blow.")  Olney’s guess is that the Mets will acquire Blanton.  The Mets have some combination of Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, and Aaron Heilman to offer.  There are pros and cons to dealing each.
  • There are other concerns besides pitching: second base and catcher.  Besides the forthcoming monster offer to Jorge Posada, the Mets are considering Paul Lo Duca and Yorvit Torrealba as fallbacks.  Ramon Castro is looking for a two-year deal, and hopes it’s with the Mets.  However, the Rockies have their eye on him. 
  • Pedro Martinez expects to pitch beyond 2008.  Whether that will be for the Mets or someone else, who knows.
  • Marlon Anderson’s two-year deal will be announced today, according to Adam Rubin.  The Mets will pass on Jose Valentin and Brian Lawrence’s options.   

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