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Frank Thomas Signs With A’s

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TODAY: Thomas has signed with the A’s, according to the AP.  Can’t help but like such a low-cost move, though it means Jack Cust can’t be stashed at DH.

WEDNESDAY, :12pm: Brown says Thomas was close with the A’s, but another team jumped in with an offer.  So he’s considering two offers currently.  That mystery team is not Ron Gardenhire’s Twins.

6:49pm: There are not quite 100% but legit-sounding stories bouncing around about the A’s signing Thomas.  One is from WWWT Radio in Washington D.C. via Baseball Digest Daily; another is a now-defunct post from Yahoo’s Tim Brown via RotoWorld.

8:17am: When we last checked in on Frank Thomas, the A’s admitted they’d have an internal discussion about him.  Today, Buster Olney writes that the A’s will have that talk within 48 hours.  They may prefer Thomas to Mike Sweeney.  Manager Bob Geren won’t comment on the situation.

Meanwhile Hank Steinbrenner says the Yankees have "never even talked about" signing Thomas.  He’s not a good fit for their team.  The Yanks still owe Jason Giambi more than $23MM this year. 

Kosuke Fukudome Coming To MLB

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UPDATE, 12-11-07 at 8:27am: Official word comes from the man himself – he’ll try his hand in the Majors in 2008.

UPDATE, 12-10-07 at 10:04pm: Here’s the latest from the Sun-Times.  Urbon won’t hear from Fukudome until sometime later tonight.  He’ll contact MLB teams on Tuesday at the earliest with the news.  From that point, a deal might only take a day or two.

UPDATE, 12-10-07 at 2:30pm: This is getting annoying…Fukudome will decide whether to come to MLB tonight.  We all expect him to come, so it’s been a lot of back and forth for nothing.

UPDATE, 12-9-07 at 12:14am: He’s coming this time, for real.

UPDATE, 12-7-07 at 8:08pm: Just listened to Dave Kaplan talking to Fukudome’s agent, Joe Urbon, on Sports Central/WGN 720.  Urbon says Fukudome may decide whether to play in the U.S. on Monday.  The process would move "very quickly" soon after that for Fukudome to decide on a team.

UPDATE, 12-7-07 at 8:03pm: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke to Fukudome’s agent.  He hasn’t decided yet.  He will make a choice Monday or Tuesday, and would let the interested Japanese teams know first.

FROM 12-7-07 at 2:40pm:

In case there was any question, Ken Rosenthal reports that Kosuke Fukudome will announce that he’s leaving Japan for an MLB team.

Rosenthal says it’s down to the Cubs, Padres, and what I like to call a Mystery Team.  The Rangers, Giants, and White Sox are candidates.  And although Rosenthal doesn’t mention them, the Royals could be in the mix.  Ken Davidoff reported on Wednesday that Fukudome had narrowed his choices to the Cubs and Royals (though it’s known that the Padres made a substantial offer). Note that Davidoff’s article came out after news of the Royals’ Jose Guillen signing broke.

Reds In On Cameron?

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According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Mike Cameron’s agent tonight said he has a new suitor.  Krasovic makes an educated guess that the Reds are that team.  He cites Cameron’s desire to play for Dusty Baker, the possible defensive improvement, and the availability of Josh Hamilton as factors.  It would be odd for the Reds to spend their remaining money on a position player though.

Cameron enjoyed his time in Cincinnati in 1999, hitting .256/.357/.469 as a 26 year-old before being included in the Griffey trade.  Wouldn’t it be interesting if the Reds brought back Cameron and Brett Tomko?  And Antonio Perez is probably kicking around somewhere too.

Reagins Clears Things Up

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Angels GM Tony Reagins recently held court with the media to debunk most of the Angels rumors swirling about recently.

  • The Angels are not currently in the mix for Johan Santana.  Reagins spoke to Bill Smith last night, but not about Johan.
  • The Angels haven’t met with the Orioles, so there haven’t been discussions about Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada at the Meetings.
  • Reagins wasn’t involved much with Miguel Cabrera before the Tigers snagged him.
  • On the less boring front, Reagins said "some interesting and exciting things have surfaced" with surprising new teams.  Get your speculating caps on.

Rockies, Mariners Interested In Marcus Giles

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Second baseman Marcus Giles was awful this year, hitting .229/.304/.317 in 420 ABs.  You don’t hear statheads talking him up quite as much these days.  Nonetheless ESPN’s Jayson Stark reports that the Rockies and Mariners have interest.  Apparently one other NL team is interested as well.

For the Rox, Giles would be a fallback option if they can’t sign Mark Loretta.  The Mariners are trying to find someone to challenge or replace Jose Lopez.  Giles made $3.75MM this year and doesn’t figure to get much more on the open market.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Roberts, Barrett, Piazza

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Ken Rosenthal is presumably in Nashville doing what he does best – collect trade rumors by the dozen.  His latest column is an excellent example.  What’s the over/under on Rosenthal scoops over the next four days?  I’ll set it at 10.

  • Rosenthal says the Mets are unwilling to extend the contract of GM Omar Minaya, who is signed through 2009.  The lack of job security could compel Minaya to mortgage the future, and the Lastings Milledge trade was a good example.  Carlos Gomez, watch out.  Here’s MLBTR’s look at Omar Minaya’s Mets trade profile.
  • The Astros, Giants, and Cardinals aren’t really in the running for Miguel Cabrera, so they don’t need to wait for that shoe to drop to go after Miguel Tejada.  However it sounds like all three clubs don’t have the talent even for a Tejada trade.  Jon Heyman mentioned today that the Orioles do have interest in Adam Everett and Michael Bourn of the Astros.
  • Here’s a good one: Peter Angelos favorite Brian Roberts might be available.  The Mets and Astros inquired but moved on, but Roberts might be just what the Cubs are looking for.  The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec recently told us that he doesn’t expect Andy MacPhail to move Roberts unless he’s "totally overwhelmed."
  • The Marlins, Rays, and Orioles have interest in Michael Barrett.  In the case of Baltimore, the interest indicates the availability of Ramon Hernandez.  If Barrett can find a multiyear deal from one of those teams, he may decline the Padres’ offer of arbitration.  It’s a catch-22, though, because that would make Barrett much less signable in terms of draft pick compensation. 
  • If Barrett does decline, the Padres might bring Mike Piazza back.
  • The Nationals keep asking for Rickie Weeks for Chad Cordero, and the Brewers keep saying no.
  • The Braves are big fans of Coco Crisp, and could have a passing interest in Corey Patterson.  But they certainly wouldn’t mind going with internal options in center next year.
  • Aaron Rowand is definitely getting that five-year deal – a Mystery Team has already offered one.  The Yanks could pursue him if they trade the Melk Man. 
  • Deja vu – the Yanks and Mets both like Octavio Dotel, again.  It’s known that Octavio loves New York.

Stark’s Latest: Edmonds, Pierre, Guillen, Santana

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ESPN’s Jayson Stark always cranks out a bunch of new rumors when he writes a column.  This week is no exception.

  • Jose Reyes: going nowhere.
  • Probably since they hope to include him in a Johan Santana deal, the Red Sox won’t trade Coco Crisp until that situation is resolved.  The Rangers liked Crisp, but are considering interesting alternatives: Rocco Baldelli, Jim Edmonds, and Juan Pierre.  If only Ned Colletti could get someone to take his Pierre contract.  Then he could sign another one almost equally as bad.  Then he could trade Aaron Rowand a year from now and repeat the process.
  • The Braves also liked Crisp, so they’ll move on for now.  Stark speculates a stopgap like Dave Roberts could work.
  • More speculation: Andruw Jones as a darkhorse signing for the Royals.  I guess that would push David DeJesus out of center field.
  • Is there an unmentioned Mystery Team in on Johan Santana?  Stark’s sources suggest the Mariners, but those guys must not read Jon Heyman’s column.  I’ll go with the Reds as my guess on the Mystery Team, if there is one.
  • Speaking of guesses, Stark surmises that the Padres and Mets could be interested in Jose Guillen, aside from the Royals.
  • More rumblings that Vicente Padilla could be traded this winter.  Funny quote about how Padilla doesn’t have baggage – he has luggage.  In fact his luggage cannot be carried, rather it requires a mid-sized cart.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Cordero, Livan, Jenkins

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Somehow, I missed a Ken Rosenthal column.  This thing is already 14 hours old.  I’m slipping.

  • A Mystery Team has already made a four-year offer to Francisco Cordero.  We know the Brewers made an offer on Monday but Rosenthal may be referring to another club.
  • Rosenthal suggests Scott Linebrink could be reunited with Bruce Bochy to become the Giants’ closer.  It’s known that the Astros already have an offer out to Linebrink.
  • Teams interested in Geoff Jenkins: the Cubs, Padres, Giants, Rangers, and Royals.  Several of those are new to me.
  • The Tigers’ payroll is expected to exceed $115MM.  Time to head over to Cot’s and do some math.  By my count the Tigers are around $105MM right now (includes some arbitration guesses).  That leaves room for one starting pitcher signing, be it Kenny Rogers, Carlos Silva, or whoever.
  • The Cardinals, Astros, and Mets have their eye on Livan Hernandez.  Mets’ management is divided on signing him, since he’s a back-rotation guy.
  • Rosenthal believes the Reds could shop Joey Votto or Josh Hamilton a year from now in hopes of acquiring starting pitching.
  • Tony Clark is gaining in popularity as a cheap power source.  He might be looking at two years, $4MM plus more playing time.

Padres Targeting Matt Kemp?

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As always, Tom Krasovic has the scoop on the Padres.

  • Free agents Geoff Blum and Milton Bradley are not expected back.  Blum wanted to return but the Padres are going to pass.  Blum is likely to sign with Houston.
  • The Padres may try a combo of Scott Hairston and Chase Headley in left field next year. Wouldn’t it make more sense to push Kevin Kouzmanoff out there?  It’ll probably be a moot point, as the Padres are hoping to sign Geoff Jenkins.
  • Krasovic tantalizes us by not elaborating on this tidbit: Responding to Colletti’s preference for veterans, the Padres are contemplating three-team trade scenarios that would bring them young Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp.  In my opinion, any kind of deal that nets the Padres Kemp would have to involve Headley.  This tidbit may be more brainstorming than anything.
  • The Padres may offer Andruw Jones a one-year, $17MM deal.  However Scott Boras is still acting like Jones’ 2007 didn’t happen.

Randy Johnson Trade Dissected

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Steve Gilbert of MLB.com gets an inside look at the Randy Johnson trade.  Originally, it was going to be a three-team deal where a mystery AL club would send a first baseman to the Yankees.  Perhaps it was Richie Sexson on the Mariners?

Johnson should make his season debut Tuesday against the Padres, Arizona’s main competition in acquiring him this winter.

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