Cardinals Rumors: Downs, Gonzalez, Boyer
12:41pm: Marc Topkin heard chatter that the Rays and Cardinals are talking. Perhaps Ankiel or Ludwick could interest Tampa Bay.
Meanwhile Scott Lauber says the Cards may be interested in Madson as a potential closer.
8:36am: Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals remain focused on short-term deals for starters. Possible names include Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, Brad Penny, and Randy Wolf. They’ll meet with Wolf’s agent by tomorrow afternoon.
John Mozeliak now seems open to a two or three-year deal for a reliever. He could trade an outfielder like Ryan Ludwick for a top guy, but shot down the idea of Ryan Madson. Makes no sense, Madson is only under team control for one more year. Schumaker and Chris Duncan are trade bait for Mozeliak.
8:28am: Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun says the Cards have interest in Blue Jays lefty Scott Downs. Downs is owed $7.75MM over the next two seasons.
8:01am: We know the Cardinals chatted with the Braves about Mike Gonzalez and Blaine Boyer. Gerry Fraley says they also had trade talks with the Phillies, hoping to trade an outfielder for a reliever. Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker are apparently popular with other teams.
Braves Interested In Ankiel, Hart, Hermida
11:15pm: Melvin confirmed to Tom Haudricourt that the Braves inquired on Hart. However, Melvin has no plans to trade his right fielder. Also, Melvin rejected Dave O’Brien’s suggestion that the Braves have been connected to Hardy.
9:10pm: Doesn’t sound like the Cardinals would want one of the Braves’ middle infielders for Ankiel. Instead, they want to get a starter back if they trade an outfielder.
6:41pm: Dave O’Brien says Ankiel makes sense for the Braves, because the Cards are more willing to deal him and the price would be more reasonable. The Braves also like Raul Ibanez, but not his probable three-year, $30MM+ price tag.
O’Brien is hearing J.J. Hardy‘s name connected with the Braves, making him suspect Yunel Escobar could be on the move. Keep in mind though that Doug Melvin did not see inclined to move Hardy in his recent comments.
4:28pm: According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the Braves have Rick Ankiel, Corey Hart, and Jeremy Hermida on the radar (with more interest in the first two). Bowman doesn’t believe the Braves have much interest in Ryan Ludwick.
Cardinals Rumors: Greene, Ludwick, Pitching
Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted a few Cardinals rumors online today:
- Miklasz spoke with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak and found that the Padres aren’t paying Khalil Greene any of his $6.5MM salary next year. Earlier in the week, it wasn’t clear whether they’d be chipping in.
- Talk that the Cards could trade Ryan Ludwick to the Braves was mostly rumor and “never had traction.”
- Mozeliak hopes to build on the Trever Miller signing and acquire more pitching. Specifically, he’d like a starter, a reliever who could close and another lefty.
- Not surprisingly, Mozeliak says there’s no chance the Cardinals will go after any of the high-profile free agents on the market.
- Second base doesn’t appear to be a priority for the Cardinals.
Braves Rumors: Hampton, Lowe, Burnett
Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the latest on the Braves in a new blog post.
- The Braves never intended Mike Hampton to be one of the two front-rotation starters they acquire this winter, so his rejection of their offer doesn’t affect their plans much.
- O’Brien notes that he’s heard no indications that the Braves are actively pursuing Derek Lowe. A.J. Burnett seems to be their top target, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Jake Peavy talks revived at the Winter Meetings.
- The Braves made trade inquiries on Roy Oswalt and Matt Cain and "haven’t received favorable replies in those pursuits."
- Free agents Ben Sheets and Randy Johnson don’t seem to be on the radar due to concerns over their reliability.
- The Braves continue to seek a power bat, with Ryan Ludwick and Jermaine Dye the two targets mentioned in recent weeks.
Odds and Ends: Halladay, Lopez, Glavine
Links for Monday…
- The Cardinals still don’t have a deal with Trever Miller.
- Is a multiyear deal coming soon for Jamie Moyer? Ken Mandel’s source says it’s been delayed only because of scheduling conflicts.
- The D’Backs released infielder Jamie D’Antona, who is headed to Japan.
- J.P. Ricciardi says trading Roy Halladay hasn’t even crossed his mind. Dan Graziano wrote last Wednesday that some continued to insist the Jays would explore trading their ace.
- River Ave. Blues considers Ben Sheets a better investment than A.J. Burnett for the Yankees.
- Jim Allen profiled the five Japanese players who plan to come over to MLB. He’s not high on Junichi Tazawa, Ken Takahashi, or Ryoji Aikawa.
- I never mentioned this, but the Braves released Rodrigo Lopez earlier this month (thanks to Jeff at Cot’s for the link).
- Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune talked to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen about various hot stove issues.
- Murray Chass talked to Tom Glavine about his future. Chass’ blog is an oddity – a veteran journalist writing and researching newspaper-style articles for his personal site.
- Joel Sherman believes the Angels are the Yankees’ biggest threat for C.C. Sabathia. Ken Davidoff agrees.
- In another article, Davidoff summarizes the situations of the ten big-name players.
- Ken Rosenthal talked to an agent who says the market is moving slowly right now.
- Viva El Birdos assesses the trade value of Ryan Ludwick.
- South Side Sox offers more thoughts on Dayan Viciedo.
Braves Rumors: Hampton, Ludwick, Burnett
Braves GM Frank Wren chatted with fans on MLB.com today and David O’Brien has some new Braves rumors as well.
- Wren told O’Brien that the Braves have had "a number of conversations" with Mike Hampton about keeping him in Atlanta. In his MLB.com chat, Wren said he thinks Hampton is still a "very good pitcher."
- O’Brien says that talks with the Cardinals about Ryan Ludwick "aren’t dead." Wren doesn’t comment when asked about Ludwick in the chat, but that is in itself something of a statement.
- O’Brien says that if Atlanta can’t trade for Ludwick, Raul Ibanez would be an outfield target. Wren said in his chat that he’d like to acquire a "productive bat in the outfield," and that a right-handed hitter would be ideal.
- Not surprisingly, Wren writes in the chat that he’d like to have A.J. Burnett in the Braves’ rotation next year. Wren adds that the Braves have had discussions about bringing back Paul Byrd for a third time.
- Wren told O’Brien that he’s going to worry about assembling the 2009 team before working on extensions for players like Chipper Jones.
- And Brian McCann‘s already lost 22 pounds since the end of the season.
Jake Peavy Rumors: Thursday
2:00pm: David O’Brien says the Padres and Braves need each other and still believes Peavy winds up in Atlanta. I agree. O’Brien also says the Braves’ talks for Ryan Ludwick aren’t dead.
10:29am: SI.com’s Jon Heyman talked to Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod. Peavy hasn’t revised his original list of five teams, but Axelrod says the NL West would interest Peavy (aside from the Rockies). So, maybe Giants fans have something new to speculate about. Axelrod says the list was only guidance for Towers.
8:52am: Let’s round up today’s Jake Peavy linkage.
- MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat said yesterday the Cubs’ talks for Peavy had ended due to budget restraints. Those limitations still exist, so the Cubs would have to get creative.
- Padres GM Kevin Towers told MLB.com’s Corey Brock Wednesday night that he talked to Jim Hendry and the Cubs are still interested in Peavy. Yahoo’s Tim Brown heard the same from a source. It’d require a third or fourth team and the aforementioned financial creativity.
- Towers told Tom Krasovic that talks with the Braves have not resumed and he hasn’t heard from the Angels. Krasovic also said, "Among some of his ballplayer friends, Peavy has created the impression that if he is traded, he would like to pitch for the Cubs."
Matt Holliday Trade Roundup
It seems that the Rockies will send left fielder Matt Holliday to the A’s for Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, and Huston Street soon (assuming Smith’s elbow checks out). While the A’s were rumored to be in the mix for Holliday, the trade still comes as a surprise to most. Let’s round up today’s links on the topic.
- Nick Cafardo says the Red Sox were briefly involved in talks for Holliday.
- ESPN’s Peter Gammons says Beane first engaged the Red Sox on Jason Bay before moving on to Holliday.
- Troy Renck says Holliday is flying to Oakland today to meet with team officials. Garrett Atkins hopes the Holliday trade keeps him in Colorado.
- Dave Cameron thinks Holliday can hit around .300/.380/.500 for the A’s.
- Athletics Nation considers this a message that the A’s are trying to compete in ’09, and expects more additions. They also believe Billy Beane will take stock in July and decide whether to trade Holliday or keep him all year and take the draft picks. I agree on both points.
- Jack Etkin of the Rocky Mountain News and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post have scouting reports on the players Colorado will receive.
- Depressed Fan tries to get a handle on Beane’s motivation for the trade.
- Holliday’s dad would like to see his son join the Yankees.
Cardinals Rumors: Hudson, Lopez, Kennedy
The Cardinals have moved on from Matt Holliday for the time being; let’s see what else is cooking. Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the latest. Middle infield seems to be the primary concern now.
One option is to pursue a trade for Kelly Johnson or Yunel Escobar of the Braves, but that will probably require Ryan Ludwick. However, those talks must wait until the Braves resolve their chase of Jake Peavy.
On the free agent front, the Cardinals are interested in Orlando Hudson but not Felipe Lopez. Scott Boras seems to be aiming for a multiyear deal for Lopez.
Adam Kennedy wants out of St. Louis, and the D’Backs may be interested. GM John Mozeliak is said to be reluctant to eat a "significant piece" of Kennedy’s $4MM. The D’Backs barely seem willing to spend that amount on Randy Johnson.
The bullpen is the other concern, but Trevor Hoffman is apparently not on the radar.
Holliday To Cards Dead
MONDAY: Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also checked in with Mozeliak, who said, "That one’s not happening – at all" in reference to a Cards-Holliday trade. The Cardinals balked at the required player package. Mozeliak was irritated that (inaccurate) details of the talks leaked to the press. The Cards are looking at other things now, though Strauss’s source believes Holliday talks could be resurrected.
SUNDAY: Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News talked to Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, who admitted the idea of a Matt Holliday trade is dead. The Rockies sought Ryan Ludwick, Skip Schumaker, and Mitchell Boggs from the Cards, and talks hit a wall.
The A’s may still be in play, while Ringolsby says the Phillies did not discuss Holliday with the Rox during the GM meetings. The Phils are unwilling to part with Shane Victorino. Ringolsby adds that the Red Sox, Rays, and Yankees have expressed interest in Holliday. Joe Strauss recently said the Mets are in pursuit, and Bill Ladson had him as a Nationals target.