Rosenthal’s Latest: Burnett, Garland, Aurilia
8:22pm: John Mozeliak said tonight the Cardinals never engaged with Burnett’s agent. A commitment of more than two years to a free agent starter is extremely unlikely.
3:40pm: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says it’s "not true" that the Cardinals are players for Burnett.
8:30am: The latest from Ken Rosenthal:
- The Cardinals are a serious bidder for A.J. Burnett. They also pursued him back in 2005. The Blue Jays would get the Cardinals’ #19 pick next June if they sign him. However, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently wrote that the Cards "are not expected to pursue the free agent pool’s bigger fish: C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe."
- The Mets have Jon Garland on the radar. Jerry Crasnick likes Garland as a fit for the Cards.
- The Brewers haven’t decided to increase their offer to C.C. Sabathia at this time, and won’t consider it until they meet with the big lefty. A meeting is scheduled; Sabathia may grill the Brewers about their other offseason plans. Rosenthal thinks Kerry Wood might make the most sense among free agent closers.
- The Mets, Indians, and Cardinals are interested in J.J. Putz.
- The Cubs are eyeing Rich Aurilia, but only if they happen to move Ronny Cedeno or Mike Fontenot.
- The Nationals "aren’t terribly enamored" of Willy Taveras, contrary to previous reports. The Nats instead have Carlos Gonzalez in their sights.
Chad Cordero To Talk To Five Teams
Rehabbing closer Chad Cordero will arrive at the Bellagio tonight, according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. He and his agent plan to meet with the Mets, Cardinals, Rangers, Tigers, and D’Backs, but not the Nationals.
Trever Miller Guaranteed $500K
According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, lefty reliever Trever Miller gets only $500K guaranteed for 2009 from the Cardinals. He’ll need to make 70 appearances to get the additional $1.5MM. Apparently the Cards really didn’t like what they saw in his shoulder, but Miller still wanted to pitch for them.
Cards Switch Focus To Free Agency
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak recently shifted his focus from trades to free agency in regards to his pitching staff. They briefly mulled the idea of jumping in on Jake Peavy but decided against it.
Strauss suggests four free agent starters the Cardinals might consider signing for the short-term: Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf, and Brad Penny. The Cards have about $15-17MM to work with, but they won’t be chasing the big fish free agent starters.
Straus adds that it now looks like the Cardinals will retain second baseman Adam Kennedy.
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.
Odds and Ends: Michaels, Greene, Prior
Links for Saturday…
- Jason Michaels is confused by the lack of interest from the Pirates, who have said they want him back.
- Khalil Greene says he’s frustrated to have let the Padres down and Tim Sullivan writes that it wasn’t for lack of intensity. The Padres still won’t be dropping their grievance against Greene.
- Buster Olney expects Mark Prior to sign a minor-league deal with the Padres.
- Jason Beck writes that the Tigers could afford to trade either Jeff Larish or Matt Joyce in a deal for Jack Wilson. Detroit has other weaknesses to address though, so Beck thinks they could hold onto their trade chips and sign a player like Adam Everett.
- Arbitration could work for both Jason Varitek and the Red Sox, suggests Sean McAdam.
- Tony Massarotti has five reasons to keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen.
- The Angels signed South Korean righty Pil Joon Jang to a minor league contract.
- Jay Jaffe plays Yankees GM at Baseball Prospectus.
- MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo ranks the best Rule 5 Draft selections since 1990.
- Tom Verducci looks back at the career Greg Maddux had.
Odds and Ends: Rays, Greene, Wigginton
Links for Friday…
- The Rays signed three to minor league deals: Jason Childers, Jeremy Cummings, and Chris Richard.
- I chatted on the phone with Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News yesterday.
- ESPN’s Keith Law suggests the best fits for the top five free agents.
- Dave Cameron thinks the Cardinals did well on the Khalil Greene trade. Viva El Birdos also likes it.
- Richard Justice feels the Astros will trade Ty Wigginton. Maybe the Twins could be a match. By the way, the Astros signed Matt Kata to a minor league deal.
- Rany Jazayerli is happy with Royals owner David Glass.
Carpenter Injury Results Shape Cards’ Approach
4:31pm: The results were positive; Carpenter will start a throwing program in January. The Cards could still pursue another starter though.
9:43am: According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter had a nerve conduction test yesterday. The team will learn the results today, and if they’re concerned they could target an additional starter for 2009. Given this uncertainty, the Cardinals’ decision not to offer arbitration to Braden Looper seems strange.
Elsewhere on John Mozeliak’s agenda, Joe Strauss says he still seeks a second baseman and a closer. We haven’t heard many names in recent weeks, perhaps because Mozeliak was focused on the Khalil Greene and Trever Miller acquisitions.
Khalil Greene Traded To St. Louis
9:25pm: Just wanted to mention that this deal has been finalized. For the player to be named later, the Padres will choose from a list of three players (two of them pitchers). Padres exec Paul DePodesta weighed in on the deal at his blog. Next on the agenda: acquire a replacement shortstop. Kevin Towers prefers the trade route.
3:21pm: Tom Krasovic believes the Padres are kicking in at least $1MM, since the trade requires the approval of the commissioner’s office. Meanwhile, Jonathan Mayo takes a closer look at Worrell.
1:17pm: MLB.com’s Corey Brock says it’ll be Worrell and a player to be named later.
12:48pm: Scout.com writer Dustin Mattison sent along this interview with Cardinals reliever Mark Worrell. Worrell is quite confident in his abilities and seems upset that the Cardinals didn’t give him more of a chance this year. Pure speculation, but Mattison wonders if he could be one of the relievers headed to San Diego for Greene.
8:15am: One of the relievers in the trade is right-handed, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
THURSDAY, 1:08am: Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the Padres have reached an agreement to send Greene to the Cardinals. Krasovic believes clearing Greene’s salary may improve the chances of the Padres retaining Jake Peavy.
WEDNESDAY, 10:41pm: Sherman has an update: the Padres are closing in on a deal that will send Greene to the Cardinals for two relief prospects.
8:29pm: According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Padres are expected to trade shortstop Khalil Greene prior to Monday’s Winter Meetings. Sherman was unable to ascertain Greene’s destination, but he guesses it could be the Orioles or Cardinals. The Padres are intent on clearing Greene’s $6.5MM salary.
The Padres requested Garrett Olson from Baltimore for Greene a few weeks ago, but maybe the price has come down. One team not expected to acquire Greene is the Tigers.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Izturis, Gaudin
Links for Thursday…
- Check out this week’s minor league transactions. Some familiar names were signed.
- The Red Sox officially announced the signing of Junichi Tazawa.
- J.C. Bradbury likes the Dustin Pedroia contract.
- Sox Machine has parting words for Javier Vazquez, whose trade to the Braves was officially announced today. ESPN’s Keith Law tells you all you need to know about the players involved in the deal. Tyler Flowers is the key, Santos Rodriguez the wild card.
- The Rockies’ talks for lefty reliever Joe Beimel continue. In another article, Patrick Saunders looks at the team’s wish list.
- Rob Neyer believes teams are starting to figure out defensive evaluation, creating a weak market for lumbering LF/1B/DH types.
- Jesse Spector spoke to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski.
- T.R. Sullivan says the Tigers’ talks for Rangers catcher Gerald Laird continue.
- Larry Dobrow offers suggestions to fix the Reds.
- Aaron Gleeman says the Twins have already missed several good opportunities to affordably improve their bullpen.
- Viva El Birdos explains why the Cardinals should’ve offered arbitration to Russ Springer and Braden Looper.
- Lee Jenkins provides insight into Mark Teixeira – the perfect baseball player and ideal Boras client.
- Roch Kubatko says Cesar Izturis remains a strong possibility for the Orioles.
- Fred Claire notes that Jack Zduriencik will always remember Russell Branyan as his first free agent signing. Geoff Baker examines the Branyan signing and the Ken Griffey Jr. idea.
- Paul Sullivan suggests Chad Gaudin is a non-tender candidate for the Cubs. He’s set to get an arbitration raise on this year’s $1.775MM salary.