Phillies Rumors: Rowand, Benson, Colon, Reyes, Tavarez
A few articles on the Phillies have surfaced this morning; let’s see what’s cooking on the hot stove.
- The Phils would pay extra to get Aaron Rowand to take a three-year deal. Jim Salisbury quotes Rowand’s agent as saying ten clubs are after him. Salisbury names the usual suspects but throws in the Twins, Royals, Rangers, and Orioles depending on the term.
- Todd Zolecki confirms the Phillies’ interest in Kris Benson. He’ll be throwing for teams a few weeks from now.
- The Phils like Benson best among the rehab project group, now that Randy Wolf is signed. They’ve also contacted Bartolo Colon‘s agent and may be in on Jason Jennings. Zolecki also names Anthony Reyes and Julian Tavarez as two possible trade targets.
- Despite what was said yesterday, Zolecki says Livan Hernandez is not high on Pat Gillick’s list. They remain in the mix for Hiroki Kuroda.
Odds and Ends: Guillen, Patterson, Clark, Andruw
Let’s keep things rolling along with a morning Odds and Ends collection.
- U.S.S. Mariner is not amused with the Ms’ decision not to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen.
- Andruw Jones hasn’t been getting much player, and his camp initiated contact with the Royals yesterday. The mutual interest may have been what pushed Guillen to sign.
- With the David Riske to Milwaukee signing not official, the Orioles apparently had talks with his agent yesterday. He’ll be too pricey for them, anyway. By the way, the Cubs checked in on Brian Roberts, but nothing is really stirring right now on that front.
- Corey Patterson seems a little down, as he’s no one’s first choice in center field. The Orioles are apparently moving on. Patterson wouldn’t say whether he’d take a one-year deal. As a Scott Boras client, I imagine he won’t.
- Summing up the Rockies’ external second base candidates: Chris Burke, Marcus Giles, and Mark Loretta. The agents for both Giles and Loretta have contacted the Rockies, and Loretta would play there at a discount.
- Evan Grant has his Rangers column up, but we already hit upon most of the points yesterday (he was the source then, too). One new note is that the Rangers don’t want to give Tony Clark anything more than one year plus an option, while Clark wants a two-year deal. The Rays, Dodgers, and Twins are said to like Clark.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Rolen, Blalock, Benson
Ken Rosenthal never sleeps, and he has a few new tidbits early Tuesday morning.
- The Cards are reluctant to trade Scott Rolen within the division to the Brewers. A lot of that going on lately – the Cubs like Josh Hamilton, the Jays like Erik Bedard.
- Hank Blalock is a popular name around the lobby. Despite the various squashed rumors Rosenthal says he would be a good fit for the Cardinals, Phillies, or Dodgers.
- The Phils plan on taking a look at Kris Benson when he throws for teams a couple of weeks from now.
Pirates Rumors: Bay, McLouth, Morris
MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch jumps into the fray with her own set of Pirates rumors.
- Jason Bay rumors are flying around. Langosch mentions Steve Phillips’ rumor at ESPN: Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee for Bay. Andy Marte could be involved as well.
- The Rangers have decided they desire a corner outfielder, and moved from Nate McLouth to Bay accordingly. Langosch suggests the Rangers would send relievers over to Pittsburgh – now that would be a bad trade for the Bucs.
- McLouth, by the way, is drawing interest from the Giants and Padres. He’s also been linked to the Marlins.
- The Rockies may have some interest in Matt Morris.
- Dealing Morris might allow the Bucs to give Brett Tomko what he wants – an opportunity to start. The Pirates will meet with Tomko’s agent this week.
Rangers Rumors: Bay, Gagne, Fukudome
T.R. Sullivan has the Rangers goods for us this evening. Wow, did MLB.com send 30+ reporters out to Nashville?
- The Rangers are still pursuing Eric Gagne to return as their closer (and then maybe they’d flip him again). The interest is mutual.
- The team is also considering LaTroy Hawkins, Shawn Chacon, Luis Vizcaino, Trever Miller, and Octavio Dotel. Basically, most of the relief market. Problem is, the Rangers don’t want to give more than one year to any of these guys.
- The Rangers are moving toward filling center field internally after exploring options. Carlos Gomez, Felix Pie, and Carlos Gonzalez proved unavailable or too pricey (though if all the Mets wanted for Gomez was Gerald Laird, Daniels should’ve pounced).
- Daniels has shifted gears to a corner outfielder. Kosuke Fukudome remains on the radar.
- The Rangers had a preliminary conversation with the Bucs about Jason Bay.
- The team isn’t focused on getting pitching for once, but Daniels is still perusing medical reports on Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, and Jason Jennings.
- Daniels said he’s not shopping Hank Blalock.
Dodgers Interested In Blalock
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 9:37pm: Tony Jackson doesn’t like this one either. He says the notion of the Dodgers and Rangers talking Blalock trade is false.
FROM 12-3-07 at 1:11pm:
Yahoo’s Steve Henson says the Rangers are quietly shopping third baseman Hank Blalock, and they’ve spoken with the Dodgers. The Dodgers don’t have faith in Nomar Garciaparra or Andy LaRoche as third base solutions.
Blalock, 27, earns $5.95MM in 2008 and has a $6.2MM club option for 2009. Blalock missed a lot of time in ’07 with shoulder surgery.
Cardinals Rumors: Rolen, Feliz, Capuano
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 9:01pm: About four teams have talked to the Cards about Rolen, perhaps including the Brewers, Giants, and Rangers.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 6:38pm: Tom Haudricourt breaks down the Rolen to Milwaukee situation in detail. Talks are ongoing but Doug Melvin doesn’t think there’s anything serious yet.
FROM 12-3-07 at 5:42pm:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss has an update from the Winter Meetings.
- Strauss notes, as Ken Rosenthal did, that Scott Rolen and Pedro Feliz have the same agents. This somehow makes Feliz a candidate to replace Rolen at third base.
- The Brewers are in the lead for Rolen, with Chris Capuano still being mentioned as the likely return. The Cards will cover Rolen’s salary to a certain extent depending on who they get back.
Crasnick’s Latest: Encarnacion, Hamilton, Jenkins
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick has been working hard all day to get us some good rumors. Here’s the latest.
- The Reds want to acquire a starter, but they spent all their money on Francisco Cordero. The plan is to trade a young player for a cheap starter. Joey Votto and especially Jay Bruce would be near impossible to acquire. However the Reds will listen on Josh Hamilton and Edwin Encarnacion. They never seemed to like Encarnacion. Crasnick thinks the Cubs could work for Hamilton but they’d need to pony up more than Sean Marshall. Would Rich Hill be too much? It’s been said in the past that the Rangers inquired on Hamilton. The Giants, meanwhile, would love to pry Encarnacion loose – Noah Lowry anyone?
- The Phillies and Rays spoke to Geoff Jenkins‘ agent today, and the Padres and Rangers have their eye on him as well. A poor free agent market for corner outfielders may result in a two or even a three-year deal for Jenkins.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Feliz, Nathan, Sexson
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 6:04pm: Update on Richie Sexson: no one wants him, not even the Giants.
FROM 12-3-07 at 1:55pm:
More Rosenthal, let’s cut to the chase.
- The Cardinals could look at Pedro Feliz at third base if they trade Scott Rolen. Rosenthal is too kind in saying the Cards would have a "sub-par offense on the left side of the infield." Rosenthal also suggests the Cardinals could take a look at Hank Blalock.
- Hiroki Kuroda isn’t dead set on the West Coast – he’s keeping an open mind in terms of location.
- The Twins are discussing Joe Nathan with the Astros. Interesting match but who goes over to Minnesota in that one?
- The Mariners desperately want to trade Richie Sexson. Meanwhile they also may non-tender Ben Broussard when decision time comes.
Blalock To Cards For Rolen And Duncan?
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 4:53pm: MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan mentioned this rumor to Rangers GM Jon Daniels. Daniels told him not to write it. Sounds like there’s nothing to the idea of Blalock to St. Louis, but the Dodgers rumor is picking up steam.
FROM 12-3-07 at 4:30pm:
Here’s a good one from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Grant admits this is dangerous, unsubstantiated rumormongering. Is there any other kind? The buzz is Hank Blalock to the Cardinals for Scott Rolen and Chris Duncan. Interesting, though we know the Cards are very reluctant to trade Duncan.
Both Blalock and Rolen carry injury risk, so maybe that cancels out. But Blalock only has $12MM left on his deal while Rolen has $36MM and a no-trade clause. Even if you consider Blalock for Rolen an even swap, Duncan probably isn’t worth the $24MM salary difference.