Uncategorized News & Rumors

Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list is up.  Voters were tabulated from six BA regulars to form the results.  Matt Wieters, David Price, and Colby Rasmus snag the top three spots.

I wrote an article for the Spring Training ’09 site about players who could be July trade candidates.  Check it out.

As we anxiously wait for Manny Ramirez, Orlando Cabrera and others to sign, remember to keep an eye on MLBTR’s list of remaining free agents for 2009 (there’s also a link under MLBTR Features, on the right side of the site).

Beyond Manny and Cabrera, there are a few lefty relievers available (guys like Joe Beimel and Dennys Reyes), as well as some older position players that may have some pop left in the bat yet. Do any teams need a centerfielder than can hit righties, like Jim Edmonds? Will the Cardinals go after Mark Grudzielanek to replace Adam Kennedy?

Manny aside, there are still a few other impact players on the market to keep an eye on.

I will be talking with SportsTalk Soup on Blog Talk Radio at 2pm CST today.  At that time you can click here to listen.

This year, 16 of the arbitration-eligible players qualified as Super Twos.  These players go to arbitration four times instead of the normal three.  Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball has contributed the following table, and provides analysis and more detail here.

MLB Trade Rumors is finally on Twitter.  Our name is @mlbtraderumors.  Or, here.  I’m new to this.  How can MLBTR best use Twitter?  I’ve set up Twitterfeed to show our new headlines.

I wrote an article called Spring Training Trade Candidates.  Check it out.

Given the number of journalists in competition these days, as well as the instantaneous nature of breaking news, it is very difficult to scoop a major baseball story.  Let’s tip our cap to the journalists who were the first to report this winter’s biggest deals.  I won’t list them here, but in many cases one person scooped the agreement and a second person had the terms.  Many of these are open to interpretation due to the language used.

Free agents

• Mark Teixeira: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• C.C. Sabathia: Joel Sherman of the New York Post
• A.J. Burnett: Jerry Crasnick of ESPN
• Derek Lowe: David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Ryan Dempster: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Francisco Rodriguez: Joel Sherman of the New York Post
• Oliver Perez: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• Raul Ibanez: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Milton Bradley: Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio
• Rafael Furcal: Tim Brown of Yahoo (difficult to determine)
• Kenshin Kawakami: David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Kerry Wood: Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com (difficult to determine)
• Adam Dunn: Chico Harlan of the Washington Post
• Edgar Renteria: Tim Brown of Yahoo (difficult to determine)
• Casey Blake: Jayson Stark of ESPN
• Brian Fuentes: Buster Olney of ESPN
• Pat Burrell: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Jamie Moyer: Howard Eskin of WIP 610 Radio
• Juan Rivera: Tim Brown of Yahoo
• Damaso Marte: Impacto Deportivo (journalist unknown)
• Koji Uehara: Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun
• Randy Johnson: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Jon Garland: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic
• Trevor Hoffman: Barry Bloom and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com
• Andy Pettitte: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• John Smoltz: Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe
• Jason Giambi: Buster Olney of ESPN
• Bobby Abreu: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• Brad Penny: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Jason Varitek: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• Randy Wolf: Tim Brown of Yahoo
• Nick Punto: Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
• Kyle Farnsworth: Steve Phillips of ESPN
• Dayan Viciedo: Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune
• Junichi Tazawa: Sponichi (journalist unknown)

Extensions

• Ryan Howard: Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Prince Fielder: Tom Verducci of SI
• Cole Hamels: Joel Sherman of the New York Post
• Nick Markakis: Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun
• Dustin Pedroia: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Kevin Youkilis: Peter Gammons of ESPN
• Paul Maholm: Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Jayson Werth: John R. Finger of CSN Philadelphia
• Ryan Madson: Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Ryan Doumit: Jerry Crasnick of ESPN
• Chris Snyder: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic

Trades

• Matt Holliday: Jon Heyman of SI.com
• J.J. Putz: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (difficult to determine)
• Javier Vazquez: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Jason Marquis: Steve Phillips of ESPN
• Mark DeRosa: Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio
• Edwin Jackson: Ed Price of FOX Sports
• Ramon Hernandez: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (difficult to determine)
• Gerald Laird: Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press
• Khalil Greene: Joel Sherman of the New York Post
• Coco Crisp: Brian McRae of Sports Radio 810
• Kevin Gregg: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports
• Nick Swisher: Jerry Crasnick of ESPN
• Scott Olsen: Peter Gammons of ESPN
• Mike Jacobs: Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star

According to the AP, Oklahoma State lefty Andy Oliver won his lawsuit against the NCAA.  As a result, college baseball players are now allowed to hire advisers to be in direct contact with MLB teams.  The NCAA will "seek review by a higher court," however.

Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball and Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues weigh in on the lawsuit.

With Spring Training right around the corner, it’s time for RotoAuthority’s annual Spring Training Cliches list.  Who’s in the best shape of his life?  Who took up yoga?  Who had laser eye surgery?  This list chronicles all the optimism for 2009.