Uncategorized News & Rumors

Buster Olney just reported on ESPN that the Mark Teixeira trade is officially complete and does not involve Kyle Davies.  And then Jayson Stark reported that the Davies for Dotel deal is complete.

Visiting MLBTradeRumors.com for the first time today?  Welcome!  I’m Tim Dierkes, and I’m a rumor maniac.  I’m blogging trade rumors nonstop today, barely stopping to eat.  Stick around for the ride and keep refreshing for new stuff.  And if you see a rumor you’ve already read suddenly appear up top, that means I’ve updated it.  The trade deadline is 3 pm CST today, and some stuff might trickle in after that as well.

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Also, if you’re into fantasy baseball, I have another site called RotoAuthority.  It’s a fantasy baseball blog updated daily.

Ken Rosenthal’s latest was updated five hours ago.  He probably didn’t sleep.  Let’s catch up before he breaks six more trades.

• UPDATE: Scratch the Russ Springer stuff below – the Cardinals promised him they would not trade him.  Troy Percival can be had, however.  The Rockies like Percy.
• The Dodgers made a strong push for Joe Blanton last night but their offer fell short.  However, talks are not completely dead. The Dodgers offered two position players and one pitcher from their minor league stash.  Rosenthal suggests those were among Andy LaRoche, Chin-Lung Hu, Tony Abreu, and Jonathan Meloan.  Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Jonathan Broxton would not be part of any deal.  Anyway the Dodgers will now turn their focus to relievers, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Colletti re-engage on Blanton in the next seven hours.
• Rosenthal adds that the Mets and Phillies inquired on Blanton but the A’s preferred L.A’s deep farm system.  But with the Dodger talks cooling maybe one of those teams will jump in.
• Rosenthal confirms that the Blue Jays will listen on Troy Glaus but doesn’t name any teams that specifically inquired.  He speculates that the Yankees, Rangers, Angels, and Astros might want him.  Aren’t the Texas teams supposed to be sellers?
• Plenty of relievers can be had: Scott Proctor, Kyle Farnsworth, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Russ Springer, Troy Percival, Chad Qualls, Brad Lidge, Al Reyes, Dan Wheeler, and Brian Fuentes.  Fuentes is still on the DL for a strained lat, however.  And we know the Cardinals want to accomodate Springer and his son.  Rosenthal names the Mets, Phillies, Tigers, Indians, and Rockies as teams looking for relievers. 
• The Mariners, Red Sox, Rockies, and Phillies like Qualls.
• The Mariners seem focused on Wheeler and Reyes of the Devil Rays.
• The Padres want Mike Lamb from the Astros a lot more than they want Mark Loretta.
• The Twins don’t have much interest in Morgan Ensberg (described as minimal), but they could compete with the Tigers for Clint Barmes.  Ah, yet another blockbuster for the Twins.

Here’s what we’ve got today on White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye.

• The Chicago Tribune says Kenny Williams slept on Boston’s counteroffer for Dye.  He’s probably awake now so we’ll see what his dreams said about Kason Gabbard.  Just kidding, I don’t know what the Red Sox came back with.  I’m sure Wily Mo was still in there.  Dave van Dyck mentions that the White Sox could re-sign Dye, perhaps through 2008 or 2009 only.  I suppose at the right price.
• Jon Heyman says the Red Sox are one of just four teams covered in Dye’s no-trade provision.  Dye wants to stay in Chicago if he can.  Heyman says the Dodgers, Angels, and Diamondbacks are also in on Dye.  The Mets might be involved as well. The Angels aren’t being aggressive here because they have confidence Juan Rivera’s return will help.  And that probably would be comparable to Dye, really.
• Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe has a Major League source who believes there’s a "good chance" the Red Sox acquire Dye this morning.  We’ll see what Kenny thinks of the counteroffer soon enough.
• Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times has a source saying the Red Sox are "set to send reliever Manny Delcarmen and outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the White Sox for Dye," if Dye waives his no-trade clause.  Does Toni have the scoop here?
• Nathaniel Whalen of the Daily Southtown sees the Cubs and Angels also in the mix for Dye, and believes the right fielder would waive his no-trade clause for either team (if those teams are even among the other three over which he has veto power).

Let’s take a look at the starting pitchers still available at this time (about 17 hours before the trade deadline).  I took some liberties to include relievers who could possibly start.  And I’m being generous calling some of these guys mid-tier.

Top Tier
Javier Vazquez
Joe Blanton
Jon Garland
Bronson Arroyo
Dontrelle Willis

Mid Tier
Jason Jennings
Shawn Chacon
Joe Kennedy
Carlos Silva
Matt Morris
Scott Proctor
Byung-Hyun Kim
Josh Towers
Jose Contreras

Bottom Tier
Odalis Perez
Steve Trachsel
Woody Williams
Wade Miller
Josh Fogg
Kip Wells
Mike Maroth
Ramon Ortiz
Joel Pineiro

Jayson Stark has an update over at ESPN.com.  The latest:

• Looks like the Dodgers could turn to Joaquin Benoit, with Octavio Dotel off the market.
• Stark has the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox in on Eric Gagne.  The latter two teams hold the advantage as Gagne cannot veto deals to them. Yahoo’s Tim Brown confirms Boston’s interest.
• The Mariners, Yankees, Mets, and Indians have called the Rays about Dan Wheeler and Al Reyes, but they require an "aggressive offer" as both can be kept for ’08.
• Rather than worry about acquiring Jermaine Dye, the Diamondbacks might just call up uberprospect Justin Upton.
• The Astros seem likely to hold onto Chad Qualls and Brad Lidge.

In between posts here on MLBTradeRumors, I’ll be answering questions at ProTrade.  I’ll be hanging out in the Cubs-Phillies game from 3-5 pm CST answering questions and talking trade rumors.  Click here to enter the game (it actually doesn’t start until this evening).

As you may have noticed, our good friend Jeff Sackmann of Brew Crew Ball took over MLBTR for Saturday afternoon.  My wife and I are currently checking out the Warped Tour.

Jeff will be checking out a few hours before I get back, and there could be some good rumorage or actual trades in the meantime.  Feel free to use this post for any links, rumors, or trade discussion if it’s not elsewhere on the site.  Thanks for reading; the next three days are going to be wild so stick around. 

Dan Lewis and company have a cool thing going over at Armchair GM: a social network of baseball fans.  Check it out.

Sorry about the down period for the site over the last few hours; my blogging service had a power outage.  Here are some evening links to peruse.

• Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune speculates on what it would take to bring Jermaine Dye to the North Side.
• Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus gives his contribution to the rumor mill.  Interesting notes: the Angels’ Nick Adenhart is untouchable; the Nats could acquire vets like Eric Gagne or Omar Vizquel for the draft picks; the Phillies could re-acquire Kenny Lofton if forced to use Shane Victorino in a trade.
• Bugs and Cranks has a well written post about how sandwich picks are ruining the trade deadline.  However, I respectfully disagree.  The trade deadline rules.  It rules now and it always has ruled.  If you are the type of person who enjoys this site, you will find the trade deadline fun no matter how few big names change teams.  Rumors fly with reckless abandon.  Players you never thought available are suddenly in play, however unlikely.  Misinformation is spread like wildfire.  Is a trade deadline really judged on the biggest names to change hands, or is it just the thrill of the chase?  I vote for the latter.  I will be writing nonstop here on July 30 and 31, and trust me, it’ll be great.