There are a couple of updates on the current state of trade rumors with the two New York teams courtesy of the New York Post. The rumors address the Mets bullpen and second base desires, the Yankees 1B situation and their middle relief one. There is also conjecture about an Angels/Yankees possibility.
The paper reports the Tigers are scouting $5.5MM reliever Kyle Farnsworth. What was the opening line? "In what only can be described as a strange twist..." that sums-up my initial reaction. However, Farnsworth did pitch successfully for the Tigers in 2005. Would the Tigers deal Ryan Raburn or have the other 29 major league teams lost the opportunity to get him for nothing following his two homer game last night?
Joel Sherman and Mark Hale write that the Mets have an ideal fit with the Nationals' closer Chad Cordero and 2B Raphael Belliard. Two complicating factors exist, though. Is the two-year extension just inked by Belliard a signal that the team no longer wants to trade him, and the asking price of GM Jim Bowden remains an insurmountable obstacle. The two writers characterized Bowden's asking price as "exorbitant."
Finally, the some cold water is splashed on Yankees' fan hopes of landing Rangers 1B Mark Teixeira (as if yesterday's Dallas Morning News wasn't enough.) Joel Sherman reports :
The Yanks privately had hoped that enough bad blood had formed between Teixeira and the Rangers that Texas would be motivated to move the switch-hitter even for a lesser package. However, the person familiar with the Rangers' thinking said there is "no chance [the Rangers] settle for a lesser deal," adding the club would retain Teixeira into his walk-year next season rather than accept an inferior package.
But this source insists the Rangers "already have multiple offers good enough to accept."
Mr. Sherman also chills Angels' fans, too, with conjecture that the recent ineffectivenes of starting pitchers Ervin Sanatana and Bartolo Colon have robbed the team of the depth necessary to deal a young starter like Joe Saunders. With one hand he takes away, but, with the other, he gives to the Angels. He thinks Jason Giambi could be a good fit in Anaheim.
I wonder, though, if Angels owner Arte Moreno would add an admitted steroids user after the post-signing flap with Gary Mathews, Jr, and his connection to performance-enhancing drugs. Mitigating slightly in each teams' favor is the two have already successfully consumated a trade that included a player suspended for use of a banned substance (Jose Molina-for-Jeff-Kennard.)
Could familarity breed a Giambi deal?