Listening to the Baseball shows on XM, one can get nuggets of info on MLB Rumors. This week, I heard the following:
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NY Post Joel Sherman mentioned on Thursday that the Twins are looking to deal Delmon Young.
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Sherman also offered that the Red Sox signing of John Smoltz allows them to trade Clay Buchholz for one of the Texas catchers Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Taylor Teagarden.
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Sherman and Seth Everett interviewed Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox on Friday morning. Cox stated they met with Derek Lowe and Scott Boras for 8 hours on Thursday. Cox went on to say "that Lowe can pitch at least another 4 or 5 years" Does this mean they will guarantee 4 years on Lowe? I think they will after not signing Burnett, Furcal and not trading for Jake Peavy.
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Charlie Steiner interviewed Ray Ratto from the San Francisco Chronicle who stated the Giants have little interest in Manny Ramirez and would only get really interested if the economy took a real turn for the worst where his salary would drop to the $10 million range.
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Henry Schulman agrees with Ratto and said he talked to the Giants brass yesterday, who, when told that the rumor that they were closing in on Manny, just laughed on the other end of the phone.
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Steiner interviewed Bernie Miklasz from the St Louis Post Dispatch who said the Cardinals picked a bad year to have an abundance of outfielders. Teams aren't looking to deal with the Cardinals at the moment as they can look to the free agent market for an OFer on the cheap. The Cards hope to move an OFer (Ankiel) by spring training.
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Steiner closed his show by answering a caller’s question about the possibility of Russell Martin getting traded this offseason. Steiner replied "Martin isn’t going anywhere. This will be a very important year for Russell Martin and the Dodgers. As Martin goes, so goes the Dodgers." He has a point, but I think a healthy Furcal is more important at the top of the lineup and in the middle of the infield.
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I called into the MLB Live show on XM Radio on Friday evening hosted by Dave Sims and Kevin Kennedy. I asked Kevin about the Dodgers starting rotation, and who will fill the 4-5 spots. He thinks James McDonald will be given every chance to start in spring training. He praised his repertoire saying he has 4 major league pitches-questionable-and that he fears no one. Put him on your sleeper list and watch how he performs in spring training.
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Tony Jackson from the LA Daily News returned from vacation with a short blogpost. One of the nuggets-"The Dodgers didn't sign Manny Ramirez-but it is appearing inevitable that they will." I agree-get'er done.
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Ken Rosenthal suggested on Friday that the Brewers trade Prince Fielder to get a front-of-the-rotation starter they need. Maybe the Giants will move Matt Cain now that they have signed Randy Johnson. You can't win games if you can't score runs.