Winter Meetings 2009 Day Two

6:23 PM

Cross the Angels off the list...that leaves Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Twins, Athletics if it's an AL team. I'd go ahead and cross Indians and Twins immediately off that list and probably the Orioles as I can't think of a bad contract they'd want to move. Yanks, Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers or A's?

6:13 PM

Cross the Blue Jays off the list...mystery team indeed.

5:33 PM

Both Muskat and Wittenmyer shoot down the Mariners rumor...something is brewing though.

5:20 PM

The beat writers now chime in...Wittenmyer states:

It involves a three-team deal in which the Cubs would receive a player who would then need to be flipped to another team, but it's doesn't involve the long-rumored Tampa Bay Rays (ed note: or the Rangers).

Bruce Miles is a little more subdued:

The Cubs stated flatly this afternoon that no deal was imminent for right fielder Milton Bradley. There has been speculation that something could get done as early as tonight, but one Cubs person said Wednesday is a more likely date.

Sullivan agrees that Wednesday is more likely but still has the Rays and Rangers very much in the mix.

5:18 PM

More Tim Brown saying the M's and Cubs are talking Bradley for Silva..."nothing imminent".

4:47 PM

Tim Brown of Yahoo tweets it's not Rays or Rangers(as does Joel Sherman). He got a no comment from a Blue Jays official and then throws out Seattle as a possible destination with Carlos Silva coming back to the Cubs.

4:25 PM

Jayson Stark on the other hand, says nothing has changed much on the Bradley front.

4:22 PM

My bad earlier, I guess Schlereth was a Diamondbacks prospect, I thought he came from the Yankees. Anyway, Rosenthal tries to give some justification on moving Scherzer whom the DBacks felt was better suited to be a reliever.

4:06 PM

Wittenmyer tweets that a deal is close involving Bradley with a "surprise AL team".

2:49 PM

Some NL Central rumors from MLBTR...the Randy Wolf offer from the Brewers is a steep 3/31 and Blue Jays and Pirates might have been talking about a Ryan Doumit trade.

2:15 PM

Bruce Levine reports that Cubs could be on verge of trading Bradley, as soon as today. It doesn't really hint at who the team is or what player or players are involved. Also, and possibly related or possibly unrelated, Hendry has talked to the Rockies about some of their outfield depth.

2:02 PM:

A Jose Guillen for Milton Bradley rumor is quickly swatted down.

1:56 PM:

Don't forget about the #Dawson4thehall campaign on twitter. You can check out my misguided humor as well on twitter.

1:33 PM: 

Brewers taking a look at Kevin Gregg according to Muskat. As disappointing as Gregg was last year and by no means should the Cubs bring him back, I wouldn't be suprised if he thrived in a middle relief role or back-up closer. His home run rates were scary bad, but he did improve his walk and K rates last year.

1:08 PM:

Differing reports here, but it looks like a 3-way deal is going to happen between the Tigers, D'Backs and Yankees. Yankees get Curtis Granderson, Diamondbacks get Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy and the Tigers get Max Scherzer, Phil Coke,  Daniel Schlereth and Austin Jackson. Michael Dunn was in there instead of Schlereth at one point as well.

Quick reaction, D'Backs are retarded...I realize 2-for-1 gets the Phil Rogers seal of approval on a trade, but Scherzer is a better and cheaper pitcher than Jackson. Yankees have to give up a lot, but they're the Yankees, they can afford these kind of moves and end up with a left-handed power bat that can roam center field legitimately and take advantage of Yankee Stadium at a decent price over the next three years. Plus they make the trade without having to give up Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain. Tigers score with a heavy prospect load that will be most ready to contribute immediately, including stealing Scherzer for Jackson, which is just be fucking brilliant on their part.

Speculation will immediately lead to the Yankees possibly dealing Melky Cabrera and the Cubs being interested. First, I can't imagine what the Cubs would have to interest the Yankees, not like the Yankees make a lot of deals to bring in prospects. Second, with Granderson's struggles versus lefties, they'd be wise to keep Cabrera around to occasionally platoon.

Also, eff the Cubs. The Yankees score a legit center field/lead-off option and the Cubs are staring at an HGH-less Rick Ankiel (#1 on my guys I hate in baseball list) and Mike Cameron's aging skills. Bah humbug.

/end overreactionary rant

- Back to the bullpen, Cubs may have interest in Blue Jays reliever Brian Wolfe. Wolfe will be 29 next year and had two fine seasons in 2007 and 2008, but was released last year after an 8.22 ERA. He'd certainly be a good spring training invite option.

- Outfielder Ryan Church was DFA'd by the Atlanta Braves, not a bad 4th/5th outfield option, but the Cubs seem to want right-handed bat for that role.

11:11 AM:

- J.J. Putz is a bullpen arm I wouldn't mind the Cubs pursuing if his medical records aren't stored in a skull and crossbones trapper keeper. Fox sports says the Cubs are one of six teams interested at the moment.

- Heyman tweeted earlier that a possibly 3-way trade between Yanks, DBacks and Tigers could be back on that would involve E. Jackson and C. Granderson, but it would cost the Yankees up to 4 players including Phil Hughes and Austin Jackson.

- The Randy Wolf signing to the Brewers is on hold as the Mets have made a late push.

The morning headlines...

- The Mets would like to move Luis Castillo and replace him with Orlando Hudson, but they also want to wait and see on Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, which is a complicated way of saying it would take too long for the Cubs' tastes to get a deal done with them. The good news  - if there is such a thing when the Cubs are talking about eating $20M or so - is that Hendry can make a deal now and go over the projected budget as long as he fixes it by Opening Day. Dave Kaplan suggests this was not the case when Hendry was trying to move Sammy Sosa after 2004 and had to let Moises Alou go because of it.

- Kaplan also reiterates that Yankees seem to have the edge on Curtis Granderson but are also balking at the Tigers asking price - which presumably includes Phil Hughes and Austin Jackson. The Tigers supposedly asked for Starlin Castro and two higher end prospects from the Cubs.

- Mets and Brewers had some talks about a Corey Hart for John Maine swap.

- If you're a twitter user, don't forget the Cubscast campaign for Andre Dawson to the Hall appropriately starting at 1:20 pm CST.