Arizona Diamondbacks Rumors

Let's take a look at Peter Gammons latest blog entry:

• A source close to Mark Teixeira believes that the Red sox and Teixeira's agent, Scott Boras, are closer to a deal than owner John Henry's remarks made it seem. 
• Two reasons why the Yankees did not pull the trigger on the Mike Cameron trade with the Brewers: Melky Cabrera is showing improvement in winter ball and there are people within the Yankee organization that believe Brett Gardner can be a major league player. 
• The Diamondbacks and Red Sox have been trying to work out a deal for Arizona catcher Miguel Montero but the D'backs were not interested in Daniel Bard and the Red Sox would not trade Michael Bowden.  Gammons speculates that perhaps if the Red Sox were to take on the $22M owed to Eric Byrnes, the Diamondbacks may be more amenable to trading Montero.
• Gammons also speculates on a possible three team deal that would send Jermaine Dye to the Reds, Joey Votto to the Angels and Chone Figgins to the White Sox. 

The Red Sox and Diamondbacks are rumored to be discussing swapping disappointing and long-term signed shortstop Julio Lugo for disappointing and long-term signed outfielder Eric Byrnes according to Steve Phillips of espn.com. Lugo has two years and $18M remaining on his contract while Byrnes has two years and $22M remaining. If the deal were consumated, Lugo would likely play second base for the Diamondbacks instead of shortstop as he played in Boston.

The deadline to offer a free agent arbitration is tonight at 11pm CST (1pm EST). Here's a list of players who are eligible for arbitration, their team's decisions and any commentary.

• Trevor Hoffman was not offered arbitration by the Padres.
• The Angels have offered arbitration to Francisco Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Jon Garland and Darren Oliver.
• Manny Ramirez, Derek Lowe and Casey Blake were offered arbitration by the Dodgers. Joe Beimel, Brad Penny, Jeff Kent and Greg Maddux were not.
• Brian Fuentes has been offered arbitration by the Rockies.
• The Blue Jays offered arbitration to AJ Burnett but not Greg Zaun.
• The Royals offered arbitration to Mark Grudzielanek.
• Russ Springer, Braden Looper and Jason Isringhausen have not been offered arbitration by the Cardinals.
• The Yankees did not offer arbitration to Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu or Mike Mussina.
• Dennys Reyes has been offered arbitration by the Tigers. The Tigers also declined to offer arbitration to Edgar Renteria.
• The Brewers offered arbitration to CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse.
• The Mariners have offered arbitration to Raul Ibanez.
• John Smoltz was not offered arbitration by the Braves.
• The Mets have offered arbitration to Oliver Perez, but Luis Ayala and Moises Alou did not receive offers.
• The Red Sox have offered arbitration to Jason Varitek and Paul Byrd.
• Kerry Wood and Bob Howry were not offered arbitration by the Cubs.
• The As have declined to offer arbitration to Alan Embree and Frank Thomas. 
• As Ken Rosenthal suggested yesterday, the Diamondbacks did not offer arbitration to Adam Dunn.  They did, however, offer arbitration to Juan Cruz, Brandon Lyon and Orlando Hudson.
• The Rangers offered arbitration to Milton Bradley.

Ken Rosenthal covers a lot in his latest article:

• Rosenthal talks about the interesting effect the "poor economy" could have on teams offering arbitration to players.  In short, many teams may not offer arbitration for fear that a player may accept arbitration rather than risk the potentially volatile free agent market.
• Adam Dunn from the Diamondbacks is a good example of Rosenthal's posit.  Certainly the Diamondbacks anticipated that, after trading three players for Dunn, he would net them two draft picks in the 2009 draft after he likely declined arbitration.  The Diamondbacks have already declined Randy Johnson because of his salary demands and recently laid off 30+ employees.  Are they willing to risk having Dunn on their payroll for $15M-$16M?  Even if the unlikely happens and Dunn accepts arbitration, his one year contract would be quite the trade chip for the Diamondbacks.
• Kerry Wood was looking for a long term deal at the beginning of free agency and the Cubs were not interested.  It has now become apparent that the market for closers is flooded with free agents and trade possibilities and Wood's value has decreased.  The Cubs have already said they are not interested in having Woody back at $9M-$10M a season, even though Wood said he would accept such an offer.  If the Cubs offered Wood arbitration, it's possible he could accept leaving the Cubs stuck with him.  However, if they don't offer arbitration, they lose the two draft picks if Wood signs elsewhere.
• The questionable health of Ben Sheets may make the Brewers hesitate to offer the oft-injured pitcher arbitration for fear of being stuck with a $13M-$14M salary for 2009.
• The complications of Jake Peavy-to-the-Cubs are many (the team is being sold, Ryan Dempster was recently resigned, a third team is needed, and if a trade were consummated, Jason Marquis would need to go somewhere and trade talks for David DeJesus have stalled with Kansas City) but the two teams are still trying to negotiate a deal.  As a possible solution to the Marquis problem, Rosenthal suggests that the Padres may be willing to take Marquis if the Cubs pay $3M of his $9M 2009 salary.  For a team trying to cut salary, that doesn't make sense to me.
• The Dodgers offered Chin-Lung Hu and Delwyn Young for Jack Wilson, the Pirates asked for more and now the Dodgers are rumored to no longer be interested in the shortstop.  The Dodgers were concerned with Wilson's $7.25M salary for 2009 and $8.4M club option for 2010 with a $600K buyout and asked the Pirates to chip in some money.  The Pirates agreed, but only for better prospects and the deal broke down.

Here's the latest on the Jake Peavy trade rumors:

• Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution believes that Peavy will ultimately end up in Atlanta because at the end of the day, the Braves will still have the best offer.
• Barry Axelrod indicates that Peavy has added to his list of teams that he'd accept a trade to in order to facilitate a trade in the midst of rumors that a deal with the Braves has broken down.  While Axelrod wouldn't reveal the list, he did say that the NL West, minus Colorado, was in the mix. 
• The Cubs and Padres discussions regarding trading Peavy have ended due to fiscal concerns from the Cubs.
• On the other hand, Kevin Towers allegedly says that talks are still on-going with the Cubs.
• Towers also mentioned that he hasn't heard from the Angels regarding Peavy and talks are still off with the Braves.

More news and rumors from baseball today:

• Pedro Martinez is not expected to resign with the Mets.
• The Cardinals are interested in Will Ohman and/or Arthur Rhodes.
• Ramon Vazquez has started discussions with the Diamondbacks. 
• Nationals president Stan Kasten is trying to lower expectations that the Nationals could make an offer to free agent Mark Teixeira.
• The Tigers are interested in Joe Beimel.
• Don Wakamatsu has been hired as the Seattle Mariners manager.
• Oliver Perez is expected to wait until the free agent market settles a bit before signing a contract.
• The Braves are interested in Derek Lowe.
• The Cubs are looking to acquire Mark Teahen or David DeJesus from the Royals.  However, there is no indication that the two sides have discussed a deal.

Jayson Stark of espn.com has put together a comprehensive article evaluating the off season needs and plans of attack for ALL 30 major league teams. Here are some of the highlights:

• The Braves may go after AJ Burnett whether they trade for Jake Peavy or not. Either way, they're not likely to do anything about Burnett until the Peavy situation is resolved. If the Braves trade Yunel Escobar for Peavy, that'll open up another hole they may try to fill via free agency.
• If the Brewers are unable to sign CC Sabathia, and that seems to be the likely scenario, the team will likely go the opposite direction in terms of free agency and look to unload an infielder (JJ Hardy, Rickie Weeks or Prince Fielder) and/or Mike Cameron to fill their own holes.
• The Diamondbacks are not expected to be involved in the free agent market much at all. The Dbacks didn't sign a free agent at all last off season.
• On the Padres: "the Padres will be mostly chasing pitchers who have always wanted to pitch in the most pitcher-friendly ballpark on earth, live in Del Mar and not care how many digits are on their paycheck. There must be a few people left like that, right?"
• Trying to figure out what the Red Sox will do is a challenge. After they either sign Jason Varitek or acquire another catcher (perhaps a trade with Texas?), anything from standing pat to signing Mark Teixeira or Burnett and everything in between is possible.
• On the Yankees needs: "Three starting pitchers, a run-producing bat and possibly a catcher if Jorge Posada has any setbacks.
• The Orioles are expected to make runs at Burnett and Teixeira. Major runs.
• On the Indians: General manager Mark Shapiro once said the best approach to the free-agent market is "to avoid it."
• On the Tigers: "They're not in the mood to bump the payroll north of where it was last year ($138 million)." Translation: little action in the free agency market.
• The Angels have plenty of decisions to make regarding free agents, but it all starts withe Teixeira. If he stays, that's likely their winter. If he goes, they'll move on to Sabathia and/or Francisco Rodriguez. "If the Angels were at the craps table in Vegas," says one scout, "they'd be the high rollers."
• On the Rangers needs: "Starting pitching. And also starting pitching. In addition to starting pitching." The Rangers have plenty of talented catchers to trade and will likely try to trade them to bolster their pitching.

News and notes from around baseball today:

• Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. called rumors that the Phillies would listen to offers for Jimmy Rollins false. 
• The Diamondbacks are rumored to be interested in Mark Loretta.
• Meanwhile, the Tigers are rumored to be considering Brandon Lyon.
• The Phillies have signed Scott Eyre.
• Jeff Passan ranks all of the free agents from #1 CC Sabathia to #138 Vance Wilson.
• The Giants are interested in middle relievers on the free agent market.
• Pat Burrell has not heard anything from the Phillies regarding a contract extension.
• Kenshin Kawakami is still deciding on whether to play in the MLB or not.

Let's take a look at some recent Cardinals rumors that DO NOT involve Matt Holliday.  Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes us through the rumors:

• Middle infield seems to be the primary concern.
• Kelly Johnson or Yunel Escobar are options and it would likely take trading Ryan Ludwick to get either.  Obviously those trade talks would wait until after the Jake Peavy sweepstakes.
• The Cards are interested in Orlando Hudson. 
• They are not, however, interested in Felipe Lopez.
• Adam Kennedy is not interested in playing in St. Louis anymore and Arizona is rumored as a destination.
• Despite earlier rumors, Trevor Hoffman is not someone the Cardinals are looking at.

Jon Heyman's latest post is up on si.com.  Let's pick through it.

• The three biggest free agent names, CC Sabathia, Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, are likely to be bid on by the two Los Angeles and two New York teams.  Not surprising that those are the biggest markets in baseball.
• Despite that, Heyman lists the Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles and Phillies with the Phillies interest being dependent upon Pat Burrell's status with the team. 
• The Rockies are willing to sign Matt Holliday for $100M over five years, but rumor has it that Holliday is looking for more.  Despite this, the Rockies remain unlikely to trade the slugger.
• Suitors for Brian Fuentes include the Mets, Rangers and Indians.  Heyman lists the Mets as the front runners who will allegedly offer a three year, $36M deal.
• Jake Peavy has allegedly already rejected being traded to at least one American League team.  Heyman feels that Peavy is not interested in playing for the Rangers and doesn't find the Yankees very appealing either.
• Luis Gonzalez does not appear to be welcome back in Arizona because of a tenuous relationship with Stephen Drew and Chris Young.  This is quite an odd story.
• Heyman feels that Ruben Amaro Jr. is the front runner for the Phillies general manager opening.