Jack Wilson
Rumors

After being traded to Seattle at the trade deadline, shortstop Jack Wilson has agreed to a 2-year contract with the Mariners.

When Wilson was traded to Seattle in July, he came with an $8.4M option for 2010 that the team declined on Friday and paid a $600K buyout instead.  However, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik envisioned Wilson as the Mariners shortstop of the future when he traded for him and the team always intended on resigning Wilson.  The contract will pay Wilson $5M per season for 2010 and 2011. 

Wilson had a difficult tenure in Seattle after being traded from Pittsburgh.  Injuries slowed his performance for the Mariners and he hit only .224 in 31 games. 

Jack Wilson will return to Seattle for 2010 and 2011

The great purge of 2009 continues for the Pittsburgh Pirates today as they sent Freddy Sanchez to the Giants and Jack Wilson to the Mariners today.  With the Sanchez deal, the Pirates save what's left of Sanchez's $6.1M contract for 2009 and $8M for 2010 which was guaranteed when Sanchez made the 2009 all-star team.  Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, they acquired one of the Giants top pitching prospects, Tim Alderson, who was the 22nd overall pick in the 2007 MLB draft.

The Pirates deal which sent Wilson to the Mariners was a bit more complicated.  Along with Wilson went RHP Ian Snell for Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement and prospects Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock.  As part of the deal, the Pirates will pay all but $250K of what remains on Wilson's $7.25M contract, but it clears them from paying either a $8.4M option for 2010 or a $600K buyout.  Far more importantly, the Pirates get out from under Snell's contract of which he is due the remainder of his $3M in 2009, $4.25M in 2010 a $6.75M option in 2011 and a $9.25M option in 2011.

Buster Olney of espn.com gave us updates today about the various pitchers that are available and the teams going after them in his latest post.

The most obvious player is the Phillies who were looking for pitching at the start of the month when Chan Ho Park and Jaime Moyer were not pitching well.  Now that Brett Myers needs hip surgery (is this anecdotal, or are we seeing more hip surgeries recently?  Chase Utley, Mike Lowell, A-Rod and now Myers...) the Phillies border on desperate. 

Pedro Martinez doesn't seem to make much sense for Citizens Bank Ballpark and he'd like tax an already overworked bullpen with five and six inning starts. Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt are options, but both the Padres and Astros are expected to ask for significant compensation something the Phillies might not be able to afford.  Erik Bedard is another option, but the Mariners gave us so much (Adam Jones and Chris Tillman) they may try to ask for something similar in return which might not be worth it. 

That leaves the most logical option and the one that has been frequently mentioned already: Brad Penny of the Red Sox.  Boston is a good match for the Phillies because they're rumored to be interested in shortstop Jason Donald.  The Red Sox have been rumored to be interested in Jack Wilson as well becuase of the difficulty they've had at shortstop this year, but Donald may be more appealing.

Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports put together a posting yesterday with a number of different trade scenarios.

• The Nationals have been shopping Nick Johnson to both the Mets and Red Sox recently. Word last week was that the Red Sox rejected overtures of a Johnson for Manny Delcarmen deal and Edes reports that the Sox were unwilling to part with Michael Bowden as well.
• While nothing much has been discussed between the two teams, the Nationals are reportedly interested in Jon Niese, Mike Antonini, Eddie Kunz and Bobby Parnell.
• The Red Sox are also reportedly interested in Jeff Francoeur.
• Edes suggests both Jose Valverde from the Astros and Mark DeRosa from the Indians for the Rays. DeRosa would replace the recently injured Akinori Iwamura. The Astros figure to ask for Wade Davis in return for Valverde from the Rays.
• Buster Olney from espn.com mentioned earlier today that the Phillies are interested in Brad Penny. Edes says that we can add the Brewers, Royals and Twins to the list.
• Similarly, Olney suggested that Jack Wilson could be a fit for the Red Sox and Edes suggestes Jhonny Peralta as well.

Buster Olney of espn.com has a bunch of good trade fodder in his most recent post:

• The Red Sox have had about six different conversation regarding trading Brad Penny. However, most of these talks seem to include inquires into young pitchers like Manny Delcarmen, Clay Buchholz or Michael Bowden whom the team is reluctant to trade. The Phillies are a possible destination for Penny.
• Cincinnati is in the market for outfielders.
• Jeff Francoeur and the rest of the Braves outfield has been terrible and they are expected to look for replacements soon.
• Jack Wilson has been in deadline trade rumors for the better part of the last three seasons, but there might finally be a logical fit this season with the Red Sox.
• The Giants need a bat, preferably a corner outfielder, but are not finding much on the market.
• Troy Glaus is looking less and less likely to return to the Cardinals this year which means they need to find a long term solution to replace him. Mark DeRosa of the Indians and Garret Atkins of the Rockies seem like logical candidates.

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a good article up about the various Pirates rumors:

• The Pirates are interested in Rocco Baldelli and have spoken with his agent several times. The Reds, Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees are also rumored to be interested.
• They are no longer, however, interested in Ty Wigginton.
• Doug Mientkiewicz is still a person of interest.
• The Pirates can not seem to generate much interest to move Jack Wilson.
• Daniel Cabrera signed with the Nationals for $2.6M, but the Pirates offered more money. Cabrera's motivation was to stay in the Baltimore/DC area.
• Contract extensions with Nate McLouth and Paul Maholm have gone nowhere.

Earlier we gave you Yahoo! Sports Tim Brown's winter meetings preview of the NL teams.  Now, let's look at the AL teams:

• The Red Sox are quite involved in talks for big free agent names like Mark Teixeira, Derek Lowe and AJ Burnett but perhaps the most interesting question is how they handle Jason Varitek or his replacement.
• There seems to be a hierarchy of the Yankees off season moves: 1) sign CC Sabathia 2) sign Teixeira 3) sign Lowe or Burnett 4) sign Manny Ramirez as the worst case scenario.
• The Blue Jays are out of the running for Burnett, but could still consider Brad Penny, Paul Byrd, Randy Johnson, Oliver Perez, Pedro Martinez and Ben Sheets are all possibilities. 
• The off season priority list for the Indians reads as 1) closer 2) closer and 3) closer.  Possibilities include: Trevor Hoffman, Jason Isringhausen, Huston Street or JJ Putz.
• Trading for Gerald Laird filled the Tigers hole at catcher, but they're still interested in a closer and could be a dark horse for Rafael Furcal or trade for Jack Wilson.
• Teixeira will dictate the Angels off season.  If he signs with the Angels, that's likely it.  If not, they'll take Francisco Rodriguez back for the right price or look at Sabathia. 
• As Jayson Stark told us a few weeks ago, the Rangers off season priorities are pitching, pitching and more pitching.  They'll look at Penny, Randy and Freddy Garcia.

While the baseball winter meetings have already begun, Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports put together a nice preview of what each team will look to do in Las Vegas this week.  Let's start with the NL:

• New Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro is involved in negotiations with Jaime Moyer and is also interested in Derek Lowe and AJ Burnett.
• The Nationals have been rumored to involved in the Mark Teixeira bidding, but Adam Dunn seems like a more realistic target.
• The Jake Peavy trade rumors have dominated the headlines for the Cubs, but the team could also look at signing Raul Ibanez or Rafael Furcal or even trading for Brian Roberts.
• The Astros are willing to consider trading Jose Valverde to improve their starting pitching.
• After trading for Khalil Greene, the Cardinals are still looking for starting pitching.  The Cardinals could also look to acquire Huston Street if they feel Chris Perez is not the answer as their closer.
• The Reds have been rumored to be interested in Jermaine Dye, but they may also be considering Willy Taveras from the Rockies.
• The Pirates are sellers at the winter meetings, looking to trade Jack Wilson, Adam LaRoche and Nate McLouth.
• Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia remain on the back burner for the Dodgers and they try to resign Furcal at a bargain.
• The Rockies don't expect much interest in Garrett Atkins because the asking price is very high.

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.

Let's take a look at John Perotto's latest "Any Given Sunday" column from Baseball Prospectus.

• The are rumors that the Angels will consider matching the Yankees $140M offer to CC Sabathia.
• The Angels, will not, however, offer 10 years to Mark Teixeira. Pat Burrell remains an option if the team can't sign Teixeira.
• AJ Burnett has the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Orioles and Phillies on his list as possible destinations.
• In order to make room for Denard Span the Twins are trying to move Delmon Young. They'd hope to get a shortstop or third baseman in return for him.
• Matt Treanor and Jack Wilson remain high on the Tigers off season wish list. Joe Beimel is also a priority.
• The Dodgers are concerned about Rafael Furcal's health issues and will not attempt to bring the shortstop back.
• The Cubs offer of Jason Marquis for David DeJesus is not going to be enough for the Royals. If a trade can not be agreed upon, the Cubs would look to sign Raul Ibanez and Bobby Abreu in that order of preference.
• Javier Vazquez and Jermaine Dye remain players of interest for the Braves.
• The Reds are also interested in Dye, but offering just Homer Bailey is not likely to be enough for the White Sox.
• Jon Garland is on the Mets radar as far as free agent pitchers go and they are also considering acquiring Vazquez from the White Sox or Andy Sonnanstine and/or Edwin Jackson from the Rays. The Rays want more than just Aaron Heilman in return.
• The Mets may toss their hat in the ring for Manny Ramirez and the Brewers may do the same for Francisco Rodriguez.
• The Astros are interested in David Ross, as reported earlier, and Paul Bako.
• Left handed relievers such as Alan Embree, Will Ohman, Brian Shouse and Glendon Rusch remain priorities for the Rockies.