Great Moments in Fleece History: The Darren Dreifort Signing

When Darren Dreifort inked his big deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001, it was widely viewed as a mistake. After all, his career record at that point was 39-45, 6 games under the .500 mark. He had a history of arm troubles and other ailments, and he had posted just ONE season with an [...]

Miguel Cabrera Packing his Bags for SoCal?

According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, Miguel Cabrera could be traded before the Thanksgiving holiday.  It is just a question of which California team accepts the Marlins request first, if at all.  As earlier reports have indicated, the two teams at the front of the pack are the Angels and Dodgers, with the White WSox [...]

Small Market Hot Stove Rumblings

 
Some teams have been noticeably quiet so far in this Hot Stove Season.  Let’s take a peak at some smaller market teams and see what’s going on:

The Oakland A’s are still deciding whether or not to rebuild this offseason.  If they decide to rebuild, General Manager Billy Beane will entertain offers for young ace Dan Haren, [...]

Estrada traded to Mets, Omar turns the Tide..

 
The New York Mets have acquired C Johnny Estrada from the Milwauke Brewers,and in return the Brewers get RP Guillermo Mota. While it may seem like a minor move, a major fleece was exchanged. Mota admitted to using performance enhancing drugs following 2006, and he couldn’t get himself out of a paper bag in 2007. He posted a [...]

Rocky Mountain Fleece?

 
It’s official, Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies SS, has won the 2007 NL Most Valuable Player award.  Rollins edged Colorado Rockies OF Matt Holliday by 17 points, to take home his second piece of hardware this offseason, after winning the NL Gold Glove just days earlier.
Did Holliday get a raw deal here?  The argument can certainly be [...]

Brian Sabean may be Preparing to Re-gift the Molina FLEECE

 
What is up with the free agent catchers market?  Yorvit Torrealba almost secured 3 years, $14M.  Paul LoDuca is demanding at least 3 years and $6M per.  Michael Barrett may cost teams a 1st round pick if signed.  Etc. It’s just not a very good buyer’s market for catchers. 
Perhaps that’s just what San Francisco GM Brian Sabean [...]

More Japanese Free Agent Rumors: Kobayashi, Kuroda

 

Courtesy of Fox Sports, the Cleveland Indians are having Japanese reliever Masahide Kobayashi in for a physical Tuesday and could potentially complete a deal later this week.  Kobayashi, 33, has spent his entire nine-year career with the Chiba Lotte Marines and has an impressive 2.79 ERA with 227 saves over that span.   A signing by the Indians [...]

Japanese Royalty?

According to Marc Lancaster, the Devil Rays are in the mix for 34-year old Japanese relief pitcher Yasuhiko Yabuta.  Five teams seem to have expressed interest – Rays, Royals, Pirates, Indians and White Sox.  It’s also noted in the article that U.S. media reports have Yabuta close to signing with Kansas City. 
Yashuhiko Yabuta had a [...]

Not Named Capps? You’re available…

 
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has reported, among other things, the Damaso Marte, Salomon Torres and John Grabow can all be had in a trade. In this story, GM Neal Huntington has the following quote:
“We’re looking to make good baseball trades,” general manager Neal Huntington says. “We recognize that we have players who are very interesting [...]

Tuesday Morning Trade/FA Rumors

With the Yorvit Torrealba disaster now official, the Mets may be leaning towards the trade route to fill the catching void.   Newsday has the Mets pursuing Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez as well as Texas backstop Gerald Laird.   Boston is also in on Laird, though, and may be prepared to deal Coco Crisp for him in [...]

Quiet in the Emerald City?

 There has not been a ton of many rumors coming out of Seattle in recent days, but there has been a few murmurings. In the past week, it has been noted by John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the Mariners will be looking to upgrade their starting rotation this offseason.  Like most clubs, they [...]

Tejada to the West Coast?

 
According to Tim Brown, of Yahoo! Sports, the Los Angeles Angels are in hot pursuit of a trade to bring Miguel Tejada to Disneyland.  In recent trade talks last season, the O’s had asked the Angels for Ervin Santana, Scott Shields and Howie Kendrick in exchange for Tejada.  The Angels had countered with several offers, including a [...]

Wayne Krivsky Looks To Bolster Reds’ Bullpen

Wayne Krivsky has been asking around in an attempt to improve Cincinnati’s bullpen. While highly unlikely the Reds would bid on closer Francisco Cordero, as the cost may be extreme, there are other options as stated by John Fay. Kerry Wood, Latroy Hawkins, Octavio Dotel, and Scott Linebrink are all options Fay mentions in his article. Other [...]