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Tejada Wants Out

There are reports that All World SS Miguel Tejada has requested a trade from Baltimore. Tejada has 4 years left on his deal, but is still in his prime and a major offensive force. I haven't seen anything about this but to my mind this could play out in tandem with a Manny Ramirez trade. If I were the O's and Sox I would get the Angels involved, because Manny has expressed a desire to play out West, and make a deal that nets Boston Miguel Tejada; sends Manny to Anaheim and lands a bunch of prospects in Baltimore. Other players, Darin Erstad maybe, could be thrown in the mix, but this one makes sense for everyone involved. You could put the Mets in the mix as far as a 3 teamer with Manny, but they have to shed some players before making another big acquisition.

Winter Meetings Explode

After the post last night about baseball's winter meetings, they up and exploded with some big news. I'll cover the Yankees in a seperate post and focus on everyone else here:

• Rangers trade Alfonso Soriano to Nationals for Brad Wilkerson, Termel Sledge and minor league P Armando Galarraga. Huge trade for Washington as Soriano, for his flaws, is an offensive machine, 30-30 guarantee and star player who anchors the lineup. The next question, as it's been for some time, is who will buy the Nationals and if they will keep Manager Frank Robinson and/or GM Jim Bowden. Both did well last season and this is another good trade for Bowden. Word is Jose Vidro may be done, so there won't be a need to switch anyone on defense and Soriano is a Free Agent after next year so he can be moved should ownership want to go in a different direction. Wilkerson will likely start in Texas' OF and allow them to move a player on hand for help elsewhere.
• Milwaukee trades 1B Lyle Overbay to Toronto for P Dave Bush, OF Gabe Gross and minor league P Zach Johnson. Overbay, a good hitting first baseman, needed to move to open space for Prince Fielder in the Brewers lineup. His acquisition gives the Jays a strong lefty bat and allows them to shop Shea Hillenbrand/Eric Hinske or both if they land Nomar Garciaparra. Bush is a dependable back end starter for an increasingly deep Brewer rotation and Gross is a good 4th OF type. A good trade for both teams, with Fielder's ascension the key on the Brewer end.
• Trevor Hoffman resigned with the Padres, Bob Wickman did the same in Cleveland which should draw a close to this year's closer roulette.
• In arbitration moves, the Rangers walked away from the Gambler, the White Sox rid themselves of a Big Hurt and the Astros decided to gamble that someone beats the Viz.

Winter Meetings

The Baseball Winter Meetings exploded with a flurry of moves today, many made in advance of the arbitration deadline for your own Free Agents. You don't offer them arbitration today and you can't negotiate until May, essentially you are waving goodbye. The Yankees, for example, have to make a decision about Bernie Williams while the Mets will not offer it to Mike Piazza and Braden Looper. There are draft picks tied up in the process as well, but those are the basics. There are some confirmed deals, as well as hot rumors and we'll take a look at both:

Done Deals

• Houston isn't offering Roger Clemens arbitration.  It seems unlikely that he could work out a deal like he had with the Astros anywhere else, although God knows there will be suitors. He will, however, be pitching in the World Baseball Classic, which means he is game shape as Spring Training begins so who knows how this could end up. Someone (St. Louis, Yankees, Boston) will offer a huge chunk of cash to the Rocket. 
• Braves trade C Johnny Estrada to Arizona for 2 minor leaguers - A money saving move for the Braves who will slide Brian McCann to the starting role. Estrada is a competent starter, a little stronger with the glove than the bat who will play 125 games for the D-Backs. The Braves got two pitchers, Lance Cormier and Oscar Villareal for those scoring at home, who have been in the majors to underwhelming success and don't project as more than middle men. Villareal will be on the Mexico team for the World Baseball Classic.
• Marlins trade CF Juan Pierre to Cubs for 3 minor league pitchers - And thus ends the Pierre to Pinstripes rumor. Big thumbs up for that. Pierre isn't a player whose skills are suited to consistent performance. He's a terror IF he gets on, but that's something you could say of a lot of players. Is he that much better than a Tony Womack otherwise? The Marlins now have one player from their opening day lineup - Miguel Cabrera - under contract.
• Reds trade 1B Sean Casey to Pirates for P Dave Williams - Biggest benefit of this trade for Reds is that it allows them to move Adam Dunn to 1B. They can now play Dunn, Austin Kearns, Willy Mo Pena and Ken Griffey every day and lose Casey's salary, which was too much for a high average/low slugging first baseman. The Pirates are perennially in neutral, as they now block top prospect Brad Eldred at 1B. Eldred, a slugger who needs to take a walk, can't learn much more at AAA. Williams is junk and at a launching pad like the one they have in Cincinnati will be DOA.
• Padres trade 3B Sean Burroughs to Tampa for P Dewon Brazelton - Two high draft picks who haven't panned out are dealt for each other. Not much to like from either guy to this point in his career, but could turn out to be a classic "change of scenery" trade a la the Scott Brosius for Kenny Rogers swap that boosted both players and teams.
• Padres sign 2B Mark Loretta to Boston for C Doug Mirabelli - Mirabelli was mostly known for being Tim Wakefield's catcher during his time in Boston. He does have some pop in his bat and probably would handle an expanded role well, which he wouldn't get as long as Jason Varitek was breathing. Loretta is a stopgap in Boston until prospect Dustin Pedroia is ready to take over at 2B.

Rumors

• Red Sox, Braves and Devil Rays are talking about a 3 way trade that would move Edgar Renteria to Atlanta, Julio Lugo to Boston and Andy Marte to Tampa. Marte is a mega-prospect and would remove Lugo's salary from Tampa's rolls, all of which fits with their standard operating procedure. Renteria is coming off a massively disappointing season in Boston, but Lugo doesn't project to be any better and it's hard to understand why Boston would do this deal nor why Atlanta would take Renteria's bloated salary.
• Barry Zito to the Mets. This one's dead as of right now, as Minaya and Beane couldn't match up but Zito is on the table, certainly, and should fetch many an offer.
• Kris and Anna Benson, our favorite couple, to Kansas City for Jeremy Affeldt and Mike MacDougal, a lefty-righty (respectively) relief pair. The Mets would love to dump Benson's contract, as well as Kaz Matsui's, but this deal wasn't confirmed as I go to press. Matsui will likely be moved but most of his salary will stay in New York.
• Alfonso Soriano to Dodgers for P Jonathan Broxton is also churning through the rumor mill. The Dodgers already have Jeff Kent so someone will be making a move of position, 3B seems most likely.