Nashville 2007: Winter Meetings and Tire Kicking

And so we say hello to day 1 of the baseball winter meetings in Nashville. Several transactions have already occurred among some teams, but nothing blockbuster as of yet. Nothing from the Giants yet either.

Lefty, from El Lefty Malo, has already started a running list of transactions and commentary earlier in the day. MLB.com also dedicated an entire blog to the winter meetings. I’ll tack on my own thoughts in italics on any deals that come up.

Earlier:

• Nationals send Elijah Dukes to the Rays
• Diamondbacks send Carlos Quentin to ChiSox
• Jake Peavy near extension with Padres
• Andy Pettite remains with the Yankees

As of later:

• Lincecum and Cain are "getting close" to off the market, according to Brian Sabean. He hasn't been blown away by the offers, save for an "interesting" one, which was NOT for Miguel Cabrera... The Lincecum for Reds minor-league stud prospect Jay Bruce idea was “pure fiction.”… 3B Scott Rolen’s name is even more heavily linked to the Giants today. The Cardinals might be looking to move Rolen before signing FA Pedro Feliz:

  Seems like Sabean can’t talk to other GMs without a silly offer for Cain and/or Lincecum. Supposed bad news: Other GMs are not interested in the Giants’ marginal prospects or semi-serviceable veterans like Dave Roberts or Bengie Molina. Supposed good news: The Lincecum and Cain tandem will strike fear into the hearts of the NL for at least another year. That means the Giants won’t be getting any young, outstanding talent in exchange for the two. But I suppose the latter part is bad news.

  [SF Giants]

12/4 6:00 PM

• Boy, did I ever have the hell scared out of me earlier today. I was going home with the car radio tuned onto KNBR 680 while they were having the winter meeting updates. The volume was pretty low so I couldn’t catch much, but this is what I hear: “Giants pitcher Matt Cain [too low to hear] in return for Alex Rios.” Erp!

  Thanks to the updates on McCovey Chronicles, my fears were put to rest. Sabean may have been forced/stupid in the Zito signing and other assorted mishaps, but I’m getting sick of these “we’ll give you our crap to good young player in exchange for Cain and/or Lincecum” propositions.

• Marlins send Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers in exchange for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rabelo and pitchers Burke Badenhop (MiL), Eulogio De La Cruz (MiL) and Dallas Trahern (MiL): The premier third-base trade market just shrunk drastically. This doesn’t affect the Giants too much, except that they won’t face Miggy 6-7 times a year anymore. The Tigers gave up a lot for Cabrera and D-Train, but a lineup of Cabrera, Sheffield, Granderson, Ordoñez, and Polanco is a WS contender.

  [SF Gate]