FanHouse Mlb Rumors

There are a lot of questions concerning what the Detroit Tigers are going to do this winter. Some are speculating that there will be a firesale as the team tries to shed payroll going into the 2010 season, while others are saying that any such talk is ridiculous.

Still, that hasn't stopped rumors from spreading around the league that players like Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson are being shopped, and now there's a much bigger name floating around. According to a report by The Detroit News' Lynn Henning, even Miguel Cabrera -- he of the rogue first-place AL MVP vote -- is on the trading block.

In the six weeks since the Mets' disastrous season has ended, lots of people have opined on how to fix the Mets. One person who'd like to chip in to the conversation is Jason Marquis. The Mets need to add a starter and, well, what do you know! Marquis is a free agent starter! After adding those two together, the Staten Island native has gone ahead and declared himself a "perfect fit" for the Mets.

Marquis had a nice enough year for the Rockies in 2009, notching 15 wins, a 4.04 ERA, and his first career All-Star nod. He's not a bad pitcher. He'd make a nice enough fit for a contender looking for a back-end starter to eat some innings and not embarrass himself. For a team like the Mets that trotted out Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Tim Redding, and Livan Hernandez after Johan Santana, well, I dunno if I'd call him a "perfect fit."

As FanHouse went over in our Footprints in the Snow on the Chicago White Sox earlier on Friday, the Sox aren't expected to be big buyers this offseason after making big moves to land Jake Peavy and Alex Rios last summer. Still, that doesn't mean they won't be making smaller moves to tweak their roster in the coming weeks.

Moves like trying to sign Omar Vizquel to a one-year deal to be a backup infielder as FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal is reporting.

To no one's surprise, Jason Bay has decided to see what the 29 other teams in the big leagues have to offer before deciding whether or not he wants to return to the Red Sox. Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that Bay turned down a four-year contract offer worth approximately $60 million just before free agency officially kicks off a minute past midnight on Friday morning.

It would have been quite a surprise if Bay had decided to skip the free agency process, something that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein admitted to Heyman.

"It's not a surprise that a player that's gone this far wants to see what's out there."

Bay, who hit 36 home runs and posted a 921 OPS in 2009, figures to draw a lot of interest on the open market. The Red Sox offer was decent, but the paucity of other strong bats on the free agent landscape would suggest that he could get either more years or more money once several bidders are in the mix.

Hot Stove season will get in to full swing on Friday, the first day free agents are allowed to discuss finances with teams other than the one they played for in 2009.

With the market about to open, FanHouse's National Baseball Analyst Frankie Piliere is assembling his list of the top 50 free agents. While he won't unveil the whole thing until Friday, he is ready to talk about the lay of the free-agent landscape, address some of the biggest rumors, size up the intentions of buyers and sellers and, of course, talk prospects.

Piliere chatted live on Wednesday afternoon. After the jump, read a wrapup.

Former major league closer and current Seattle Mariners bullpen coach John Wetteland was taken to a Texas hospital on Thursday with what is being described as a "mental issue," according to news reports. It seems that police arrived at Wetteland's house shortly after receiving a phone call around 1:30 PM ET about a "possibly suicidal person."

After police arrived at the home Wetteland apparently came out of his house with both arms in the air and told police that he "needed help." Wetteland was then taken to Denton Regional Medical Center outside Dallas.

The Minnesota Twins didn't wait very long after being knocked out of the 2009 playoffs to begin working on their 2010 team. They made a trade that not only alleviated the surplus of outfielders on their roster but also may have filled the shortstop position for years to come when they sent Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy.

While that trade could turn out to be a key move for the Twins and their future, it's not the only task the team has on its plate as they prepare for life in a new stadium next season. At the top of the list of things general manager Bill Smith should be working on right now is signing catcher Joe Mauer to a contract extension, and depending on who you ask, Smith may have already started doing just that.

With the season wrapped up, we can collectively turn our attention to off-the-field topics. As always, there is plenty to be discussed with the Hot Stove already burning. As each team turns their attention to 2010 there a number of questions to answer. How will each trade and free-agent signing impact the clubs involved? Which prospects, like Washington's Stephen Strasburg pictured on the right, can fans look forward to next year?

MLB FanHouse's Frankie Piliere examined all those questions and more, after the jump, in a live chat on Wednesday afternoon.

Piliere, who spent the last three seasons working as a scout, most recently in the professional scouting department for the Texas Rangers this year, now serves as a National Baseball Analyst for FanHouse.

The Mariners built their 24-win improvement in 2009 on both a renewed focus on defense and finding contributions from cheap, unexpected players. With that in mind, it's no surprise that they approached both Jack Wilson and Russell Branyan about contract extensions, a little more than a week before both players hit the open market.

The offer to Wilson was reportedly a multi-year deal that would presumably be for less money per year than the $8.4 million team option that the M's hold on the shortstop. The offer to Branyan was apparently a one-year deal that the slugger has already turned down in hopes of milking a two-year deal out of someone, though he says he'd prefer to remain in Seattle.

For most of the summer, Joe Torre indicated that he was planning on retiring from managing after his contract with the Dodgers expires in 2010. Both he and people who have followed his career closely noted that he's made similar statements in the past, and he's still in the dugout. Accordingly, Torre admitted to T.J. Simers on Sunday that he's considering negotiating a contract extension with the Dodgers that would keep him in L.A. beyond the 2010 season.

In his two years with the Dodgers, Torre's taken the team to the NLCS twice, but failed to get past the Phillies both times. Dating back to his years with the Yankees, he's taken his team to a playoff spot in 14 consecutive seasons. Unsurprisingly, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti indicates in the same story that he'd be happy to negotiate with Torre, should he want an extension.