According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees will pursue Pirates center fielder Nate McLouth. McLouth hit very well this season and would likely net the Pirates two or three good prospects in a trade. McLouth hit .276 AVG with 26 HR, 94 RBI, and 23 SB in 152 games this season. Trading McLouth would give the Pirates several good prospects for the future. They could easily land a solid pitching prospect to add to the rotation of struggling young pitchers. If the Pirates were looking to make a serious splash, they could trade both Ryan Doumit and Nate McLouth to the Yankees and land three or four solid prospects to rebuild around. While Neal Huntington is unlikely to trade both McLouth and Doumit, he will likely entertain offers for both to have as many prospects as possible for the future.
Blue Jays President Paul Godfrey's contract expires at the conclusion of this season and it is not yet clear whether or not the Jays will bring him back. Under Godgrey's watch, the Jays have suffered 9 straight seasons without a Play-Off birth, extending the streak to 15 years or 14 seasons. Every year under Godfrey's watch, there has been hype that the Jays could unseat the mighty Yankees or Red Sox and make the post-season but every year the same result happens, a disappointing 3rd or 4th place finish(except in 2006 when they finished 2nd) while being 10 or more games behind the Wild Card. Every year it's something different. In the early 2000's the Jays had Championship quality hitting but had AAA pitchers. When Gord Ash was let go and JP Ricciardi brought in, hope was restored but the same result happend. But instead of having the Championship hitting, the Jays now had a lack luster bullpen, an average rotation and a middle of the road line up. Fast forward a few years to 2008 and the Jays have one of the best rotations, the best bullpen but now have the most inconsistent line up in baseball(especially with RISP). So, over the course of Paul Godfrey's 9 year tenure, the Jays have 180'ed and can't seem to find the right mixture of quality hitters, starters and relievers that will let them contend for a Play-Off spot.Posted by Will McComb
Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre struggled this season and reportedly upset manager Joe Torre. Although Pierre has 28.5 million dollars left on his contract, the Dodgers have reportedly expressed a willingness to take on the majority of his salary if a team was willing to add an extra prospect or two. With that said, is there any team willing to take Juan Pierre? The Reds, managed by Pierre's good friend and former manager Dusty Baker, are a possibility. He would shape the top of their lineup and give Jay Bruce and Joey Votto more opportunities to drive in runners. 
According to Joe Posanski, the Royals and Braves could match up in a trade for Jeff Francoeur. Although Francoeur has struggled in Atlanta, Royals GM Dayton Moore believes he still has some potential to turn it around. Moore was with the Braves when they drafted Francoeur and is still a close friend of his, so a trade is plausible. Francoeur is hitting .239 with 11 HR and 68 RBI in 149 games, thirty points lower than his career average. Scouts believe the big increase in weight altered his swing, forcing him to over swing and pop up too much. While he plans to work with a hitting coach and lose weight, he could try working the ball the other way. 
According to one AL executive, the Blue Jays will pursue free agent-to be Jon Garland when he becomes a free agent this off season. With Shaun Marcum out for 2009, the Blue Jays will also go after A.J. Burnett, but are hoping to add Garland to make for one of the best 1-2-3 punch in the American League. Garland is expected to ask for a four year deal worth about 12-14 million dollars annually, so the Jays needs to make sure they want to make that big of an investment. This season, Garland is 14-8 with a 4.79 ERA in 31 games this season, a four game jump in wins from last season. 
According to a source, the Brewers will try to trade J.J. Hardy this offseason in order to make room for shortstop prospect Alcides Escobar. Hardy is the top shortstop in the National League, and he would only hurt his value by moving to third base, so moving him appears to be the only option. The Brewers gave Ryan Braun time to develop in the minors before calling him up in 2007, and they would be smart to do that again with Escobar. So many teams have tried to start their prospects from the start, and they have failed to find their swing (Felix Pie, Alex Gordon). While trading Hardy would likely bring back a solid prospect, they would be smart to hold on to Hardy to make sure that Escobar is the real deal. Any player can look like a stud in the minors, but it is important to make sure he is mentally strong to handle playing in the MLB everyday.
According to Jon Paul Morosi, the Tigers will look to trade one of their pitchers this offseason and will eye a shortstop in return. He points out that the Red Sox want to unload Julio Lugo to make room for Jed Lowrie, a new fan favorite and potential long term replacement at shortstop. If the Red Sox were to trade Lugo for Willis, both of whom are locked up through 2010, they would likely split the four million dollar discrepancy between the contracts, making this deal even more plausible. 
Athletics owner Lew Wolff hinted yesterday that if they cannot get the stadium situation resolved in Fremont, that he would have no choice but to leave the state to play elsewhere. "We're trying to figure out if we can," he said, when asked about getting a BART extension for the proposed Fremont ballpark. "If we can, we will. If we can't, we won't. Of course, then, we wouldn't be in California any more, either." With that said, where would the Athletics move if they cannot get the Fremont situation solved? MLB would probably encourage the Athletics to stay in the West, instead of realigning the divisions. Here are a couple possible destinations for the Athletics if they were to move: 
Orioles DH Aubrey Huff is having a career year, hitting .311 with 32 HR in 147 games this season. Several teams will be pursuing a solid first baseman this offseason, and may look to Huff instead of spending the big bucks on someone like Mark Teixeira. The Orioles could definitely use the prospects, as well the extra spending cash to improve in 2009. If they were able to clear half his 2009 salary (8 million dollars), they would be able to go after a veteran pitcher. 
The Indians primary goal this offseason will be to find a top of the line closer. While some have said they would be interested in Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez, he is probably out of their price range. The Indians would be better off going after someone like Brian Fuentes or Brandon Lyon. Both are solid closers with experience who would really bring up that bullpen. According to a source, the Indians will look to Orlando Hudson or Mark Ellis as options next season. However, it is possible they could look to make a trade for Robinson Cano, or a less player like Mike Fontenot. 
The Cubs are working on an extension for manager Lou Piniella, who in his first two years as manager, has put a top of the line team on the field everyday. Not only has he worked with players Jason Marquis, Derrek Lee, Felix Pie, Geovany Soto, and many more, but his late game calling and solid staff has put the Cubs way over the top. Cubs President Crane Kenney told the Chicago Sun-Times that talks have been tabled till the offseason, but an extension is definitely in the works. 
According to the Washington Post, the Nationals plan to be very aggressive this offseason and will look to add a veteran pitcher as well as a power hitting player to help shape their lineup. The Washington Post believes the Nationals can take on a salary like Mark Teixeira or Adam Dunn, but they will need to convince him to take different amounts annually, so it fits into the Nationals payroll. One thing that could block the Nationals from landing a player like this is that both players are represented by Scott Boras and Boras is very big on annual salary. He is also known to shape his players contracts around the media opportunities in that city. Moving a prime time player like Teixeira in his prime to Washington isn't exactly a good idea. However, that doesn't mean the Nationals cannot land a big name player. The Nationals could package a deal together for Matt Holliday, or maybe Robinson Cano, to fill the void at second base. 
Thus far in the 2008 MLB season, the Toronto Blue Jays have enjoyed having statistically the best bullpen in the American League and one of the best in baseball. One of the biggest surprises this season has been 27 year old rookie LHP Jesse Carlson, who has been the Jays most reliable reliever this season(6-1 record, 1.82 ERA, 52 K's, 22 BB's, 2 Saves, .195 Opponents Avg., 1.05 WHIP). He has a very deceptive delivery and can get righties out just as easily as lefties. He often K's righties with a good, hard sweeping curve that gets in on their hands. This gives the Jays 3 solid left-handed relievers in Carlson, Scott Downs and closer BJ Ryan. With Carlson's unexpected emergence, does this mean the Jays could potentially trade Ryan to fill in a gap in another position? It's hard to say because Carlson is just a rookie but he possesses a closer's mentality, strong composure, extreme confidence, above average repetoire, etc. And Ryan is currently in Year 3 of his 5 year, 47 million dollar deal. In his first year as a Jay, Ryan was nearly unhittable through most of the season but he was over-worked by then Jays manager John Gibbons, who would often have Ryan come in to get a 4 or 5 out Save. His 2nd year was wiped-out due to Tommy John Surgery and so far in his 3rd year, Ryan's been good but not great, which is to expected has he's a year and 4 months removed from having his Tommy John Surgery. The Jays could potentially trade Ryan to a team in need of a closer for a Shortstop plus Prospects. With Francisco Rodriguez being the most sought after Free Agent reliever, the Jays could dangle Ryan and see what offers come out of it.
Posted by Will M.
Several days ago, ex-Jay and current Jays broadcaster Rance Mulliniks said that Jason Giambi might be willing to sign with the Jays as the permanent DH and speculated that it might cost the Jays around 12-15 million dollars a season over a course of a 2-4 year contract. Giambi, who will be 38 by next season, is hitting .251 with 30 Home Runs and 92 RBI's. A signing like this would likely prove costly considering Giambi's age and declining production(his OBP has gone from a .440 in 2003 to a .377 in 2008 and his average has hit .270 once in the last 6 seasons). A cheaper option for the Jays may be to re-sign current back up outfielder Brad Wilkerson or re-sign current pinch hitter/spot starter Kevin Mench to an incentive laden deal with a base salary of around 750K. Both Mench and Wilkerson have shown they have Home Run pop in the past(Wilkerson has hit 20+ Homers 3 times in his career while Mench has done it twice before) but neither has been able to make quality or consistent contact over the last few seasons. Another cheap option would be to sign current Free Agent Richie Sexson to a 1 year incentive laden deal and have Jays hitting coach Gene Tenace work with him on his swing. One other option would be to use a rotating tendem between Left Field and DH using Adam Lind and Travis Snider.
Posted by Will M.
According to a source close to C.C. Sabathia, Sabathia has enjoyed playing in the National League over the past couple of months and would like to stay in the NL in the future. He is hitting well for a pitcher and is pitching himself into the Cy Young race. The Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, and Cardinals are four of many teams expected to make a play for Sabathia, but the source has informed me that he prefers the Dodgers. He would be moving close to home while staying in the National League, two things he would like to do.
