The Friday Night Rumor Mill--April 28, 2006

Some wild rumors out of the Windy City, apparently unrelated to the team's search for a first baseman, have the Cubs shopping Greg Maddux, who has emerged as an early-season candidate for Cy Young honors. There are several contenders supposedly interested in "Mad Dog," including both the Mets and Yankees, the slow-starting Phillies, and the Central Division favorites, the Cardinals. While it’s true that trading a player at the peak of his value is usually a smart strategy, I don’t believe this set of rumors regarding Maddux. Playing in a very mediocre National League Central, the Cubs have played well enough to indicate they have a chance of staying in contention this summer. Buttressed by a vastly improved bullpen, those chances will only get better if either Kerry Wood or Mark Prior can return to health and make 20 to 25 starts. As with the A’s and Barry Zito, it simply doesn’t make sense for contending teams to trade quality veteran pitching for future commodities…

The Mets’ signing of journeyman outfielder Michael Tucker doesn’t bode well for the future of Jose Valentin. Once Tucker finds his batting stroke at Triple-A Norfolk, he’ll likely be called up to Queens to play a role as a left-handed pinch-hitter and backup outfielder. Unless an injury creates roster space, Tucker will take the roster place of Valentin, who has looked overmatched (and over-the-hill) in limited duty with the Mets…

Former Met Edgardo Alfonzo could be looking for another team shortly. Unhappy with a lack of playing time, Alfonzo says the Angels have not fulfilled their promise to allow him to compete for the team’s third base job. (Alfonzo may be using Tony Womack’s playbook here. Womack recently expressed discontent with his playing time in Cincinnati, which resulted in him being designated for assignment.) Unfortunately, Alfonzo’s $7 million salary makes him extremely difficult—if not entirely impossible—to trade. As Steve Treder of The Hardball Times recently pointed out, Alfonzo is probably older than he says, which might partially explain his rapid decline over the past half-decade. To make matters worse, few contending teams are currently searching for help at the hot corner. The Phillies, who are fed up with David Bell’s lack of hitting, might be willing to take a flyer on Alfonzo, but they’d probably want the Angels to take back Bell’s salary. In other words, I’ll give you my flat tire for your busted radiator…

Another unhappy player can be found in Oakland, where Jay Payton wants to play left field every day and wants a chance at accumulating 500 at-bats. With the team off to a surprisingly slow start, the A’s may accommodate him. The A’s might find trading partners in Atlanta, where the Braves are concerned by Jeff Francouer’s unwillingness to draw walks, or in St. Louis, where the Cardinals are searching for Reggie Sanders’ fulltime replacement…

Finally, the Red Sox are still hunting for a backup catcher who can handle Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball. Josh Bard has committed 10 passed balls in less than a month, compared to the grand total of six allowed by Doug Mirabelli all of last season. The problem the Red Sox face is this: there are so few knuckleballers around these days that very few catchers have any experience handling the pitch that Billy Martin used to hate so passionately. And the Red Sox can’t assume that a catcher with a good defensive reputation will be able to catch the knuckleball; after all, Jason Varitek is an excellent receiver who simply can’t handle the unpredictable nature of the pitch. The Red Sox may end up talking to the Rangers about Rod Barajas, who caught R.A. Dickey during the spring and in his lone regular season start. Another possible trade partner for the Red Sox could be the Brewers, where Damian Miller and Chad Moeller have had some experience working with journeyman Jared Fernandez.