The Weekend Rumor Mill

The Brian Roberts deal may now come to fruition, now that the Cubs have decided to include top relief prospect Jose Ceda as part of the return package. The latest rumors have the Cubs surrendering Ceda, right-hander Gallagher, lefty Donald Veal, and infielder Ronny Cedeno for Roberts, who would immediately become Chicago’s new second baseman and leadoff man. (Or at least he should be the leadoff man if Lou Piniella can lose his obsession with Alfonso Soriano.) If those rumors are accurate, the Orioles should jump at the offer. That’s a haul of three serviceable young pitchers and a competent middle infielder for Roberts, who is a very good player but one who has reached the peak of his value. As with the earlier trades that purged Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard from the roster in exchanged for boatloads of good prospects, this is just the kind of deal that Andy MacPhail should be making… The Orioles and Cubs might expand the deal further, with Baltimore throwing in Jay Payton and Chicago including Jason Marquis. The prospect of seeing Marquis facing the batting orders of the American League East is scary, while Payton would give the Cubs a hedge against Felix Pie not being ready to play center field every day… Along those latter lines, the Cubs continue to show interest in the Rangers’ Marlon Byrd, but their offer of Matt Murton hasn’t drawn much of a response…
The Red Sox’ decision to release Doug Mirabelli surprised a few Boston observers, but given the state of backup catching in the game, he won’t be out of work for long. The 37-year-old Mirabelli’s lack of conditioning and his .202 batting average raised some red flags in Red Sox Nation, but he’s still a competent defender who has hit 11 home runs in his last 275 at-bats. Several teams looking for an Andy Etchebarren type backup could use Mirabelli’s services. They include the White Sox, who need a right-handed hitting complement to A.J. Pierzynski, and the Dodgers, who desperately need to reduce Russell Martin’s workload. Then there are the Rays, who could use a veteran backup to Dioner Navarro, and perhaps even the Yankees, who have little catching depth available to them at Triple-A. Assuming Mirabelli wants to keep playing, he’ll find work quickly…

White Sox general manager Ken Williams hasn’t been impressed by the offers he’s been receiving for Joe Crede, who is batting under .100 this spring and hasn’t looked smooth in the field in his comeback from back surgery. Earlier this spring, the Giants offered Scott Williamson, whom they later released. Another offer featured Dave Roberts; the White Sox said no to that. Williams would be best served by waiting for the start of the regular season and hoping that Crede starts out quickly, thereby rebuilding his trade value. Trading Crede for fringe journeymen makes no sense at this point…

The Mets appear to be backing off potential trades for outfielders, where names like Payton and Reed Johnson have been running through the rumor mill. Angel Pagan’s play this spring has been so impressive that the Mets are giving serious thought to making him their Opening Day left fielder. The Mets have also been pleased by the performance of former Brewer flyhawk Brady Clark, who has an outside chance of sticking as a fifth outfielder behind Pagan and Endy Chavez.