Whispers from the general managers meeting:
The Florida Marlins are trying to build a market for Miguel Cabrera, but the White Sox make little sense. It wouldn’t exactly be cost effective for the Sox to deal away their one young position player who can hit, Josh Fields, to get a big-ticket item like Cabrera. General manager Ken Williams plans to put an emphasis on catching the ball, which is why he no longer is looking at Fields as a possible option in left field. “We did some things in the off-season of ’04-’05 to solidify our pitching and defense, and we played as consistent as we ever have all year long,” Williams said. “That team won a lot of close games, one-run games, because of pitching and defense, not our offense.” … Kenny Rogers, who is in the process of building a massive house in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, appears to be looking for one more big contract rather than merely the chance to return to Detroit. He said all season that he wants to end his career with the Tigers but agent Scott Boras has told GM Dave Dombrowski that Rogers is willing to explore his options elsewhere. He made only 11 starts last season after a medical procedure caused by a blood clot. He averaged nearly six innings per start and compiled a 4.43 ERA, which could be enough to create interest in the weak free agent market. …
The Tigers and Cubs talked Wednesday, with the subject believed to be Detroit’s search for pitching options with closer Todd Jones unsigned and Joel Zumaya out until at least mid-season after shoulder surgery. Dombrowski was Florida’s GM when the Marlins acquired Ryan Dempster from Texas in 1996. The Cubs have told Dempster to prepare for 2008 as a starter but also would be open to dealing him now that they’re officially comfortable with Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol and, hopefully, free agent Kerry Wood in the late-inning mix. …
After 19 seasons and 1,968 games as a pro, former Mendel Catholic and Lewis University product Ernie Young is apparently ready to move to the next stage of his career. Williams said the 38-year-old Young has accepted a hitting coach position in the Sox’s minor-league system, either at Kannapolis of the South Atlantic League or Winston-Salem of the Carolina League. Young batted only .214 with 13 homers in 107 games for Triple-A Charlotte last season. He has 319 minor-league home runs and only 27 in the major leagues. …
Williams said he approached Boras about a possible contract extension for Joe Crede after the third baseman had back surgery in June. He said Boras told him Crede preferred to explore his options as a free agent after 2008 rather than seek the security of an extension. … Only two of the 30 GMs were big-league players: Williams and Oakland’s Billy Beane. …
Colorado is shopping left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes, who is eligible for free agency after this season. It is seeking young pitching and doesn’t believe it needs to make a deal this off-season. … Tampa Bay hopes troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes hits well enough in the Dominican Republic to build a market for a trade.
