Morning (TROT) COFFEY.

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(* Trade Rumor Offerings To
Chew On For Fun, Even Yuks)

 

Not
to be confused with journeyman righthander Todd Coffey, the TROT COFFEY is a
mailing list-only update on what the media has unearthed at various busy times
of year, such as the July and August trade deadlines, the GM Meetings, and the
Winter Meetings:

 

A little Saturday
morning COFFEY, which I need myself more than usual since I arrived at a conclusion
45 minutes ago that only a parent of eight- and four-year-olds can conceivably arrive
at, that whoever wrote the “High School Musical” song “We’re All in This Together”
seems to have thieved parts of the melody from the theme song to “Full House”
(yes, it’s in syndication, and suddenly a stopdown for my daughter), a disturbing
conclusion to be sure, disturbing primarily in that the analysis even took
place in my decaying brain.  Gimme some
baseball.

 

• One local reporter suggests
  that Boston, Florida, and Detroit make up the top tier of contenders to
  trade pitching to the Rangers for a catcher, with Kansas City, San
  Francisco, the Mets, and Cincinnati as fringe suitors, and the Yankees as a
  longshot.

 

• The same reporter believes the
  Rangers prefer the potentially available young pitchers from Boston in this order: Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, and
  Justin Masterson, while the Red Sox prioritize the Texas catchers as follows: Taylor
  Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Gerald Laird.

 

• The same reporter believes the
  Marlins are interested in Teagarden, Saltalamacchia, and Max Ramirez, but
  not Laird, and while they are pushing Scott Olsen and Kevin Gregg, Texas will
  probably try to redirect talks toward Ricky Nolasco or Andrew Miller,
  either of whom would take more than just a catcher to acquire – the reporter
  proposes Saltalamacchia or Teagarden plus Neftali Feliz for Nolasco and
  left-handed reliever Renyel Pinto, which just gave me a stomach ache.

 

• The same reporter points out
  that Detroit lacks the young pitching Texas would need in a catcher trade,
  suggesting that perhaps Laird plus a pitching prospect could fetch Jeremy
  Bonderman, unless Texas would consider Laird for Nate Robertson, the latter
  of which just gave me a stomach ache.

 

• The same reporter suggests that
  Cincinnati
  seemed interested at one point in a Laird for Homer Bailey trade, but the
  fact that Bailey finished the season hurt might gum that possibility up. 

 

• Cincinnati GM Walt Jocketty has
  visited with the Rangers regarding their catchers, and if Bailey is available
  at all, it won’t be for a “quick fix” – I’m not sure if the two points are
  related (John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer)

 

• The Braves are now in on Olsen
  . . . and I hope they get him (Scott Miller of CBSSports.com)

 

• The Rangers, along with the
  Angels, Mets, and Tigers, have asked to look at reliever Chad Cordero’s
  medical records . . . the former closer’s first choice is to pitch for the
  Angels (Bill Ladson of MLB.com)

 

• The Mets are shopping relievers
  Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, and Pedro Feliciano, and Texas is interested
  in at least Heilman (Ken Davidoff of Newsday)

 

• The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that an anonymous
  baseball source is saying “there’s no way Bud [Selig] and the owners are
  going to let” Mark Cuban buy the Cubs. 
  “Zero chance,” says the source.

 

• There are evidently two
  external candidates for San Diego’s
  vacated television play-by-play gig – Josh Lewin and Victor Rojas, though both
  are under contract with the Rangers (Jay Posner of the San Diego
  Union-Tribune)

 

 

 

 

Some notes:

 

Atlanta named Dom Chiti special assistant
to general manager Frank Wren.  Chiti
pitched for five seasons in the Braves’ minor league system 30 years ago.  Among the other special assistants the Braves
employ are Jim Fregosi and Chuck McMichael.

 

Pittsburgh hired Perry Hill to coach first
base.  Milwaukee named Brad Fischer third base
coach.

 

Texas reportedly hired Mike Maddux without
needing a face-to-face meeting. 

 

Davidoff
notes that the Mets have dismissed scout (and former Chicago Bulls GM) Jerry
Krause, who sat 10 feet away from me at an August or September Rangers game and
is a very, very oddly shaped man.

 

According
to MLB.com, right-handed reliever Kazuo Fukumori signed a minor league contract
to return to the Rangers.

 

According to
local reports, Scott Servais said the Rangers will be the sixth organization in
baseball to employ a full-time strength and conditioning coach at every minor
league level.

 

The Rangers’
minor league free agents, according to Baseball America: righthanders Kiko Calero, Brian Gordon, Trey Hodges, Jose
Jaimes, Brandon Puffer, Elizardo Ramirez, and Steven Rowe; lefthanders Derek
Lee, Raul Mayora, Zach Parker, John Rheinecker, and Bill White; catchers Tim
Gradoville, Justin Pickett, and Nick Trzesniak; first basemen Nate Gold and Jason
Hart (who is now coaching in the system), and infielder Drew Meyer.

 

The Lincoln
Saltdogs of the independent American Association named Marty Scott manager.  Scott served briefly as the Mets’ interim AAA
manager in New Orleans
last season.

 

There are
now links on the right side of the front page of www.NewbergReport.com to the cover story
that the Dallas
Observer did on the Newberg
Report four years ago, and to the Observer‘s “Fab 50″ Most Powerful People in Metroplex Sports rankings
for 2006, 2007, and 2008.

 

Also, if
you click the image on the front page of the 2009 Bound Edition, you’ll be sent
to a page that gives you almost-full details on the book – all it lacks is the
added special that if you buy at least two copies of the book, you’ll get a
free copy of any previous year’s volume, your choice.

 

As for the
$2 discount special on the 2009 book, that one expires in one week.

 

Should have
final details on the site for the December 10 Book Release Party this week.  Stay tuned.

 

Jamey