Jayson Stark has a column up on possible trade activity at the winter meetings. In his "10 guys likely to be traded" segment (in which he admits he cheated and listed 17 players), Kevin Mench and Alfonso Soriano are included.
Stark says that the Nationals have the most interest in Soriano, but don't have the pitchers to give up for him...although personally, I don't see why we have to be dug in on the issue of getting pitching for Soriano. If we could get Brad Wilkerson for Soriano straight up, Daniels should jump on that deal and not look back.
No other Rangers are either amongst the main group of 17 or the "other guys to watch" list, although potential Ranger targets Milton Bradley, Manny Ramirez, Barry Zito, Juan Pierre, and Joey Gathright make the list of 17.
Brad Wilkerson, Corey Patterson, Todd Walker, and Dave Roberts are among the possible Ranger targets in the "other bats" category, while virtually everyone in the "other arms" group has probably been linked to Texas at one time or another, with Jerome Williams being the most intriguing name, to me.
Peter Gammons' column includes the news that Billy Beane is going to want at least two pitchers for Barry Zito, so if the Rangers are serious about trying to obtain him, they'll probably have to start off with an offer of Juan Dominguez and one of the D-V-D guys to get Oakland's attention.
In other Rangers stuff, Gammons lists Gerald Laird as one of the catchers who is potentially available on the trade market, and says that Hank Blalock "would cost a lot" if a team wants to get him from the Rangers, but that Soriano "is another story," implying the price-tag wouldn't be nearly so high. Gammons also says, though, that Soriano is almost untradeable, given that he's a fifth-year arbitration case who will command about $10 million in salary in 2006. That, of course, is something I've been saying for some time, most recently at the trade deadline this past season, in response to those who insisted that the Rangers would be able to get more for Soriano now than they could then.
Two other items of note...first, we have this item on Luis Castillo:
One AL GM felt the Marlins did very well getting Travis Bowyer for Luis Castillo, whose speed (stealing 10-of-17 attempts is unacceptable) and offensive skills have declined. Bowyer can be a big-league closer with better command. They know what they're doing.
I felt that Castillo, given his salary ($11 million over the next two years), age and cost in terms of prospects, was someone the Rangers should pass on, despite the fact that he's a pretty decent leadoff hitter.
And finally, Gammons says that Kenny Rogers has a two year offer on the table but wants a three year deal. If that is, in fact, the case, it would make it even more foolish for the Rangers to refuse to offer Rogers arbitration.