We have still more Ken Rosenthal notes up from the g.m. meetings...
Rosenthal says that the Cubs want to sign Alfonso Soriano and make him their centerfielder, a move that I would not be real optimistic about, personally...
And with the Cubs shopping aggressively, the good news for the Rangers is that, with the change in the free agent rules, Type B free agent Mark DeRosa gives them a sandwich pick, rather than a Cubs draft pick...with the way the Cubs are aggressively courting free agents, under the old rules, the DeRosa pick could have ended up being a 4th or 5th rounder, if the Cubs land the guys they want.
We also have this, on a couple of guys the Rangers might have some interest in:
Phillies left fielder Pat Burrell has informed the club that he would accept a trade only to the Yankees, Red Sox or a west-coast club, according to a source with knowledge of his thinking. The Phillies badly want to move Burrell, who has a complete no-trade clause. They also would be willing to trade center fielder Aaron Rowand for a quality reliever.
So no Burrell, it sounds like, although Rowand could be a fit. Aaron Fultz and Arthur Rhodes were unimpressive for the Phillies last year, though, so a deal involving Mahay might be a possibility. Conceptually, you could consider a trade involving Rowand and Akinori Otsuka, although the Phillies would have to kick in more than just Rowand to get a deal done...and who knows, maybe we could get Fabio Castro back as part of that...