According to Buster Olney, Astros infielder Mark Loretta is drawing interest from the Padres and Yankees. The soon-to-be 36 year-old is hitting .307/.383/.402 in 264 ABs this year. He’s played all four infield positions this year. Loretta’s ’07 salary is $2.5MM with an additional $1MM in incentives. So at most, there’s about $1.4MM left on the deal this year.
Marcus Giles has been a disappointment for the Padres, hitting .237/.309/.329 on the year. That’s really bad. Loretta would probably play second regularly for San Diego. Olney believes the Yankees would continue to use Loretta in the supersub role. You may recall that the Yanks had interest in him back in December.
