5:14pm: The Orioles are pursuing Koji Uehara of the Rangers as well as McClellan, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Their pursuit of a reunion with Uehara could complicate the Cards' plan to clear money to sign Oswalt.
3:47pm: The Cards appear to be interested in salary relief more than obtaining a high-end prospect for McClellan, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The club could also move Kyle Lohse or Jake Westbrook to the bullpen.
Morosi adds that the club has discussed deals with Oswalt in the range of $7.5MM while the pitcher seeks $10MM. Moving McClellan, who makes $2.5MM, would give the Cards enough room to sign the veteran (Twitter link).
3:16pm: Even though they have interest, the Cardinals' asking price is too high for the Orioles right now, a team source tells Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter)
2:35pm: The Cardinals are actively shopping versatile righthander Kyle McClellan, writes Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Moving McClellan would allow the club to alleviate a logjam in their bullpen and give them the payroll flexibility to a sign a free agent starting pitcher.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are looking to clear money in order to sign Roy Oswalt, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. It was rumored this week that St. Louis was near a deal with the veteran but Morosi stresses that there's no deal in place just yet.
General Manager John Mozeliak recently conceded that the club could possibly deal McClellan but believes it more likely that the he will be with the Cardinals when pitchers and catchers report on February 18th. The Cardinals have attempted to engage a number of clubs in talks for McClellan and the Orioles have emerged as one of the most promising trade partners for him, according to Strauss' industry sources.
The Padres and Diamondbacks are also among the teams that have expressed interest in McClellan.
Saito is the only move I feel good about. I think we gave up too much in the Cahill deal but Cahill is young as well and may still develop, Parker has a higher ceiling though. Bloomquist and McDonald doesn’t make sense because they only need one of them unless they anticipate a lot of missed time from Drew, and honestly I think they overpaid for both, I’m willing to look the other way because they were so low. Kubel is mostly what I’m annoyed about, since he’s never had a 3+ season in terms of fWAR and Parra is coming off of a 3.2 season, and Parra is projected to be more valuable than Kubel in 2012. People on here keep telling me that Kuroda was unobtainable, but I think if they offered the money from Kubel’s + Saunders’ contracts they could have had him. So of course they overpaid Kubel, Saunders, and Hill although I am willing to look the other way on Hill because they were out of options at 2B (should have just hung onto Kelly and if he did decide to walk they would have picked up some sweet compensation, worst case they would have signed Hill to a similar deal and had picks from letting Kelly go). Oh, and Blanco was a good move, but that was something they couldn’t really mess up since I doubt anybody else wanted him. Basically, they could have had a better time, in my opinion, by doing nothing except resigning their current players (sans Saunders and obvious other “role-players”). Then maybe adding Kuroda or a riskier candidate in Oswalt.
Drew is unlikely to be ready to go by opening day. On top of that, it’s basically a contract year for him. The team can pick up his option for 2013 at $10MM. But, until he A) comes back healthy, and B) Starts to perform up to expectations, that’s unlikely. Signing Bloomquist and McDonald allows Drew to take his time healing and also allows the team to clear money at the deadline by moving Drew.
The Dbacks tried to get Kuroda. They made him an offer (supposedly in the $10MM range). He kept jerking the team around and wouldn’t get to the negotiating table. That’s when they signed Kubel. I agree, Kubel seems an odd sign. I didn’t like it when it happened. I’m still not sure I like it now. If it keeps them from resigning any of Kennedy, Hudson, or Montero I don’t like it. If it dies not, and he hits .300/25/85, I’ll take it. So the jury is still out for me.