• SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Mets have talked with Edgardo Alfonzo.  Alfonzo, 34, came up a Met and snagged MVP votes in 2000 with a .967 OPS.
• Seems like Aaron Hill’s contract extension may wait until after the season, when his offensive value is more clearly established.
• No interest in Steve Kline yet…teams will probably wait the Giants out so they don’t have to pay his $1.75MM salary.
• If Chris Reitsma doesn’t make a decision soon about heading to Triple A, the Ms could place him on the restricted list.
• Dejan Kovacevic hasn’t heard anything about Adam LaRoche as a trade candidate, even though extension talks fizzled.
• Kevin Goldstein believes shortstop Tim Beckham is the "top talent in the draft."

Reitsma had a fifth elbow surgery in July of ’07.  The Mariners declined his $2.7MM option for ’08 but re-signed him to a minor league deal.  He’s healthy now, but hasn’t been useful since ’05.

• The Mariners re-signed Chris Reitsma; he hopes to be ready for Spring Training following August elbow surgery (not Tommy John, of course).  Reitsma hopes to return to his groundballing, healthy form of 2005.  On a related note, Bleeding Blue and Teal speculates that the Mariners could target Jeremy Affeldt if they trade George Sherrill.  At one point Affeldt was said to be seeking five years.  His agent has already pitched him to the Mariners as a possible starter.
• Eduardo Encina reports that the Rays seek a superutility player and lefty reliever, and would prefer to get both via trade.  Affeldt could be a possibility here as well.
• East Windup Chronicle analyzes Japanese stadiums.

FROM 11-2-07:

The Mariners are saying they put the ball in Jose Guillen’s court, but they really didn’t.  They declined his one-year, $9MM option.  Now Guillen can choose to exercise an option for 2008 for $5MM or elect for free agency.  Seems pretty clear he’ll pass on that.

It figured to be this way from the start; the $9MM team option really meant nothing because if they exercised it that would mean Guillen was worth more than that on the open market.  The $5MM player option only had value if Guillen was hurt or terrible in ’07 and wanted to get paid anyway.

You have to figure it’ll take three years, $30MM to even get in the door on a new contract for Guillen.  He wants to stay, but admits the Mariners have to make a choice.  That choice would apparently have to be benching Jose Vidro, shifting Raul Ibanez to DH, and using Adam Jones in left.  Bringing Guillen back doesn’t seem likely, especially with Wladimir Balentien already sitting on the sidelines.

The Ms also officially ended the Chris Reitsma experiment.

• I wrote a postmortem on why the D’Backs beat the Cubs over at The Hardball Times.
• Just a whisper at the moment, but I’m hearing that the Angels could pursue Aramis Ramirez if the Cubs make him available.  They were in hard on him last year when he was briefly a free agent.
• Seems that Joe Torre is done as Yankees manager, but Tony La Russa is not interested.
• Another important date to mark down: November 10th.  That’s when Alex Rodriguez decides whether to opt out of his contract.  Right after the GM meetings.
• The Tigers will stick with Brandon Inge at third base next year, perhaps feeling that his defense justified his .236/.312/.376 line.  There is hope for a rebound, since he slugged .463 the previous year.  Plus Inge is locked in for $6.2MM in ’08, $6.3MM in ’09, and $6.6MM in ’10.
• The Mariners had a $2.7MM option on Chris Reitsma with a $0.7MM buyout and apparently some kind of option on Arthur Rhodes.  Both were declined.  Reitsma, coming off ulnar nerve transposition surgery in ’06, was supposed to be Seattle’s setup man.  He tried to pitch this year but the elbow wasn’t fully healed.  Rhodes had similar problems in ’06 and went under the knife for TJ in April.
• You may have noticed some of the in-post ads are showing as ugly blank white space or "This page cannot be found" errors…please bear with me as I try to get it back to normal. 

Reitsma had July elbow surgery (not Tommy John) and hopes to be ready for spring.  The 29 year-old is yet another groundballing addition to the Mariner pitching staff (they’ve already got grounder-lovers Felix Hernandez, Miguel Batista, and Horacio Ramirez).

Additionally, Rodrigo Lopez is a possibility for the Rockies’ rotation.  It’s also been revealed that the Rockies are one of the six teams in on Chris Reitsma, along with the Reds.  And talks with Javy Lopez will be reignited this week.

Reitsma formerly pitched in Cincinnati before he was traded to the Braves in March of 2004.  He had elbow surgery in July and hopes to be ready by spring training.  I’m no doctor, but I know that is different than Tommy John.  Even in the midst of recent struggles, Reitsma has always gotten groundballs.  He could be a setup candidate for the Reds or even force his way into an unstable closer situation.     

The Marlins may go after new free agents Chris Reitsma and Jorge Sosa as well.  Might as well round ’em up and try to piece together a bullpen.  The team is still hunting for the right center fielder, but the rotation is set with Willis-Johnson-Olsen-Sanchez-Nolasco.

The second base market now consists of Giles, Mark Loretta, and Ron Belliard.  As for Reitsma, I think he’s worth a million on the gamble that he can return as a useful starter or reliever.

There are still some second basemen on the free agent market, but Giles should intrigue several clubs.  He’ll turn 29 in May and aside from 2006 hits well above average for a second baseman.  The Devil Rays, Red Sox, and Mets would be smart to consider him.

Reitsma turns 29 in December.  The former Braves closer had Tommy John surgery in July, so he could still recover in time to help a team during the 2007 season.  He had three fairly respectable seasons prior to 2006 and even made 21 starts in ’02.  For a few million bucks he’d be a good play in either role.  I’d try him as a fifth starter option; he has strong groundball tendencies.  Overall, the free agent market is up 47% this winter.