Wilson last played in the big leagues back in 2007, when he hit just .219/.265/.313 in 68 plate appearances with St. Louis. He appeared in 48 games last season with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, hitting .302/.344/.474 while missing time with a broken eye socket (hit by a pitch) and a separated shoulder (suffered on a slide).

The 35-year-old outfielder is a career .264/.329/.468 hitter in the Majors, and was known for his prodigious strikeout totals (1,085 K in 4,436 PA). The Yankees are rumored to be looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and if Wilson is only looking for a Spring Training invite, what's the harm?

• According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Marlins reliever Scott Proctor is out for the season with Tommy John surgery.  So that's $750K down the tubes, though Rodriguez wonders if they might re-sign him to an incentive-laden deal after the season.
• New blog post at Live to Play, Play to Live chronicling Miguel Angel Sano's 16th birthday party.  His day began with a tryout for the Giants.
• Sports Illustrated names the game's best and worst owners.
• WEEI's Alex Speier says that if Daniel Bard never returns to the minors, he'll eventually be the second player to achieve Super Two status under Theo Epstein. 
• Sam Miller of the OC Register asks who hangs up on a Jonathan Sanchez for Brandon Wood swap.
• I noticed that Preston Wilson surfaced with the Long Island Ducks.  Brad Halsey, Dan Miceli, Ken Ray, and Lew Ford are also on the team, which is managed by Gary Carter.
• Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has a bunch of new info on the Moneyball movie, which comes out in 2011.
• Adam Dunn told John Shea of the Chronicle that he was open to signing with the Giants but did not hear from them.
• Jose Contreras cleared waivers, which is not a surprise given the $8MM+ left on his contract.

RotoWorld reports that the deal is for $1MM with another $500,000 possible in incentives.

Wilson is expected to step in for Chris Duncan if the clock strikes midnight or for Jim Edmonds if this post-concussion thing persists.  Wilson at least has an OK ability to hit southpaws most years, whereas Edmonds has been slipping in ’06.  Still, Edmonds mashed them in ’05 and this year’s sample is only 95 at-bats.

The Astros released Wilson after his SLG plummeted to just .405 this season.  He slugged .443 in Washington last year and PECOTA projected .463 for ’06.  I know I thought he’d hit 30 home runs playing half his games in Minute Maid. 

Miguel Tejada backed off on his trade demand.  Translation: the Orioles didn’t find an offer they liked.

Read about the Diamondbacks’ new philosophy towards team defense under Josh Byrnes over at Baseball Prospectus.

Some lesser known breakout prospects over at Baseball Analysts.

According to an emailer, Richard Justice recently spoke with Astros GM Tim Purpura on Sports Radio 610.  Here’s what came out of the discussion:

The Astros aren’t expecting much from Jeff Bagwell, surprise surprise.  The main concern is, of course, his inability to throw.  In Brian McTaggart’s article in the Houston Chronicle today, he mentions that Bagwell "will have his shoulder analyzed next week by respected orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham."  Expect Bags to be relegated to pinch-hitting duties given the Preston Wilson signing.  I don’t have anything new on the Astros’ interest in White Sox righthander Jose Contreras, but Willy Taveras could be expendable given Wilson’s ability to play center field.

Purpura spoke to Roger Clemens two days ago at Minute Maid.  Clemens has not cleaned out his locker in at the ballpark.  I still believe that Clemens will return to the Astros in mid-June.

Today in the Baltimore Sun, Jeff Zrebiec and Dan Connolly mention that "The Red Sox, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs appear to be the leaders in the Tejada sweepstakes." Adam Everett and Brandon Backe are certainly available on the Astros, but it’ll obviously require a lot more than that to get Miguel Tejada.  Brad Lidge won’t be involved in any deal for the shortstop.

I’ll see if I can dig up any additional info on these topics.

It seems that the Tejada deal is dead and the Orioles have rejected the Cubs’ offer.  Cubs GM Jim Hendry is looking in another direction for some added power in the lineup, and Wilson is his type of player.  By that, I mean that Wilson is an affordable outfielder with average to below average plate discipline.  He’s a career .264/.333/.478 hitter.

The acquisition would push Jacque Jones to left field, a position he hasn’t played since 2003.  Matt Murton would platoon with Jones and face southpaws.  Wilson would take over in right field, a position he’s played for just 19 games in his career.  The source also mentioned that Corey Patterson is as good as gone, although we pretty much assumed that.