TROT COFFEY

(* Trade Rumor Offerings To Chew On For Fun, Even Yuks)

Not to be confused with Brewers journeyman reliever Todd Coffey, the TROT COFFEY is a mailing list-only update on various trade rumblings unearthed, if not hatched, by the media:

• From ESPN’s Jayson Stark in the last couple hours: “The Texas Rangers also are still talking to the Blue Jays about [Roy] Halladay, according to a source familiar with those two teams’ discussions. Texas, the source confirmed, was one of several clubs given a this-is-what-it-would-take proposal by the Blue Jays in the last 72 hours. However, the Rangers have issues beyond their hesitance to give up the slew of top prospects they’ve been asked for. Money is also a complication. So they would need Toronto to pay some of the approximately $22 million left on Halladay’s contract. Plus they’d need the price in players to come down. So they were described by sources as being just ‘semi-alive’ at this point.”
• According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports in the last half hour, although Texas is one of five teams known to be in the mix for Halladay (along with the Phillies, Angels, Rays, and Red Sox), Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is posturing telling reporters tonight that the chances of a Halladay trade are “very slim.”
• According to Yahoo!’s Gordon Edes, Tampa Bay is trying to get Texas involved as a third team in discussions with Cleveland as part of the Rays’ attempt to acquire Cliff Lee, presumably to add a Rangers pitching prospect to the package they’d offer the Indians.
• Question to ponder: If Kevin Millwood needs to miss a start or two due to his glute injury, does that increase the chances that Texas trades for a starting pitcher? Or decrease them?
• Dustin Nippert’s effort today (7/25/09) after replacing the injured Millwood: Bad Ass.
• Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports add more detail to Jayson Stark’s Sunday report that Toronto had sent Texas a specific Roy Halladay proposal, reporting that the Blue Jays’ demand was Derek Holland, Justin Smoak, and “two other top guys.” (For my thoughts on the idea of including two of Holland, Smoak, Neftali Feliz, and Martin Perez in a deal for Halladay, stop by Inside Corner later this morning for the transcript of a lengthy Sunday morning chat session between Evan Grant, Mike Hindman, Joey Matschulat, and myself.)
• Rosenthal and Morosi add that Washington’s asking price for Josh Willingham is too high, and among the Rangers’ right-handed bat targets are Cleveland’s Ryan Garko and the Mets’ Gary Sheffield, who is currently on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain.
• Adding to the weekend report from Yahoo! Sports’s Gordon Edes that Tampa Bay is trying to trade for a Rangers pitching prospect to flip to Cleveland in a Cliff Lee deal, there are various rumblings on the Web suggesting the Tampa Bay enticement to Texas would be Scott Kazmir or Andy Sonnanstine. Edes reports that Texas would not trade Holland in such a deal with the Rays.
• According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, Texas was among eight to 10 teams that were on hand last night to scout Justin Duchscherer’s first minor league rehab outing. Pitching for Stockton in the High A Cal League, the former Rangers righthander was perfect in two innings, fanning two San Jose Giants, coaxing three to ground out, and one to fly out.