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Today’s Pitch Count is 5.

1. We talked a few weeks back about Brandon Inge and his new role as a platoon player that even included some time at the catcher position. Well, now Jim Leyland thinks Inge will most likely be traded.
2. Josh Bard signed a new one year deal for $2.2375 million. The question remains is that money for a back-up catcher or will Bard be starting in front of Michael Barrett?
3. Barry Zito, not Matt Cain, will be the Oakland A’s opening day starting pitcher.
4. It’s still up in the air regarding Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher, Jason Schmidt, and his ability to be ready for opening day.
5. Baltimore Orioles manager, Dave Trembley, wants to give George Sherrill the first opportunity at replacing Chris Ray as the O’s closer.

Today’s pitch count is 5.

1. Buster Olney thinks that the Yohan Santana sweepstakes winner could be announced as early as today (Tuesday). We could only hope…
2. The Nationals signed catcher Johnny Estrada to a $1.25 million dollar deal and swear that’s it’s not in reaction to Paul Lo Duca’s injury. Yeah right!
3. If rookie Cameron Maybin makes the roster out of Spring Training, Manager Fredi Gonzalez is leaning towards batting him in the leadoff slot and letting Hanley Ramirez hit third.
4. Craig over at Fishstripes is thinking that Scott Olsen can pick up some of the slack created by departing Dontrelle Willis and pitch 200+ innings in 2008.
5. Tim over at RotoAuthority thinks that if George Sherrill is traded to the Orioles in the Erik Bedard deal, he could become their closer.

Today’s pitch count is 6.

1. Hey Twins fans! Do you remember 2006 and a guy named Francisco Liriano? Same question to fantasy GM’s. According to the man himself, Liriano is 100% healthy from Tommy John surgery.
2. DRaysBay takes a look at every player who is invited to Spring Training and tells us who’s going to make the team and who’s headed to the minors. I’m intrigued with their take on everyones favorite 3B prospect, Evan Longoria, and the fact that his roster status is still up in the air.
3. Geoff Young, over at Ducksnorts, projects the 2008 numbers of 1B Adrian Gonzalez. I disagree with his .294/.357/.506 prediction being too conservative. If anything, it may be too generous (at least the average and OB%). However, you can expect the power numbers to be better than ‘07. Gonzalez should do better than 30/100 in 2008.
4. Redlegs Rundown talks about Cincinnati Reds 1B prospect Joey Votto and their expectations of seeing him as the opening day first baseman as well as an All-Star for years to come.
5. Washington Nationals catcher, Paul Lo Duca is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow morning on a torn meniscus, but could still be ready for Opening Day. Some folks feel that we may not be hearing the entire story on how Lo Duca hurt his knee.
6. Many sources are reporting an Adam Jones for Erik Bedard trade. But neither the Orioles or the Mariners have confirmed the deal (which at least one M’s blog feels is a bad move) yet.

Todays pitch count is 7.

1. David Laurila at Baseball Prospectus thinks that Dallas Trahern may be the sleeper in yesterdays Marlins-Tigers trade.
2. The Atlanta Braves, yesterday, acquired a lefty specialist with a 4.95 ERA from the Cubs. Here’s why they made the deal for Will Ohman.
3. A top 20 Los Angeles Angels prospect list heading into 2008.
4. The Arizona Fall League released their Top Prospects Team. A list of players “who distinguished themselves throughout the league’s six-week schedule against other top prospects from every organization in Major League Baseball. Voters were asked to consider Fall League performance and major league projectability”.
5. Matt at The Diamond Cutter compares his top 25 prospect list to MiLB’s top 25 thatwas released recently as a part of their top 50 countdown.
6. Mound Talk’s list of the Arizona Diamondbacks top 10 prospects.
7. Project Prospect’s top 5 Milwaukee Brewers prospects.

Today’s pitch count is 7.

There may be multiple versions of The Pitch Count today as I try and keep up with the Winter Meetings. I promise that no more than 99% of the news I mention will involve Johan Santana.

1. David Pinto thinks that unless the Twins get Clay Buchholz AND Jacoby Ellsbury, they should ditch the Red Sox deal and go deal with the Yanks for Phil Hughes (+ others) for Johan Santana.
2. No deal was worked out last night between the Red Sox and the Twins for Santana. However, the teams did exchange medical records for Santana and Jon Lester before turning in.
3. Well, I never thought this would happen. The Dodgers, who had interest in Andruw Jones, now say that the asking price that agent Scott Boras has set is too high. What??!!?? Boras asking for too much money? Unthinkable!
4. Jose Guillen signs with the Royals for 3 years at $36 million. And I’m setting the over/under date at June 15th for time it takes him to really piss off his teammates, managers or front office staff; maybe all three.
5. The Diamondbacks dealt Carlos Quentin to the White Sox for Chris Carter.
6. The Nationals are still picking up outfielders as they sent Glenn Gibson to the rays for Elijah Dukes.
7. The Yankees first trade did net them a pitcher, but not the big fish they were looking for. The Yanks sent Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for righthanded reliever Jonathan Albaladejo.

Todays pitch count is 7.

1. The Los Angeles Dodgers have entered the market for free agent center fielder Andruw Jones. Other front runner include the Washington nationals and the Kansas City Royals.
2. Marc over at The Baseball Analysts put together a list of interesting players available in the Rule 5 draft this upcoming Thursday, December 6th.
3. He wouldn’t be a Steinbrenner if he didn’t piss some people off. Would he? The Twins aren’t thrilled with comments made Steibrenner concerning the Johan Santana deal. This article also throws the rumor out the window that earlier stated Santana would only agree to a trade to the Red Sox or the Yankees. Thanks MLBTR!
4. Andy Pettitte announced that he will be returning to play for the Yankees in 2008.
5. The Kansas City Royals have announced that they are willing to spend an extra$25 million this off-season to acquire talent. Why, oh why are the dead set on grabbing Jose Guillen?
6. Another Rule 5 draft statistical analysis of available players.
7. It’s 12:30 EST on Monday and Johan Santana is still a member of the Twins rotation! Let’s here some comments about who you all think will pull off the first trade at the Winter Meetings. Will it be the Twins with a Santana deal?

Todays pitch count is 8.

1. Backing up what I said yesterday, on two accounts, concerning the Atlanta Braves center field situation, Will of C-n-C states that Bobby Cox was very impressed with Jordan Schafer during his trip to the AFL and Braves brass think Schafer could be up roaming CF at “The Ted” by the All-Star break. That being said, the Braves probably won’t block Schafer’s upward mobility by signing a big time free agent this offseason (read: Josh Anderson temporarily fills in).
2. In Thursday’s SportsNation chat with Keith Law, Texas Rangers fans find out that Law is high on pitching prospects Kason Gabbard (”Gabbard’s a 4A guy”) and Eric Hurley (”Hurley’s a #2/3 type, fastball’s a little true, but he’s moved very quickly”) but thinks the Rangers are a few years away from recognizing their other big time pitching prospects Michael Main and Kasey Kiker (”Kiker and Main are possible 1/2 types… Kiker’s curveball is one of the best in the minors. So things are looking up, but it’s going to take another two to three years before the Rangers can harvest this talent.”).
3. The countdown of MiLB’s top 50 prospect list is complete now.
4. C-n-C also completes their list of the top 30 Atlanta Braves prospects.
5. The McCovey Chronicles takes some time to grade the SF Giants minor league depth at every position.
6. Mound Talk discusses the the top 10 Detroit Tigers prospects.
7. Friar Forecast lists the top 30 San Diego Padres prospects.
8. John Sickels posted his top 20 Houston Astros prospects.