Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald notes that some of the whispers heard in the lobby that the Padres are letting other teams know that Padres SP Jake Peavy is available. Silverman also notes that the Twins have yet to let it be known that Johan Santana is available.

According to MLB.com, the Mets are interested in Chad Cordero, while the Nationals seek Carlos Gomez and Mike Pelfrey.

Gomez is also, sought by the Minnosota Twins, and could be part of a deal to land Johan Santana. However in an ESPN poll by Jerry Crasnick, 14 out of 15 baseball executives and GMs polled at the General Managers meeting in Orlando do not believe the Twins will deal Santana this winter.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com believes the Angels have emerged as a most intriguing possibility for Marlins 3B Miguel Cabrera to land through a trade. The Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees all have interest as well, however the Red Sox are trying to re-sign Mike Lowell and the comments from Yankees’ representative Hank Steinbrenner saying that he would not trade one of the big three young pitchers.

Rosenthal also adds that the Washington Nationals would like to sign CF Andruw Jones but will likely have a tough time chalking up the money it will take to get him. He also notes that he sees the Giants and White Sox as two potential suiters with the Dodgers a possibility. The Padres would be more involved with him if his price dropped.

The Phillies believe that CF Aaron Rowand may command a four-year, $52 million contract. Both the Astros and Mets remain interested in free agent 2B Luis Castillo. The Indians, Padres and Dodgers could also enter the mix pending decisions within their franchise. The Twins are one of the teams attempting to trade for Red Sox CF Coco Crisp, but the Red Sox are demanding too much in return it appears. Teams with too many starting pitchers may look to the trade market to get rid of them. Indians starter LHP Cliff Lee, Brewers RHP Dave Bush and LHP Chris Capuano are amongst the possible choices.

Rosenthal ends on one final note. The Washington Nationals would like to trade for another young major league-ready starter. Mets 2nd-round draft pick in 2006 Kevin Mulvey is among one of the choices that Rosenthal adds, with the other being the Twins Kevin Slowey.

With the Mets in need of bullpen help. Could we be looking at a trade for one of the Nationals relievers? Chad Cordero or Jon Rauch could help this team in the bullpen and the Nationals are looking to get younger. The Nationals reportedly have interest in OF Carlos Gomez as well.

Buster Olney reports on ESPN.com from the GM meetings.

Olney sees the Johan Santana market heating up. Rival executives began for the first time to get a serious vibe that if the Twins don’t sign Santana, they will definitely put him on the market. The Twins will make a contract offer to Santana and if he refuses their offer they will look to trade him.

Olney heard of possible offer from the Dodgers for Miguel Cabrera that consisted of third baseman Andy LaRoche, minor league pitcher Clay Kershaw, and an outfielder, possibly Matt Kemp. The Chicago Sun Times believes the White Sox have enough young pitching to get Cabrera.

Two teams told Olney that their A-Rod bidding would need to begin with eight years and $32 million per season bringing it to $256 million, $4 million more than his old deal. Many GMs feel that A-Rod relatively fits into the market at $20 to $23 million, but as we have seen, the market for A-Rod defies reality.

The next best closer on the market after Mariano Rivera, Francisco Cordero, could net a deal worth $40 million.

The most coveted middle reliever on the market is Ron Mahay, who held hitters to a .189 average, and allowed just two homers in 106 at-bats.

Roy Oswalt is not available, however the Houston Chronicle reports that Brad Lidge is.

Ryan Zimmerman has a broken bone in his wrist.

Many more rumors, news and notes regarding the GM meetings can be found on Olney’s blog on ESPN.

The Denver Post reports that the Colorado Rockies are making a big push to re-sign Kaz Matsui and their catcher Yorvit Torrealba. Rockies General Manager Dan Mc Dowd said he’s prepared to make a multi-year offer to Torrealba.

The Mets have had interest in Torrealba, but have also kept Jorge Posada and Paul Lo Duca in their radar screen.

Buster Olney on ESPN writes that the Mets need a reliable innings eater this season that can consistantly take games into the seventh or even the eight inning, however it will be extremely difficult to land one.

Olney thinks Carlos Silva is the best pitcher available on the free agent market, but will command a deal worth about $40 million.

Big names like Johan Santana, Scott Kazmir, and Roy Oswalt are available via trade but the Mets don’t have quite the level of prospects that teams would be seeking in return. Baseball executives are mixed on their evaluation of Lastings Milledge, and while many are high on Carlos Gomez, the Mets seem reluctant to offer him in any deal. Mike Pelfrey and Phillip Humber are viewed as 4th or 5th starters or relievers. Aaron Heilman would be someone Olney considers a valuable trade chip, but the Mets are coming off a season where their bullpen seems to require an upgrade. Olney believes a deal to acquire Joe Blanton is most likely.

Olney also predicts that the Mets will offer Jorge Posada a four year deal, which depending on how much the Yankees are willing to spend to retain Posada, could bring the 35 year old catcher to Queens.

According to the St. Louis Post, the Cardinals have decided to decline their one-year $1.1 million option on outfielder So Taguchi on Monday night, though it doesn’t close the door on his chance’s of returning. The Cardinals elected to buy it out at $100,000.

Taguchi, 38, hit .290 this past season in 307 at-bats.

He is eligible for arbitration, and the Cardinals could tender him a contract before the December deadline.

Here are a few hot stove items involving National League teams…

The Nationals are seeking a center fielder, and according to Ken Rosenthal on Fox Sports, they are willing to make a big push for Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, and Mike Cameron.

The Padres are looking for a center fielder as well and Buster Olney at ESPN believes CoCo Crisp, Andruw Jones, and Geoff Jenkins could be targets.

The Cubs are looking at Cameron but prefer a left handed hitter, such as Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome.

Kyle Loshe could receive money similar to Carlos Silva this offseason, reports Ken Davidoff on his Newsday blog, and the Mets are likely to discuss a deal with his representatives as well at this week’s GM meetings.

MLB Trade Rumors posts the top 50 free agents and predicts where they will wind up.

Nice list, and I think many of the explanations are reasonable. Tim Dierkes has his finger on the pulse of the hot stove season, so it would be in your best interest to pay close attention to his site all winter long.

Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun sat down with Orioles president of baseball operations, Andy MacPhail.

When asked if the team would be exploring a contract extension for their ace Erik Bedard before entertaining trade offers for the southpaw…

“Twenty-eight-year-old left-handers that are as dominant as he was over the course of the season are hard to come by. … I am responsible to listen to other clubs and see what they have in mind and what would make sense. I don’t think that this franchise is in a position just to categorically reject anything without considering it. We’ve already had sort of preliminary conversations on an [extension] with his representative, but nothing specific. Clearly, it’s something that interests us.”

Bedard, 28, was 13-8 in 28 starts with a 3.16 ERA and ranked 3rd in the American League in strikeouts with 221. The Orioles finished with a 69-93 record, 27 games out of first place in the American League East.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that the Mets will face stiff competition from the Houston Astros when they look to re-sign Luis Castillo.

The Astros are looking to replace Craig Biggio, who retired this season, and Rosenthal’s sources say that they will make a ’strong run’ at Castillo.

Five more players have filed for free agency today, including Josh Fogg of the NL Champion Colorado Rockies.

Cleveland
Foulke, Keith (RP)

Colorado
Fogg, Josh (SP)

San Diego
Mackowiak, Rob (OF) Tomko, Brett (SP)

San Francisco
Matheny, Mike (Catcher)

Tracy Ringolsby on Fox Sports writes, among other Hot Stove chatter, that the San Francisco Giants would be willing to part with their young ace, Tim Lincecum.

“The Giants have even let it be known that Tim Lincecum, their No. 1 pick in 2006, can be had for a quality bat.”

Ringolsby discusses how many teams will all be competing for pitching this offseason, and most of the quality arms will need to be acquired via trade, such as Dontrelle Willis, Johan Santana, and Jon Garland.

He also suspects that the Baltimore Orioles may look to field offers on SS Miquel Tejada who has two years left on his six-year $72 million deal.

On SI.com, Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus provides a great preview of the Hot Stove season for the NL East, listing team by team the key free agents, long term commitments, young rising stars, what each team should do and what they will do.

Regarding what the Mets should do, Nate doesn’t really think the Mets need to do much at all. The obvious holes are catcher and second base but he pleads with the Mets to not panic, and that major moves would placate sports talk radio jocks more than it would fans.

However, when discussing what they will do, he fears that Omar may look to be aggressive after the way the Mets folded in the second half of last season, and as a result top young players like Lastings Milledge and Fernando Martinez could suffer ‘collateral damage’.