Ken Rosenthal at Foxsports.com is reporting that the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays are on the verge of completing a swap of their 3rd Basemens, Scott Rolen and Troy Glaus.

Rolen batted 262 with 8 Home Runs and 58 RBIs in 112 games last year. Glaus appeared in only 115 games, batting 265 with 20 Homers and 62 RBIs

Considering the landscape of this free agent market, this year could be the biggest off-season of trades in quite some time.

Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Scott Rolen, and Miguel Tejada are among those who could be seeing a change in scenery this winter.

In terms of Santana, Jayson Stark on ESPN writes that the Mets might be the team most willing to give up the prospects needed to get him.

One NL executive says: Watch out for the Mets, given the pressure on GM Omar Minaya to win now.

“Omar seems determined to make a huge splash,” the exec says. “And I think that’s the guy they’ve had earmarked all along.”

The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, and Mets would appear to be the top teams in the running for Santana.

The Yankees don’t appear willing to deal Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, or Phillip Hughes, which would likely put they out of the running for Santana.

The Dodgers would need to make a choice on who to use their prospects on, Cabrera or Santana. Buster Olney on ESPN cites a NL source who said that the Dodgers and Marlins are ‘pretty far apart’ on Cabrera. Olney writes that ‘there is growing expectation around the game is that the Angels will land Cabrera’.

However Rosenthal believes the Angels no longer are the front-runners for Cabrera.

Rosenthal cites major-league sources who say, if the Dodgers are willing to part with outfielder Matt Kemp along with third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class AA left-hander Clayton Kershaw, they would likely be able to land the Marlins All-Star third baseman.

If the Dodgers fail to land Cabrera, they are rumored to have interest in Scott Rolen as well.

Jayson Stark believes it will take two young players to get Dontrelle Willis. The Mets, Mariners and Diamondbacks are believed to have interest.

The Orioles want to get rid of the $26 million left on Miguel Tejada’s contract which does not leave many suitors. The Dodgers and Angels may use Tejada as plan B if they lose out on Cabrera. The O’s are also rumored to be shopping Erik Bedard.

The Reds may make Ryan Freel or Scott Hamilton available due to the emergence of minor league player of the year Jay Bruce.

The Pirates could offer 26-year old Ian Snell who has more quality starts (22) than Santana or Roy Oswalt and a better strikeout rate (7.66 per 9 innings) than Carlos Zambrano or Ben Sheets.

The Phillies are looking at Randy Wolf, Matt Clement, Kris Benson, Mike Wood, and Japanese free agent Hiroki Kuroda.

Here’s whats brewing on the Hot Stove this Thursday morning…

• Yorvit Torrealba’s agent told the Denver Post that he expects his client to make a decision regarding the Mets contract offer today. Tracy Ringolsby in the Rocky Mountain News reports that the Mets have offered Torrealba a two-year deal worth $9 million. The Denver Post is reporting it to be a three-year, $15 million deal.
• Omar Minaya tells Ben Shpigel of the New York Times he has an idea of how much money it will take to sign his desired free-agent targets and knows which prospects and how many he would have to surrender to upgrade the Mets pitching staff.“Ideally, you’d always like a guy with 200-plus innings, you know what I’m saying?” Minaya said. “If for whatever reason Glavine does not come back, we have to look for a starting pitcher.”
• Speaking of Tom Glavine, Mets.com reports that Tom is getting some advice on his future from the most famous Tom in Mets history, Mr. Tom Seaver.
• Dan Graziano at the Star Ledger reports that the Yankees plan on continuing to pursue Mike Lowell even if they re-sign Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees plan on putting Lowell at first base.
• Jon Heyman on SI.com reports that the Yankees and Rodriguez are discussing a 10 year, $280 million contract.
• Buster Olney said on ESPN last night that he believes that Alex Rodriguez is taking a deeply discounted offer from the Yankees, 10-years for $220 million. I’ll believe this when I see it.
• The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the Padres expect Geoff Blum to sign with the Astros, and will likely let Milton Bradley walk as well. The Padres are looking at Geoff Jenkins and Andruw Jones as their top free agent targets.
• The St Louis Post Dispatch reports that Scott Rolen seems all but gone from St. Louis. The third baseman was reportedly unhappy with the letter he received from Tony La Russa that was an attempt to reconcile with Rolen.
• The St Louis Post Dispatch also reports that the Cardinals have interest in Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse.
• 7Sports, a local Boston news television station, is reporting that the Braves, Angels, Cardinals and Yankees have all offered Mike Lowell four-year contracts worth between $55 million and $60 million.

Buster Olney on his ESPN.com blog hears that the Cardinals are shopping Scott Rolen and the Twins are interested.

Rolen is owed $33 million over the next three years.

Yahoo Sports lists a number of players the Yankees may consider to replace Alex Rodriguez at third base.

Mike Lowell, Adrian Beltre, and Miguel Cabrera are among those mentioned. Scott Rolen is listed as a dark horse candidate, since he’s been plauged by injuries. The $36 million owed to him through 2010 would likely cost the Yankees little in the form of a trade, as the Cardinals would like to simply have the Yankees pick up most of his contract.