Filling in here, minor league updates, here you go. First time doing this, so hope the formatting isn't too screwy

Oh, Chris Carter, Matt Spencer, and Travis Banwart swept the Texas League Player of the Week awards, again (Carter, Jason Fernandez, and Arnold Leon were the players last week). 

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EDIT:  OCab is gone!  The Twins have acquired OCab for SS prospect Tyler Ladenorf: LINK

Rated-R Superstar summed up the OCab-Twins talk here.  Pretty much, the two sides are making progress and its somewhat likely OCab is a Twin. And Ron Gardenhire likes O-Cab. I just thought putting all the trade deadline stuff in one place, since today is one of the most important non-playoff days of the season (the draft days are the other). Post updates, etc, here. Packaging OCab with Springer to get more prospects from the Twins, since they do need bullpen help, might be wise.

Re: Springer/Cardinals: It's unlikely:

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak downplayed the possibility of acquiring relief help before today's 3 p.m. waiver deadline.

The Cardinals remain interested in set-up relief help but may find a match after today.

"I don't see anything happening in the near term," Mozeliak said.

"There is a possibility something may come along after (today), but there is also a significant chance that nothing happens."

Other thoughts:

• Getting the Twins to overpay for OCab would be nice and pleasant.
  
•  Springer and/or one of Wuertz/Ziegler might also be traded, as many others know. Obviously, Wuertz or Ziegler should only be moved if the price is right, and by no means should both be moved, but if someone offers a top 3B/SS prospect, do it. Springer is a solid reliever and an impending FA who's likely to accept arbitration if offered, so if the A's aren't planning on forking 3MM over for a middling reliever (which they shouldn't), trying to trade Springer would be smart. But then, he does have leadership qualities and I'd rather Geren NOT get any more excuses to blow out the arms of Bailey and Wuertz (if he stays). Having Springer to soak up innings with how young and Verducci-risky the rotation is.
  
• Halladay hopefully is a Ranger. Now, before I get lambasted for wanting the Rangers to seriously upgrade their team and reel in arguably the best pitcher in baseball,  I'm getting a kick out of the idea of breaking up the Rangers' big four and one, most likely two, of the Smoak/Perez/Feliz/Holland crew going to Toronto, namely Smoak (hell, Smoak + a bunch of Texas's non top 3 guys will be good). The Rangers probably won't extend him, as Doc has expressed desire to try the FA market and the Yanks/Red Sux/Mets/Dodgers are lurking there to pry the Doc away or at least jack up his price. I know he's a prospect and could very easily be a bust, but not having to deal with (a really cheap) Smoak in 2011 if he hits his ceiling and 5 other years will make it easier for the A's to win a few division titles in those years. Oh, and maybe some payroll issues that might lead to the Rangers not signing Purke/Scheppers, who are massively overslot draft picks. I don't dislike the Rangers and really really want them to win the West or at least take the WC away from the Yanks/Red Sox. But Smoak out of the AL West is a good thing as far as prospects go.Deal with Doc in 2010, since 2009 is kinda done in terms of playoffs for the GNG. Oh, and I'd infinitely more like the Rangers to win the West this year than those pesky slegnA and their stupid rally monkeys.
  
• Oh. There's also talk about Victor Martinez, Adrian Gonzalez, and a bunch of other guys. Maybe one of those two going to Boston, since Papi's showing off that he's done.
  
• Anything else? Trade predictions? Post away!

So, an interesting name has been getting thrown around AN...this guy by the name of Ben Sheets. I think the absolute highest he gets in this market is 2/30, and I could see him getting 2/20 or a 1/15 type deal (which is why he should have accepted arbitration). For the sake of proving points, I'll stick to the high estimate and say 2/30. Now that the retirement home across the Bay has signed Randy Johnson, who would've been my number 1 FA starter choice, let's go to Sheets, shall we?

1. Interest in the pitcher has been tepid, at best. Which means, he is likely to come at a major bargain price.

When interest is tepid, we all know what happens. Kyle Lohse 2008 happens (even though Sheets is eons of a better pitcher than Lohse). Demands come down. Players become bargains.  Two teams have stuck out as potential contenders for Sheets: the Rangers and the Braves. One could also see the Brewers resigning Sheets, but

However, I could see the Rangers also waiting until they have the albatrosses known as Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood off the books in 2010 to pursue a free agent starter. And, if I've heard correctly, the Rangers are not raising payroll, which would bar a major FA signing like Sheets. They also do not have an offer out to Sheets yet, although they are rumored to be the frontrunners for the pitcher.

And then, there are the Braves. First of all, why haven't we heard more about the Braves' interest in Sheets. If the injury risk truly is scaring them away, then why were they making offers to another injury prone player, who I will not name in this post. I'm confused myself as to why they're not in on Sheets. Has Mike Hampton really scared them off that much?

2. He doesn't have to be healthy for the entire duration of his contract to be worth the bucks.

He is a 4.5-5 win player per season if he pitches 200 innings. Here's a chart.  We're going to use the very generous contract estimation of 2/30, when, if the market for Sheets is really as dry as it looks, he'll probably be landable on less.

Now, pretend his contract is for 2/30, which is a high estimate looking at the market. There might be an option involved, but that will be contingent on performance. Let's say that the market rate for one WAR is about 5MM (it was 4.5MM in '08, and is probably bound to increase. If it does not increase as much, then the value goes down, but the contract will still benefit the A's.). That means, that at 5MM/win, he would have to accumulate 6 WAR to be worth the money. And that, my friends, is pretty damn likely.

Assuming he maintains his 2008 FIP of 3.34 (tRA = 3.45), that is. At that level, he would have to pitch about 267 innings total (133.5 IP per season average) assuming 4.5 WAR per season. At 4 WAR, he'd have to pitch 300 innings over the duration of his contract (150 IP/season) to accumulate the 6 WAR paid for.

And, he's a safe bet to hit 140-150 IP per season, as he has hit 150 in all but 2 years of his career (and just barely missed in one year, throwing 141.1 IP).  Chart!

I love draft picks like none other, but if a player has the upside of representing a 3-4 win upgrade for your team (and is likely to reach that upside). And, the A's keep their first rounder, and have the potential to gain two first rounders (Holliday + Sheets) and two supplemental picks from them leaving in the next two years. Although that is an ideal situation, as what happened with CC/Burnett could happen or a crappy team signs one of the two, etc. Although if Sheets keeps up his innings totals, he'll be a near lock for Type A. One can assume fairly around  replacement level production from the 5th starter spot (I don't think Gio is ready for MLB yet, which means rotation as of now is Duke-Gallagher-Eveland-Braden-Outman. Unless you see massive breakouts from Outman, Braden, and Eveland, one will probably be worth one win or less, or two wins at the most). He'd be a bigger upgrade than putting an all-bat, no glove guy at 1B, etc IMO. 

Rosenthal:

The Angels are out of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes.

The team has withdrawn its offer to the free-agent slugger, according to a source close to the negotiations.

So, this is good news for the A's, absolutely.

Keeping Teixeira, 28, was the Angels' top priority. The team now figures to explore other free-agent pursuits, including the possible signing of left-handed closer Brian Fuentes.

That's also good. Even if Fuentes' price drops, it is the unnecessary throwing of funds to paying for a closer/relief stud, when Arredondo is more than fitting to do the job. And, it does not address any of the slegnA offensive issues. Which, again, is an excellent idea to begin with. And, Joey Devine will outperform Fuentes in '09 anyways. :-P

Tim Brown of Yahoo also reporting same thing, btw.

I have a feeling both the Angels brass and Beane saw this coming. Angels went out and signed Juan Rivera. Teixeira in a non-slegnA uniform helps level the playing field that is the AL West, which adds an inkling of backing to a Holliday trade. So, the A's chances at contending just went up, without the A's even making another move.

EDIT: Because so many rumors have been debunked this offseason, the LA Times got confirmation from Angels brass themselves. So we can call it official.

Tim Mead, the Angels' vice president of communications, confirmed a foxsports.com report that the team has withdrawn its offer to Mark Teixeira and is no longer pursuing the free-agent first baseman.