A rumor that was first reported by ESPN according to Franchise26 in the comments below has now been detailed by the Denver Post's Troy Renck as a legit proposal which doesn't quite cut it for me. I'd rather go with the Houston, Burke plus Bucholz package he mentions instead if it came to that. Also apparently our interest in Rod Barajas is heating up, according to this report.
Lots of news in Ringolsby's latest from the News including more JJ speculation, the Mike Brito thinking Rivera was going to LA story I wrote about earlier, and the tidbit that Juan Morillo is set to move into the bullpen this Spring.
One more JJ link from Minnesota, where a reliever plus young starter package might not be completely out of the question but it looks tricky to overcome Terry Ryan's concerns in that regard and it's likely that starter will be either Scott Baker or Glenn Perkins rather than one of their more elite prospects.
Update [2006-12-5 7:39:24 by Rox Girl]:
This is the first I've heard of this, but apparently the Rox offered a three year $21 million dollar contract to Jeff Suppan and were turned down. I've got a couple of other links: first more confirmation of the Astros continued interest in JJ, and another link of Jacque Jones to Jennings. I've seen absolutely no confirmation of a Maholm for Hawpe rumor from the Pirates' media, so I'm wondering how much validity that rumor has, given that both Hawpe and all Pirates starters are supposedly off the table according to their respective GM's.
Update [2006-12-5 13:7:39 by Rox Girl]:
Jayson Stark shoots down the Cubs and Pirates rumors, thank you. It was just too ridiculous to consider, although from his blog we learn that the Rockies would have gotten both Maholm and Gorzelanny for Hawpe (that's crazy from the Pirates end). More Stark:
This is what we've been saying, you want JJ, then we'll listen, but it's not going to be for middle of the road expensive corner outfielders like Jones, or a couple of fungible relievers.