The Atlanta Braves are believed to be making a late run at signing free agent Ken Griffey Jr. according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Atlanta has been looking for an outfield bat during the offseason, and Griffey could be a great fit, at least against right handed pitching.

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The Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners swapped a couple of recently acquired players.

The Cubs have sent Ronny Cedeno and former Oriole pitcher Garrett Olson to the Mariners for former Met pitcher, Aaron Heilman.

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The Free Agent pool of players got a bit bigger at midnight on Friday when players who were not tendered contract offers from their teams became free agents. I’ve broken the list down by position and as you can see, there are a few surprises here including former Dodgers closer Takashi Saito (2.49 ERA and 18 saves) and Nationals starter Tim Redding (10 wins).

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The World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies have replaced departing free agent outfielder Pat Burrell, by signing Raul Ibanez to a three year deal reportedly worth $30 million. Ibanez, a type-A free agent from Seattle, will also cost the Phils their first round pick next year.

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I’m a bit behind on the rumor and trade news so I’ll try to catch you up today.

The Mets, Mariners, and Indians got together on a three team deal that sent a total of 12 players to new teams.

The Mets acquired former All-Star closer JJ Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed, and reliever Sean Green while giving up Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Jason Vargas, Joe Smith, and three minor leaguers. Putz figures to slide into the setup role for newly signed closer Francisco Rodriguez. With two top flight closers finishing out games, the Mets hope to avoid the late inning collapses that plagued them last year.

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The Cleveland Indians have reportedly agreed to terms on a two year deal with former Cubs closer, Kerry Wood. The deal is believed to be worth nearly $20 million and have a vesting option for a third should the oft-injured pitcher reach certain performance incentives.

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The Minnesota Twins are in need of a third baseman. Until recently it looked like the Dodgers free agent, Casey Blake would be their man. However Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times is reporting that talks have broken down between the free agent and the Twinkies and that the Twins are looking elsewhere to fill their need at the hot corner. Now, you might be wondering why a writer from Seattle is interested in the Twins negotiations with Blake. Well, it just so happens that the Seattle Mariners have a thirdbaseman, Adrian Beltre, that they’ve been trying to trade for a few years now.

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Now that the Phillies have declined to offer free agent Pat Burrell arbitration, several teams have picked up their pursuit of the slugger, including the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and San Francisco Giants according to MLB.com’s Ken Mandel. Mandel also mentions that Burrell grew up in the Bay Area and implies that the Giants may be the favorites to land the outfielder.

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The Seattle Mariners have signed their first free agent of the offseason, 3rd baseman Russell Branyan.

Branyan played in 50 games with the Brewers last year hitting 12 home runs in 132 at bats (not a bad rate really) with a .250 batting average. While Branyan is hardly a big signing, he should provide the M’s with some left handed power off the bench or from the DH spot as long as they don’t expect him to do much against southpaws.

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Teams have until midnight eastern time tonight to extend offers of arbitration to their free agents and I’ll be updating this page as often as news becomes available about teams’ arbitration actions.

Update

The offers are all in, and according to the AP only 24 players were offered arbitration. The list is as follows:

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