All Things Bubba

Looks like it was outfielder day on the Hot Stove. The Brewers landed Mike Cameron. Says Rosenthal:

The Yankees had pursued Cameron, but their decision to pass on him indicates that they still could be considering a trade for Twins left-hander Johan Santana. They might not have been willing to absorb the salaries of both Cameron and Santana, sources say.

Either that, or they're not trading Melky for Santana, and don't need a center fielder?

The A's signed Emil Brown. Presumably, this is because they are sending Mark Kotsay to the Braves.

Meanwhile, the Reds hired the Cards' former GM, Walk Jocketty. No, not to replace Wayne Krivsky. Jocketty will be a "special adviser" to owner and chief executive Bob Castellini. I imagine he will take over some of Krivsky's responsibilities, but I wouldn't read this as a vote of no-confidence in Krivsky or anything. A lot of teams are adding more brass at the top. I think Castellini just wanted Jocketty - in addition to Krivsky, not instead of him.

MLB Trade Rumors has an analysis of Jocketty. He's an excellent horsetrader, but not so hot at drafting and developing young players. He's old school, and doesn't like the new-fangled sabermetrics:

Supposedly Jocketty deeply (ticked) off his bosses - owner Bill DeWitt and team president Mark Lamping - for failing to develop an amicable working relationship with VP of player development (and stat maven) Jeff Luhnow. Supposedly Luhnow lived in fear of being seen around Busch Stadium, especially with reporters, for fear it would get back to Jocketty. And the Jocketty wing of the organization - the old-school scouting types - generally treated Luhnow, according to one source, "like a war criminal."

Yikes. If true, it's not good news for Cincinnati. IMO, a small market team like Cincinnati can't afford to ignore sabermetrics.