That's nice, but some outsiders remain skeptical.
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"What, he's finding out that Frank is a micromanager?" asked one rival executive who knows both Huntington and Coonelly. "That's nothing new. That's what (Coonelly) was in New York (where he worked for the commissioner's office)."
A scout from another team said he was told that Huntington had a deal in place this spring that would have sent Bay to Cleveland, only to have Coonelly veto it.
A look around the big leagues with a week to go before the July 31 deadline:
• The Brewers and Indians have been pretty quiet about who's on the player-to-be-named list from the CC Sabathia trade, but two rival club officials said they've been led to believe that Class A third baseman Taylor Green and Double-A outfielder Michael Brantley are on it. "I'll tell you what," said one scout familiar with the Milwaukee system. "If Brantley's on it, and I'm Cleveland, I'm all over that. I think I'd have taken him over (Matt) LaPorta."
• Brewers GM Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he doesn't expect to trade for a reliever, but the teams with available relievers still seem to believe that the Brewers are interested. The Pirates have scouted the Brewers farm system extensively, and the Orioles are watching Milwaukee's Double-A Huntsville team this week. In fact, one scout said that as many as 10 teams are watching Huntsville's current series at Carolina.
• The Twins have money to spend, enough so that they were willing to pick up Adrian Beltre's contract if they could have worked out a trade with the Mariners. But as of now, they've been told there's no match.
• With the Marlins still looking everywhere to add a catcher, one rumor in Baltimore had them going after Ramon Hernandez. That might not be such a good idea, because Hernandez has a big contract and as one official said: "There's not much there anymore."
• While the Padres have said they won't grant Seattle permission to speak with Kevin Towers, two people close to Towers said they still think he could end up as the Mariners GM. Those same people say that Towers should want out of San Diego because the Padres don't have a good chance of getting better anytime soon. There's a fear that San Diego will have no money to spend on the free-agent market this winter, in part because owner John Moores' wife filed for divorce a few months back. The Padres did save quite a bit of money by dumping Randy Wolf on the Astros. Wolf not only has a $4.75 million contract, but he gets a $175,000 bonus for each of his next nine starts, with another $250,000 if he reaches 190 innings and $500,000 if he gets to 200 innings (he has 119 2/3 so far).
• The White Sox are expected to be very active over the next week, and some people close to their situation still expect shortstop Orlando Cabrera to be dealt. The Sox would need a leadoff hitter to replace Cabrera, but they're also looking hard for a starting pitcher and bullpen help.
