Assorted Winter Meetings Rumors, Day 3

Assorted topics relevant to the Dodgers from the ongoing winter meetings:

As of last night at midnight, the Dodgers were the leading candidate to snare Jason Schmidt. As of this morning, according to Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com, the Cardinals have entered the race, joining the Dodgers and Mariners. Indications have been that Schmidt does not want to leave the west coast (Jon Heyman over at SI.com also mentioned the Brewers in passing), but this is an entirely new suitor that I hadn't heard of until now.

That would leave the only other major pitcher on the market as Barry Zito, but it is unclear how many teams are truly in this race (including the Dodgers). Jayson Stark had a funny line yesterday in quoting a GM who said, "...other than the Mets, 'it's all mystery teams. Usually, with Scott, you have four or five real teams and one mystery team. This year, it's one real team and all the rest are mystery teams.' " Stark went on to say that since the meetings began, though, the Rangers, Mariners, and Angels have started to solidify their interest in Zito, along with the aforementioned Mets.

Andruw Jones is available, though I don't see how where he would fit in our lineup now that we've got Pierre already there. Apparently Jones is willing to waive his no-trade clause for 2007, the last year in his contract, and could be intrigued by the opportunity to be reunited with Rafael Furcal.

Finally, Barry Bonds has arrived at the winter meetings in person, in a surprise visit. Someone please tell me he's got a tin cup in hand and a cardboard sign reading "Will Work for Juice".