Jan. 20 ESPN Insider: Eric Byrnes

[Reilly]

Eric Byrnes

INTERESTED - Mets, White Sox, Diamondbacks, Astros

Jan. 20 - The Athletics have submitted a formal trade offer to the Mets that would send Eric Byrnes to New York for Mike Cameron, the Contra Costa Times reports. A's reliever Chad Bradford also might be involved in the deal.

Cameron, who is owed $14 million over the next two years, is expected to miss the start of the season after having offseason surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left wrist.

Byrnes and the A's exchanged arbitration figures on Tuesday; the 28-year-old outfielder asked for a raise from $328,000 to $2.5 million, and Oakland offered $2 million.

The Diamondbacks offered Jose Valverde for Byrnes, but the deal fell through when Valverde failed a physical given by Arizona, according to the Contra Costa Times. Valverde had offseason surgery to repair a frayed right rotator cuff.

[Boik14 is the shiz]

Beane shoots down Byrnes rumor
A's GM irked by stories about proposal to Mets
By Mychael Urban / MLB.comhttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/news/ticketinfo_98x33.gif (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/tickets/index.jsp)
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gifhttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gifhttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/2003/07/24/ndheOxrS.jpghttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gifA's GM Billy Beane did not hide his frustration with the latest rumor. (Eric Risberg/AP) http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gifhttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gifOAKLAND -- A's general manager Billy Beane doesn't make much of an effort to hide his general disdain for reporters who run with rumors, and he certainly wasn't in hold-back mode Thursday morning.

Responding to a Bay Area newspaper's report that the A's have proposed a trade with the Mets that would send outfielder Eric Byrnes to New York in exchange for outfielder Mike Cameron, Beane was borderline livid.

"It's absolute fiction," Beane said. "There is not an ounce of truth to that story whatsoever."

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Thursday's Contra Costa Times said a "team source" confirmed that the A's had made a "formal trade offer" to the Mets, prompting Beane to go on a rant of sorts on the validity of such sources.

"Let me make this clear," Beane said. "Whenever you see something about us that says a 'team source' said something, you can safely assume that it's a bald-faced lie. There are no 'team sources' here. There's me and there's David [Forst, Beane's assistant GM], and that's it. And we don't talk about what we might or might not be working on.

"With the Mets or Yankees or some other teams, you might have these 'team sources' who'll know what's going on and maybe leak something. But we don't have that here. It just doesn't happen."

Byrnes' name has popped up in a variety of trade rumors in recent weeks, and the Times on Thursday also cited a "baseball source" in detailing a possible trade of Byrnes to the Diamondbacks for reliever Jose Valverde, saying Valverde failed a physical that killed the deal.

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/team_logo/18x18-oak.gif Eric Byrnes / CF http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/graphics/line-up-left.gifhttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_291565.jpg (http://www.etopps.com/)
Born: 02/16/76
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R

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Beane does not deny having had discussions with other teams about Byrnes, but he's long had a policy against providing any kind of specifics regarding his conversations with rival GMs.

"All of what you're seeing is irresponsible journalism," Beane said. "It's a discredit to the profession, to be honest with you. There's good reporters and bad reporters, and this kind of thing makes them all look bad.

"I really think people just sit around and make some of this stuff up."

The Mets rumor, Beane said, is a perfect example.

"It says we made an offer, but I can tell you this: We have never approached the Mets with any kind of proposal," Beane said. "Never. They've called us a few times, as have a number of clubs, and I'm not going to say what was discussed. But what's out there today is just complete fiction."

Nonetheless, Beane said he'd already fielded several calls from other media outlets looking for comment.

"That's probably what bugs me the most," he said. "One person writes something ridiculous like this, and now I have to deal with all the phone calls. [An A's beat writer] called me this morning from Madagascar or wherever [the reporter] is. And all because of this one [bad] story. "So let's make this simple: It's not true. And in the future, anything that doesn't come from me or David, with our names attached to it, that's not true, either