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Tim Dierkes is the writer and creator of MLBTradeRumors.com and is extremely knowledgeable of all trade/free agency issues. He took MLBTR full-time in 2008 and the site has only grown since then. Make sure to make your way to MLBTradeRumors on a daily basis for your hot stove needs and wants.

In this interview Tim weighs in on:

A.J. Burnett’s chances of ending up in New York

Sabathia’s value after heavy workload

Rays offseason needs

Value of Schilling return

Where K-Rod and Texeira will likely wind up

Can Dodgers retain Manny?

Should Sanathia/Manny be considered for NL postseason awards?

Discusses difficulties of Aaron Crow non-signing

BaseballProspectus.com (subscription) – David Laurila interviews journeyman catcher Sal Fasano. Fasano is our favorites here at MLBint.

BaseballProspectus.com (subscription) – David Laurila talks to Peter Gammons and Lou Meroni. I have idolized Gammons growing up and anyone else who does should check out this interview.

Projo Sox Blog - Terry Francona ALDS Game 4 postgame interview

“Q: Jon just mentioned there was a chance he could have come back out for the 8th, and that John Farrell had asked him how he felt coming back out. Was there any thought on your guys’ part about bringing him out into the 8th?

Francona: No, when the inning was over, in my mind, he was going back out at least for two or three hitters till we could get to the right-handers. But if you watch his reaction after the last out, in his mind, that was his last hitter. He was very willing to go back out, but I think you can make a mistake on a pitcher, kind of emotionally shut it down or turns a switch off to try to rev it back up. Didn’t seem like it made sense to me.”

Projo Sox Blog – Mike Scioscia’s ALDS Game 4 Postgame Interview

“Q: The resulting play at third, were you aware that the ground can cause a fumble in baseball?

Scioscia: You know, he’s got to have — I feel he had to have control of the ball. It depends on what they consider control. You know, Tim felt, you know, Tim Welke felt that the tag was made and the out was recorded before he lost the ball. But it’s like, you know, guy slides into the bag, you put a tag on him, and if the infielder drops the ball, there is a gray area there of interpretation of what happened. He felt he had control of the ball.”

Projo Sox Blog – Jon Lester and Led Lowrie ALDS Game 4 Postgame Interview

“Q: First, Jed, can you go over that at-bat in the 9th?

JED LOWRIE: Well, last night Scot Shields struck me out on three straight curveballs. So in the back of my mind I was thinking curveball. And you know, he left one up in the zone enough for me to find a hole.”

MLB.com - Joe Maddon ALDS Game 4 Postgame Interview

“Q: Dealing with your division as you did, was that almost a sort of preparation for this?

JOE MADDON: I’ve spoken about that for a couple years now. People when I first came along said we should get out of the American League East. I’m asking why. What a better — what better battle testing can you possibly get than going to Fenway often and going to Yankee Stadium often and of course Baltimore and Toronto.

Really we play almost 80 games against these people and you play it under very difficult conditions. Like your ballpark tonight, that is about as severe as it gets with the blackout. I think that’s fantastic what the people of Chicago do.

But having played in Fenway as often as we have and a full Yankee Stadium it prepares you for these moments. I love playing in the American League East. To be able to represent them as Division Champs and now get to the Championship Series is a great feeling for all of us.”

BaseballProspectus.com (Subscription)- David Laurila sits down with Paul Byrd, who was acquired by the Red Sox from the Indians in August.

Extra Bases - Transcript of Angels Manager Mike Scioscia’s talk with the media.

“Q: Beckett’s history in the postseason and his success in the postseason, any extra emphasis on trying to manufacture runs early against a guy that’s been as dominant in the postseason?

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, I think that we can do some of the things we like to do if we can get guys early on in innings. You know, it’s tough to manufacture when you get the two-out single, and then you need maybe a couple more hits if you’re not driving the ball. Against a guy like Beckett and the way he pitches, you have to certainly take what he’s going to give you and he knows what he’s doing out there. He’s tough.

So, we need to get early guys on in every inning and be able to press the action a little bit being able to manufacture and being able to run the bases and turn. You’re on first base, a base hit, turn it into a first and third instead of a first and second. That’s important to us, but it’s difficult to do with two outs at times and to string together those three or four hits that will break a game open.”

Extra Bases - Transcript of Boston Manager Terry Francona’s pregame talk with the media.

“Q: What, if anything, was the difference in the feeling of satisfaction you received last year as opposed to winning the first time in ‘04?

TERRY FRANCONA: I think in ‘04 I was a little naive. I was going through it. You know, winning is so hard anyway, but, again, I hadn’t really lived through this whole atmosphere here. Some of the things people were telling me, I wasn’t even aware of. Now I live here, go out and get the paper, walk out, take the garbage and the neighbors or somebody’s honking at you because you didn’t hit-and-run or you didn’t bunt. So I’m a little more aware of that kind of stuff. And I know how important the Red Sox are to people here.

But, if anything, winning is almost kind of addicting. Once you’ve won it’s like you want to win worse again the next time. It’s not like you won once and you think, oh, well, we won. You recognize how hard it is, but the hunger, it’s like once you felt it, you want it again and you almost want it worse.”

Yahoo! Sports – David Brown of Yahoo! interviews K-Rod, who is now tied for the all-time lead in saves.

” Q: Is it true that your first glove was a milk carton?

FR: That is totally true.

Q: How long until it wore out?

FR: It would wear out quick; it would maybe last two or three games.”

BaseballProspectus.com (subcscription)- BP Radio gets the opportunity to interview Rays Manager Joe Maddon and Starting Pitcher James Shields.

Extra Bases – Questions for Red Sox Assistant GM Jed Hoyer.

“therooster: In a recent edition of Barstool Sports it was implied that you drafted Jed Lowrie primarily because he looks just like you. Fact or Fiction?

JH: Fact. Hitting ability was just a lucky coincidence of the pick. Our area scout in Northern California that year finished off his extensive background questionnaire on Lowrie by writing, ‘Basically, he is a clone of our own Jed Hoyer.’ I have gotten a lot of misguided autograph requests since Lowrie has been in the big leagues. It is impossible for me not to turn when someone yells ‘Jed, sign this’ because there aren’t exactly a lot of ‘Jed’s’ out there.”

BaseballProspectus.com – (Subscription) David Laurila of BP interviews ex-Jays manager Cito Gaston.

CrawfishBoxes.com - CB posts the final installment of their interview with Zachary Levine.

“CFB: Ok, how do you think the Astros should move then?

ZL: I know one of the names being tossed around is CC Sabathia and I don’t think he’ll be an Astro next year. I think Ben Sheets is a much better choice and we have a much chance with sort of the recruiting and the lower price tag. It’s obviously a risk with his injuries, which makes me think that someone is going to overpay for him, but I guess that’s the theory with pitchers: you overpay for the end to get your money’s worth in the beginning. I think that as long as the years aren’t crazy on Ben Sheets’ contract, then I think it’s a worthwhile thing. I can see a rotation Oswalt, Sheets, Wandy, and Brandon Backe.”

MLB.com - Jeff Moeller interviews Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez.

“MLBPLAYERS.com: How much do you follow the Mets now?

Gomez: I follow them closely. I grew up in that organization. I see what my old teammates do. I have some conversations with Jose Reyes and those guys over the course of the season. I still have good relationships with many of those guys.”

MetsReport.com – WFAN has Jerry Manuel and Omary Minaya on and you can listen to mp3’s of the broadcasts here.

SportsHubLA.com - Brian Kamenetzky interviews Doug Padilla of the LA Newspaper Group via podcast. Check it out.

BattersBox.ca - BB intervies Jays minor league pitching coordinator Dane Johnson:

“BB:  Brad Mills has two excellent pitches but his fastball is only average and he tends to pitch up in the zone with it.  Are you trying to get him to improve his fastball?

DJ:  He is working on it but I think it will work in the major leagues due to his other pitches, even if it is high it comes out like his curveball so it’s not obviously a fastball.  In general we would like every pitcher to get their fastballs down but in Mills’ case he should be OK.  With Mills command is the key for him to be successful.”

NY Times – Jack Curry interviews the great Jim Abbott, who was one of my all-time favorites growing up. We normally only post strictly Q&A interviews, but I really enjoyed this read.

“I’ve come to terms with the fact that I was born differently,” Abbott said. “That’s O.K. Baseball allowed me to work through that and prove myself. That’s given me great peace of mind in my life after baseball.”

GelfMagazine.com – GM interviews Buster Olney of ESPN. They touch on a few different topics including switching from strictly writing to television and whether Bonds will get inducted.

“Gelf Magazine: Was it a difficult transition to go from writing exclusively for print to being on television and other media?

Buster Olney: It took a lot of work. When I was just working in newspapers, my feeling was that television people were the lowest form on earth, and that it’s not that hard to do. Then you get into it and you realize that there is an art to it. Just like there is art to writing a good game story, there’s a good and bad way to get a point across in 30 seconds. It’s as much of an art form, just different.”

MetsReport.com – Podcasts of two interviews conducted on WFAN. First is an interview of Mets GM Omar Minaya conducted by Evan Roberts. The second is an interview of Mets beat reporter Eddie Coleman conducted by Steve Somers.

Yahoo! Sports – An interview with the newest member of Yahoo baseball analysis, Gordon Edes.

“ Q: OK, my final two questions are baseball-related: Which uniform will Manny Ramirez be wearing on Opening Day ‘09?

A: I think Omar and the Mets take another run at Manny, and he helps them open the new Shea.

Q: And who’s your World Series pick for this October (plus who will they beat?)

A: I’m going with the Cubs over the Angels, but I think it would be a great story if Tampa Bay could sneak in.”

FutureRedBirds.Net – FRB does an interview with Cardinals prospect Xavier Scruggs. Xavier is a 1B for the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League.

“Q: Is there a particular major league player you try and pattern your game after, or maybe just someone you watch real closely and try and learn from?

A: There isn’t just one, but actually I try to watch them all closely and learn from them all. I watch all of them because because they are all where I expect to be one day. There isn’t just one guy I want to be like, but if I had to name a favorite player it would have to be Gary Sheffield, just because he attacks and drives the baseball, just like I aspire to be doing one day for the St. Louis Cardinals. “

Baseball Time in Arlington – Jason Parks interviews Rangers prospect Kasey Kiker. Kazey is a starter for Single-A Bakersfield Breeze of the California League.

“ Q: Most pitchers coming out of high school have underdeveloped change-ups. How has your change-up progressed since you’ve been in the minors?

A: I think it’s my best pitch right now. Just being in the Cal League now I feel like that pitch has been my savior, man. When I can get the count in my favor I can just dump it in there and it does the job. The change-up is the most important pitch to have in the Cal League.”