The White Sox learned late Sunday that free-agent shortstop Orlando Cabrera had declined the team's salary arbitration offer.
Assuming he signs elsewhere, the Sox will receive two high draft picks in the 2009 amateur draft as compensation. Meanwhile, two reports involving right fielder Jermaine Dye and closer Bobby Jenks were shot down by major-league sources on the eve of the winter meetings.
A source familiar with the talks rejected a report in the Dayton Daily News quoting a "major-league source close to the situation" that a deal to send Dye to Cincinnati for pitcher Homer Bailey "was done and would be announced this week."
The source said the Reds were reluctant to take on Dye's $11.5 million salary even though they need a right-handed hitter of his caliber. The source added the Sox were seeking more prospects besides Bailey, who was 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight starts and was 4-7 with a 4.77 ERA at Triple-A Louisville.
Bailey remains an intriguing prospect because of his 95-m.p.h. fastball and Sox general manager Ken Williams' penchant for acquiring top prospects who could benefit from a change of scenery.
That was the case in previous years with Gavin Floyd and Carlos Quentin.
Another major-league source said talks linking Jenks and the New York Mets never progressed. Williams scouted Mets pitching prospect Bobby Parnell at an Arizona Fall League game last month, but New York is disinclined to trade Parnell, the source said.
The Sox don't have a bona fide backup to Jenks, who has 117 saves in 3 1/2 major-league seasons. He's expected to increase his salary to at least $5 million in his first year as an arbitration-eligible player.
mgonzales@tribune.com
