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Machinations for Mench

There's been surprising interest in Kevin Mench, according to Doug Melvin, and one of the teams who are known to be looking at the right-handed outfielder is the Philadelphia Phillies.  One deal that was rumored a few weeks ago was Aaron Rowand for Mench and, perhaps, Damian Miller.  The money is about even and Melvin seems to think he needs a proven center fielder, so that seemed plausible, but the Brewers may have balked at including Miller.

So this is interesting: the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (perhaps optimistically) speculates that Mench could be part of a deal for Jon Lieber.  If speculation can lend credence to other speculation, here's some: the Philadelphia Inquirer mentions that the Phillies could deal Rowand to the White Sox for one of Chicago's surplus starters, freeing up Lieber for a different deal. 

This all makes plenty of sense: it's essentially a three-way trade in which the White Sox get the CF they want and make room in the rotation for Brandon McCarthy; the Phillies get the corner bat they want, improve the rotation, and open up center for Shane Victorino; and the Brewers take on a bit of payroll (which they have room for, a least a few million's worth) and fill their one need at the meetings: a mid-rotation starter to take the pressure off of some combination of Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, and Zach Jackson.

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball

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