Ken Rosenthal was a guest on 610 WIP’s morning show and reiterated that Scott Linebrink was now probably available for a trade. While Rosenthal said a few days ago that Kevin Towers would like to find the Padres center fielder of the future, this morning he said that the Pods are interested in a left fielder that can hit a bit. In addition, he mentioned that the Phillies and Padres may revisit the Aaron Rowand/Linebrink talks of the early spring.
The Phillies outfield corps has several redundancies at this point. Pat Burrell provides power in left, but Michael Bourn, Shane Victorino and Aaron Rowand are all light-hitting center fielders. If the Padres are interested in a centerfielder for the future and would prefer to do it on the cheap, perhaps the Phillies are should be willing to part with Bourn or Victorino instead of Rowand.
At this point, with Matt Smith floundering, a big need for the Phillies is a left-handed reliever. But still, Linebrink would look awfully nice in red pinstripes.
Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".
