Indians, Red Sox Interested In Josh Outman

TUESDAY: The Red Sox are also interested in Outman, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post.  Outman would be an odd target for the Sox, in my opinion, given that they're flush with left-handed relievers.

MONDAY: The Indians have held serious talks with the Rockies about pitcher Josh Outman in their pursuit of a lefty reliever, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Outside of a couple of Triple-A stints, Outman has compiled a 4.50 ERA, 9.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.47 HR/9, and 46.8% groundball rate in 38 relief innings for the Rockies.  Lefties have hit .218/.274/.303 in 84 plate appearances against the 28-year-old this year, and Outman has struck out almost 36% of them.  Drafted by the Phillies in the 10th round in '05, Outman went to Oakland in the '08 Joe Blanton deal.  The Rockies acquired Outman and Guillermo Moscoso for Seth Smith in January 2012.  The Rockies, currently six games out, would have to decide whether they could part with Outman, who is under team control through 2015.  The club also has southpaws Rex Brothers and the recently-recalled Jeff Francis in its bullpen.