ESPN On Qualls, Adrian Gonzalez, Mahay

11:19pm: Olney reports that the Padres and Red Sox had made very little progress in their discussions about Adrian Gonzalez as of 9pm CST.

4:19pm: In regard to the Qualls item below, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick has an update.  His source says the D'Backs are "very unlikely" to trade their closer.

11:58am: All kinds of good stuff from ESPN's Buster Olney (Insider required and recommended).

• The big news: the Red Sox and Padres talked "at length" about an Adrian Gonzalez trade Wednesday night.  Those discussions are expected to resume today; of course you can expect top prospects to be involved.
• On the D'Backs front, there has been interest in Doug Davis and Jon Garland.  Jeff Wilson of the Dallas Morning News says the Rangers have spoken to the D'Backs about a deal for starting pitching, but would probably have to unload salary (Hank Blalock?) first.  A D'Backs scout took a look at Rangers reliever Guillermo Moscoso.  However, Arizona is actually considering whether to extend Davis.  Might make sense, with Brandon Webb going under the knife.
• Olney says there's momentum building toward a Chad Qualls trade, but the closer won't come cheap.  Chad Tracy would be a fourth available D'Back, but Bob McManaman and Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic feel that August trades are more likely for the club.
• The Royals would like to move the contract of southpaw reliever Ron Mahay (.274/.292/.468 against lefties).  He's got about $1.5MM left.
• ESPN's Jayson Stark tosses in this nugget: the Marlins made a run at Roy Halladay but balked at an asking price that included Cameron Maybin and Mike Stanton.