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Today’s Waiver Deadline Could Force Teams’ Hands

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When it comes to making baseball personnel decisions, there are deadlines after deadlines.  Today at 2 P.M., teams must decide about players to ask waivers to release or outright waivers.  The speculation in Philadelphia is that this could make some players available for trade that had been unavailable earlier.

One such player is RHP Francisco Rosario of the Blue Jays.  He’s out of options, has had a decent spring training, and yesterday, the Phillies had a radar gun pointed in his direction.

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".

Potential Trade Partner for the Phils

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Philadelphia’s Daily News speculated this morning that a new possibility may emerge for bullpen help for the Phillies:

Veteran righthander Rudy Seanez might be an option if the Dodgers make him available. The Dodgers are planning to keep only 11 pitchers on their roster, and Seanez, despite his 1.93 ERA in 9 1/3 innings this spring, might be the odd man out.

Seanez is in a way the classic veteran reliever available for trade.  In his upper thirties? Check. ERA fluctuates from year to year?  Check.  More recent down years than up?  Sigh. Check.

One has to believe that the Phillies can do better than this if they are patient enough.  There are 29 other teams in the league who are just one bad elbow away from needing Jon Lieber.

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".

Rowand Trade Coming?

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In his latest Under The Knife article, Will Carroll writes:

"A rumor making the rounds is that the Phillies are holding Aaron Rowand out to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself as they try to deal him."

Rowand is, however, playing in today’s game against Kei Igawa and the Yankees.  Prior to today, he sat out three straight games.  To me it seems like the White Sox are probably the top suitor.   

Garcia’s Injury Halts Lieber Trade

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This is my second contribution to MLBTradeRumors.com and with this entry, I have yet to comment on a trade that might be happening.  So far, when it comes to the Phillies, it’s been all about trades that aren’t going to happen.

Yesterday afternoon, manager Charlie Manuel told reporters that Jon Lieber, the subject of considerable trade speculation since December, would begin to pitch exclusively out of the bullpen, not because of poor performance, but because he was the odd-man out on a team with six starting pitchers.  Later in the evening, Freddy Garcia was pulled from the first inning.  Besides suffering from numerous big hits by the Toronto Blue Jays lineup, Garcia’s velocity was down and he reported experiencing tightness in his right biceps.

With this development, it’s likely that for the time being, life will change very little for Lieber and he will slide right back into the starting rotation while Garcia’s health problems are sorted out.  Lieber won’t be traded anywhere any time soon.

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".

Lieber, Kim Rumors

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Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post has some trade rumor tidbits from around baseball this morning.  To summarize:

  • Renck does not think the Phils truly want to use Jon Lieber as a reliever, and mentions two scenarios floating around.  Lieber could be paired with Aaron Rowand and sent to the White Sox, which I would think would require at least Mike MacDougal.  Would be interesting to see Liebs back in Chicago if old pals KW and "Stand Pat" Gillick can work it out.  Or, he could go to Milwaukee for Kevin Mench.  Such a trade would have to push Claudio Vargas to the bullpen.
  • Renck says the Rockies like Mark Hendrickson despite his mediocrity and their stable of starters.  The Dodgers would like to include Hendrickson as part of a bigger deal for a slugger.
  • Byung-Hyun Kim to Florida is a long shot unless the Rox eat most of his $2.5MM salary.  The Rocky Mountain News reiterates that the interested parties are Florida, Oakland, and Texas.  You can add the Pirates to that list as well.  The Bucs could also trade for Armando Benitez.
  • John Thomson seems likely to be released.  The A’s have been rumored.

Phillies Non-trade Rumors

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If there was a vote for Team Most Likely to Make a Trade as Spring Training comes to a close, it would likely be the Phillies that would win.  An excess of starting pitching and an ever-growing lack of depth in the bullpen makes the team a target for trade rumors.

But, according to general manager Pat Gillick, Phillies fans shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for a move.  Gillick told the local scribes that he doesn’t expect to make a deal for a reliever prior to the start of the season and that one of the excess starters will have to go to the bullpen.

Last year at this time, the Phillies most glaring need was a left-handed bat off the bench and just before the team came back north, Gillick was able to land David Dellucci.  So, despite Gillick’s pessimism, this situation bears watching over the next few days and weeks.

Don’t forget, Gillick sometimes has bouts of pessimism, after all, he is the one that in July of 2006 didn’t feel the Phillies could compete for anything until 2008.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric blog and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere".

Phillies Correspondent Found

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I am happy to announce that Tom Goyne is joining MLBTradeRumors.com as our Phillies correspondent.  Tom’s written for the Hardball Times, and he also has a popular Phillies blog called Balls, Sticks & Stuff.  Check it out.

Tom can be reached at ballssticksstuff at ballssticksstuff dot com.

Thanks to all those who applied, and hopefully you will apply again if I start up a separate Phillies blog.   

A Little Help: Phillies

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More rumors, news, and analysis is always a good thing.  Today I’m looking for someone to represent the Philadelphia Phillies.

What am I looking for in this person?

  • Solid writing skills and a style that fits with MLBTradeRumors.  Basically, I’ll know it when I see it.  I’m looking for the same type of analysis you see here every day.
  • Someone who can post up-to-the-minute Phillies rumors as they surface.  I want a person who follows the Phillies religiously and will have every source (traditional newspapers, high quality blogs, radio) covered.  It would make sense to have all the pertinent websites on an RSS reader.  You should be near a computer most times and able to hop on and write a post if something happens.
  • While this person is probably a Phils fan, objective analysis is preferred.  Additionally it would be nice to provide the local vibe/sentiment that people might otherwise not know about.  That might sound contradictory but I don’t think it is.
  • The benefit to you: a decent-sized audience and a chance to do a little sportswriting.  It could be a nice resume-builder and I would be happy to serve as a reference for you.  And I will give you some insight on how I do what I do, for what that’s worth.
  • Email me at mlbtraderumors@gmail.com if this interests you and explain why you’re the best candidate.  I’ll choose one person and unfortunately won’t be able to reply to all.  A sample post of a rumor/signing (whether fake or true) might help make your case.  Note: long-winded posts are not my style! Brevity is a plus – I like 3-4 paragraph posts.

More On Rowand Rumors

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Just a few tidbits regarding yesterday’s Sun-Times story that the White Sox may reacquire Aaron Rowand.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says that the White Sox have been scouting recent Phillies games, though Rowand did not play yesterday.  Additionally, the Delco Times speculates that the availability of Rowand is directly related to the fine play of Greg Dobbs this spring.  The waiver pickup could platoon with Jayson Werth in right field, with Shane Victorino moving to center.

In a related topic, Buster Olney said today that any Lieber/Rios talks are dead but that the Rangers might make sense for Lieber.

White Sox May Reacquire Rowand

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Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Sox GM Kenny Williams has been in talks with Pat Gillick regarding Aaron Rowand.  This is not the first time such a possibility has surfaced.  Southpaw Boone Logan may be among the relievers going to Philadelphia.

Even after the Freddy Garcia trade, a Philadelphia Inquirer article mentioned that Rowand remained a favorite of White Sox management.  If they can’t trade for him, there’s a chance they sign him as a free agent after the season.  Center field and left field are definitely holes for Chicago this season, but I don’t expect the Sox to rely on Erstad/Sweeney/Anderson/Podsednik all year long.

Given that a Rowand for Scott Linebrink trade was seriously under consideration, I wonder if the Sox would have to surrender a closing-worthy reliever like Mike MacDougal to seal the deal.

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