Phillies Rumors

Internet rumor, eh?  If there’s one term I’d like to retire, it’s "Internet rumor."  It discredits the many legitimate Internet-based sources and generalizes the entire medium.  Many rumors broke via the Internet this year (blogs included).  In fact, most of them came via the Internet, courtsey of Ken Rosenthal.  I’ve seen a lot of garbage in print, but don’t refer to them all as "newspaper rumors." 

In this case, Paul Hagen doubts the legitimacy of a Buster Olney rumor that first appeared in Olney’s blog on January 26th.  Olney reported that the Padres and Phillies were kicking around an Aaron Rowand for a reliever trade. 

Anyway, Hagen creates a newspaper rumor, speculating that the Phils might entertain trading Rowand because they think they can acquire an outfielder for Jon Lieber.  He also speculates that the Phils would send both Lieber and Rowand to San Diego for Mike Cameron or Terrmel Sledge.  Now that’s one that "appears to make little sense."

Buster Olney mentioned a possible trade of Aaron Rowand to the Padres for a reliever back on January 26th.  Turns out the targeted reliever for the Phils was indeed Scott Linebrink.  However, any such deal is on hold until springtime.  Kevin Towers would like to see how Terrmel Sledge looks in left and how the loss of Linebrink would affect San Diego’s bullpen.

I say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  I think a Sledge/Cruz platoon could outhit Rowand for a lesser cost.  And is the difference in defense in left field that crucial?  David Wells and Chris Young typically don’t go six innings; I’d rather retain one of the league’s better eighth-inning guys.