Dodgers Close To Acquiring Victorino
Roughly 10% of you feel that Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino will be the biggest name dealt today. The latest:
- A Dodgers-Victorino trade is looking very likely, tweets Heyman. ESPN's Jayson Stark tweets that the Dodgers are close to acquiring Victorino for Lindblom and a second player. Another sign a deal is imminent: outfielder Domonic Brown was scratched from today's Triple-A game and will be joining the Phillies in Washington, D.C., tweets Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- The Dodgers are in serious talks for Victorino, reports Heyman. The Phillies have been asking for relievers.
- The Reds and Phillies have ceased talks on Victorino and Juan Pierre, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, putting the Dodgers in a good position for Victorino.
- Potential Phillies target Josh Lindblom became more expendable for the Dodgers after the team acquired Brandon League from the Mariners, wrote Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports early this morning. Lindblom, 25, has a 3.02 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.70 HR/9, and 38% groundball rate in 47 2/3 relief innings this year, so he's had some issues with the longball.
Ryan Dempster Rumors: Friday
The Cubs and Dodgers have four days to complete a possible trade involving Ryan Dempster. The Dodgers turned down a proposal of Allen Webster for Dempster, but seem optimistic that a deal can be completed. The Cubs, on the other hand, have limited options, since Dempster wants to go to Los Angeles and must approve any trade. Here are today's rumors, with the most recent updates up top…
- The Cubs and Dodgers are discussing a deal of Dempster for Josh Lindblom, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, who isn't sure what other players could be involved in the swap (Twitter links). Another source tells Crasnick that the Lindblom rumor is "completely unfounded."
- The Dempster-to-the Dodgers trade isn't "dead," tweets ESPN's Jayson Stark, though the Dodgers are interested in Josh Johnson and are "waiting to see if [the] price drops on" James Shields.
- Dempster will consider trades to a number of teams, including the Braves and Dodgers, if the Cubs approach him with a deal in place, Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports. "He has not said that he wouldn't go to Atlanta or anywhere else for that matter," a person familiar with the situation told Levine.
- There's no current dialogue between the Cubs and Dodgers about Dempster, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (Twitter links). Each club know what the other is looking for at this point.
- The teams discussed the possibility of expanding the trade to include Alfonso Soriano or Bryan LaHair, Danny Knobler reported today.