CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
A few updates from the winter meetings in Las Vegas:
1. The Phillies continue to talk about a potential trade with the Padres and Cubs, although a deal is not imminent. As Jim Salisbury wrote in today's Inquirer, the Phillies likely would send a couple prospects (lefthander J.A. Happ could be one of them) to the Cubs to get Mark DeRosa. DeRosa would provide insurance at second base, if Chase Utley isn't ready to open the season. He also would be a righthanded bat in left field, which would mean Pat Burrell's career with the Phillies would be over. The Cubs would send those prospects to the Padres to help land Jake Peavy. For those wondering why the Phillies just don't send those prospects directly to the Padres to get Peavy ... Peavy doesn't want to play here. He has a very short list of teams where he would accept a trade. I have been told the Phillies are not on that list.
2. A rumored trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, one of which would send Ryan Ludwick to the Phillies for Ryan Madson, apparently is just a rumor. First, the Cardinals don't look at Madson as a closer. "I'm not saying that concept isn't something we thought about or tried. But it's just doesn't seem like it's a part that fits," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, asked about turning another team's set-up man into the Cardinals' closer. Second, the Cardinals would prefer to trade from their surplus of lefthanded-hitting outfielders: Rick Ankiel, Skip Schumaker, Chris Duncan and top prospect Colby Rasmus. If it came down to trading Happ for DeRosa or Madson for Ankiel, Schumaker, Duncan or Rasmus, the Phillies take DeRosa.
3. It sounds like the top three leftfielders on the Phillies' list remain Raul Ibanez, DeRosa and Juan Rivera.
4. Will the Phillies make any moves before the meetings end Thursday? They could sign Charlie Manuel to a contract extension, but things could drag on.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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