With the July 31 trade deadline now about 27 hours away, talks are starting to heat up around more Phillies players.
Notably, early this afternoon, Buster Olney of ESPN tweeted as follows:
Source:Cliff Lee is in play in trade talks today. Rangers obviously the most logical landing spot, with 3B Mike Olt as possible centerpiece.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 30, 2012
Joel Sherman of the New York Post followed:
Spoke to exec who said Lee traded by 4pm tomorrow or in offseason because #Phillies need youth back plus dollars saved. #Rangers frontrunner
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 30, 2012
While I still think it's relatively unlikely that anything gets done soon, we may be getting a closer look at organizational thinking going forward.
Talks are also heating up between the Orioles and Phillies on a possible deal for Joe Blanton, reports Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
Blanton, 31, somehow leads the National League in home runs allowed (22), as well as strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.39) and walks per nine innings (1.2).