Phillies Rumor Roundup!: Victorino, Pence, Lee

PHILLIES RUMOR ROUNDUP: YOU FLING IT, WE SLING IT!(TM)

For purposes of this article, to put a grin on your face, I strongly suggested swapping the word "horses" for "sources." For instance, "Front office horses with the Cubs indicate..."

And now to the rumors!

The Phillies seem to be actively shopping center fielder Shane Victorino for bullpen help. Yecch. With the Reds allegedly nixing a deal that would send Victorino to Cincinnati for reliever Logan Ondrusek. Victorino has also been linked to the Dodgers for Josh Lindblom. I'd just as soon stand pat, but given the choices, I'd take Lindblom in a second.

Victorino says that he's trying to ignore the rumors, but his Twitter feed seemed awfully wistful after yesterday's thrilling victory.

Sending Victorino out of town also forces the team to figure out who's going to play center field the rest of the season (and beyond). Some combination of John Mayberry and Juan Pierre? Woof.

Hunter Pence or Victorino to Dodgers? Ken Rosenthal, who has a good grasp on these things, indicated as much.

Pence is not a negative value asset by any stretch, but if he earns around $15 million in 2013, as is expected, it's going to put quite a strain in the Phillies finances, which will be stretched after the six year Cole Hamels extension.

Cliff Lee on the block again? Per sources around the league, there is at least some indication that the Phillies are "listening" on trading Cliff Lee, who has three years and $87.5 million left on his earth-shattering five year deal signed in December 2010.

To me, if a team like Texas is willing to send you the farm (literally) to improve their pitching, you should at least consider it. The Rangers have a terrific farm system. But this could be a real "sell low" situation with Lee, whose peripheral statistics indicate that he's pitching in at least some bad luck in 2012. That said, the consequences of trading Lee, again, could resonate around the league and in the Phillies clubhouse. There's a lot of information here that we don't have.

Yankees inquire about Ty Wigginton. Jon Heyman reports that the Yankees have contacted the Phillies about Ty Wigginton as a part-time fill-in for the injured Alex Rodriguez, and that the Phillies have at least initially not made Wigginton available.

Look, we all know he's available. Just saying he's not available now is posturing. If the Yankees really want him, something will get done. It's just a matter of how much the Yankees are willing to give up.