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At long last, 20 hours after news of the Jimmy Rollins trade was first reported, Jim Salisbury has news on who the Phillies will be getting back for their franchise cornerstone shortstop.
According to industry sources, Phillies will end up with pitchers Zach Eflin, as others have suggested, and lefty Tom Windle for Rollins
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) December 11, 2014
The Phillies need pitching, that's for damn sure, so this is a step in the right direction.
Tom Windle is a 22-year old lefty who was drafted by the Dodgers in the second round back in 2013. He spent all of 2014 in high A ball, started 26 games and pitched nearly 140 innings. In those 139 1/2 innings, he struck out 111 and walked 44. He ended up with a 4.28 ERA, which for a guy at high A ball is a meaningless stat.
Zach Eflin, who I really want to type as Elfin, isn't even officially a Dodger yet. The 20-year old righty (and the Padres' first round draft pick back in 2012) is still technically a member of the San Diego Padres. How can the Dodgers trade a player that's on another team? That's the magic of Andrew Friedman! Well, only sort of. Eflin is part of the BLOCKBUSTER trade that will send Dodger Matt Kemp to San Diego. Matt Gelb theorizes that this is why the pace of this trade has been near glacial. With so much money involved in the Kemp trade, the commissioner's office needs to approve the deal, which means the Rollins deal has been idling in the driveway waiting for the last player to get in the damn car already.
If Salisbury's report is true and these are indeed the guys the Phillies are getting for Rollins, our resident prospect guru Cormican will have a full write-up on the two newest members of the Phillies once they're confirmed to actually be the two newest members of the Phillies. Meanwhile, I'll be watching a video of Jimmy's 2009 postseason walk-off and crying on my keyboard.