All quiet on the Mets front, but south on I-95 things are happening fast for the Phillies who are in 2013 Mode and have made a pair of trades to move outfielders Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence to free up cash and bolster their minor league pipeline.
First, the Phillies traded Victorino to the Dodgers for starting pitching prospect Ethan Martin and reliever Josh Lindblom, according to Yahoo’s Tim Brown. Victorino, 31, is due roughly $3 million the rest of this season, after which he can become a free agent. He was batting .261 with nine home runs and 40 RBI with 24 stolen bases this season.
Then later this morning, the Phillies traded Pence to the Giants according to Jon Heyman. However, Giants VP Bobby Evans said there is no deal. That said, several others are reporting that the two sides are merely working on the final details. Pence, 29, is hitting .271 with 17 homers and 59 RBIs in 398 at-bats for the Phillies.
Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reports that minor league catcher/first baseman Tommy Joseph would go to the Phillies, a 21-year-old 2009 second-rounder.
One last tidbit on the Phillies trade front, our own Clayton Collier spoke with Knobler via twitter and discovered that the Texas Rangers have no interest in the Phillies’ Joe Blanton. When it was originally reported that Blanton was on the block, the Rangers were labeled as a possible match for the 31-year old after they lost Colby Lewis to Tommy John Surgery. However, with this development, that leaves only the Baltimore Orioles in the hunt for Blanton, limiting the Phillies’ leverage over the next hour or so in getting a deal done.
