Today, the Major League Baseball hot stove got even hotter as the Arizona Diamondbacks dealt Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Joe Saunders and a couple of minor leaguers. Certainly an unexpected deal.
A team that was in on Haren was the Philidelphia Phillies. Rival executives believe that the Phillies will most likely acquire either Haren or Oswalt before the deadline.
With Haren off the market, the Phillies’ attention is now fully on acquiring Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt as the trade deadline is only six days away.
Recently, the Philidelphia Phillies have talked to the Astros about a possible trade for Oswalt. However, the Phillies’ proposed packages have fallen short of the Astros demands.
It has been widely speculated that the Phillies have the best shot to acquire Oswalt if (and a big IF) they deal outfielder Jayson Werth.
The most likely scenario for an Oswalt trade, is that the Phillies would have to deal Werth to a contending club for minor league prospects, and then flip those prospects in addition to pitcher J.A. Happ to Houston in exchange for the Astros ace.
Over the last week or so, scouts from the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, and Boston Red Sox have been in attendance scouting the 31-year old Werth.
For the Rays, Werth would make sense. He would be able to fill the always changing right field position for the Rays and a middle of the order threat as well.
However, the problem with the Rays is that in their franchise history, they have not made a significant trade deadline move, even when they were in playoff contention. Also, if Werth were to go to Tampa Bay, they would have to surrender young talent, which is what defines the Rays. A trade for Werth just wouldn’t be following the “Ray Way”.
With Magglio Ordonez out 6-8 weeks with a broken ankle, the Tigers have stepped up their pursuit of an outfielder. The Tigers have been scouting Werth extensively over the past few games.
Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski has maintained, however, that he will not trade for a rent-a-player.
This eliminates Werth, as he is in the final year of his contract with Philadelphia.
Instead, the Tigers are more likely to go after Kansas City outfielder and DH Jose Guillen, who hits for power. They also may pursue Nationals slugger Adam Dunn as well.
The Tigers may look to acquiring a pitcher such as Ted Lilly, who they have been linked to lately. With outfielders Ryan Raburn, Austin Jackson, Don Kelly, Johnny Damon, and Brennan Boesch all on the MLB roster, they may just stay put and wait until Ordonez returns.
Which finally leaves us with the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox have a clear hole in their outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury on the DL and Mike Cameron playing day-to-day with a hernia issue. This leaves the Sox to play Darnell McDonald, Jeremy Hermida, and Daniel Nava in the outfield this season.
Make it also be known that the Red Sox are no stranger to the trade deadline as in 2007, they acquired Eric Gagne, in 2008, they acquired outfielder Jason Bay from the Pirates, and last season, they acquired catcher Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians.
The Red Sox are also notorious for making great deals without giving up major minor league talent as they still have possession of Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury, who both the Indians and Pirates asked about during trade negotiations.
Werth would be able to fill the empty hole in left field, have Ellsbury and Cameron alternate in center field, and J.D. Drew play right field.
With the deadline only a few days away, I see the Red Sox having the best shot at obtaining Werth, and at the right price.
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