Posted by Jayson Stark
Clubs that have spoken with the Marlins say they've been offering to swap out-of-sync lefthander
Taylor Tankersley for a more experienced left-handed reliever. And Colorado's
Brian Fuentes and Baltimore's
George Sherrill are at the top of the Marlins' shopping list. But there are no indications they're close to a deal for either of those two.
Among the Florida names the Rockies are believed to have zeroed on is right-hander
Ryan Tucker, whose radar gun numbers make him a potential closer. But the Rockies still have a number of teams in the mix for Fuentes (Rays, Cardinals, Phillies, Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, etc.) and seem to want to push the bidding closer to the deadline.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, teams that have talked to the Orioles are reporting that the team they had targeted in a Sherrill deal is Milwaukee -- whose system they've been scouting extensively recently. The Orioles are believed to have asked about elite shortstop prospect
Alcides Escobar and highly regarded third baseman
Mat Gamel.
But Brewers GM
Doug Melvin has told teams he isn't inclined to trade away any more prospects -- and told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt on Thursday that he
doesn't anticipate trading for a reliever before the deadline.
So the great pre-deadline bullpen shuffle of 2008 continues.
