Philly.com is reporting several roster moves for the Phillies in the coming days, with probabilities of the moves actually occuring ranging from "close" to "likely" to "maybe":
1. The Phillies will trade RP Felix Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kenny Lofton...The Phils have been rumored to be interested in Kenny Lofton for some time now. Despite being 37 years old, Lofton still has some wheels and got on base at a .346 clip in 2004. It is expected he will get the majority of playing time in a platoon of some type with Jason Michaels in centerfield. It is also expected he will bat second behind Jimmy Rollins. Other pluses for Lofton include a low strikeout total and a close relationship with Aka Oni from their days in Cleveland in the 1990's.
2. Sandy Alomar is likely to join the Phillies as Mike Lieberthal's backup...According to Paul Hagen, Alomar has been to Philadelphia to take a physical, evidence which points evidence to an agreement. Like Jim Thome and Lofton, Alomar is also part of Charlie Manuel's aging Cleveland posse and has a reputation for being a positive clubhouse presence. Despite Alomar's age, he did accrue 4.19 fielding win shares per 1000/innings in 2004 for the White Sox, and total which is slightly below the MLB average. Let's not talk about his batting.
3. David Wells is very interested in the Phillies, and the Phillies are very interested in him...Turn up the volume on the broken record: "He is friends with Jim Thome", "he is fond of Charlie Manuel". Probably the biggest reason the Phils are interested in Wells is the fact that the Padres will not offer him arbitration, meaning the Phils will not have to surrender a draft pick to acquire him. The other free-agent pitchers often linked to the Phils (Brad Radke, Carl Pavano, Derek Lowe, etc.) will most likely be offered arbitration by their respective teams, which makes it unlikely the Phillies will make any serious efforts to sign them. Ed Wade has said repeatedly he is not interested in surrendering draft picks.
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While Lofton and Alomar are probably the most realistic (though not ideal) moves the Phillies can make to fill the hole in centerfield and secure the role of backup catcher, I am still not sold on David Wells. In my mind, surrendering a draft pick for a pitcher like Pavano would be worthwhile. Pavano's track record can be argued with - some consider him to be a one hit wonder - but his track record is certainly more reliable than that of an 18 year-old kid eligible for the draft with experience against competition that is unquantifiable.
