By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Players the Philadelphia Phillies are targeting to acquire via trade this month, barring a surprise, are mostly known — with Manny Machado and Zach Britton of the Baltimore Orioles headlining such rumors. What is not known, however, is which players the club is willing to part ways with to acquire such All-Star-caliber players.
CBS Sports' Jim Bowden shed some light into such speculation on Thursday. Bowden says the club continues to "stay in touch with the Orioles, despite contrary reports from media."
"This absolutely has been the case the whole time," Bowden said. "They have checked in recently."
The Phillies, per Bowden, "will not include" top prospect Sixto Sanchez in the deal for Machado, but rather said No. 2 prospect Adonis Medina "is a guy at the end of the day" the Phillies "may put in a deal" with shortstop J.P. Crawford.
Sanchez appears to be the "untouchable" prospect the Phillies refuse to part ways with, similar to Domonic Brown not too long ago. In eight starts this season with High-A Clearwater, Sanchez is 4-3 with a 2.70 ERA, 1.071 WHIP and 45-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 46 2/3 innings. The right-hander has not appeared in a game since June 3 due to elbow inflammation.
Although the club's No. 2 prospect, Medina is not too far behind Sanchez's production thus far in a Treshers uniform this season. In 15 starts, the right-hander is 8-3 with a 4.92 ERA, 1.332 WHIP and 75-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio spanning 71 1/3 innings.
Crawford is two seasons removed from being a Phillies top prospect, but his production in the minors has not necessarily translated well over his 57 career big league games thus far. In 199 career plate appearances, Crawford is slashing just .202/.332/.319 with nine doubles, a pair of doubles and home runs, 14 RBI and 28 walks.
Despite recent reports suggesting other teams, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees, are gaining traction to land Machado, Bowden believes the Phillies are the team that will ultimately "jump in and make it work."
"Most reports are that the [Los Angeles] Dodgers and the [Milwaukee] Brewers, right now, are the two teams that probably have that best offer on the table," Bowden said. "I've said this before, and I'll stand by it. I think the Phillies can jump in and make it work."
"I think the Phillies need Machado more than anybody else."
