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Yesterday afternoon around 5:00 p.m. news broke that the Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers had agreed to a deal that would send shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for an unknown return. Yet, while the Dodgers have finalized other deals, including one that sent second baseman Dee Gordon to the Miami Marlins in exchange for pitcher Andrew Heaney, whom they immediately sent to the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim and finalized that, the Rollins trade is in the air. The reason may be that the San Diego Padres have the player the Phillies want.
Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes the deal may be centered around a right-handed pitching prospect currently on the San Diego Padres:
The names of the two prospects the Phillies will receive from Los Angeles for Jimmy Rollins remain shrouded. A source familiar with the situation said one of the players could come from a separate Dodgers trade with another club.
That is the reason for the delayed announcement.
Zach Eflin, a 20-year-old righthander going from the Padres to the Dodgers in the Matt Kemp trade, is one possibility. The Phillies "expressed recent interest" in Eflin, according to a Foxsports.com report.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports also says that there are many medical reviews on tap for the Matt Kemp trade.
So, the trade is coming; we just do not know for whom and when.
While the Phillies also discussed Chase Utley with the Dodgers, the Dodgers' acquisition of second baseman Howie Kendrick seems to end any discussion there. Additionally, the holdup is NOT due to a Cole Hamels trade, Ken Rosenthal reports.
