Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer has an update on the Phillies' search for a third baseman (Remember there was reported interest back on Nov 9):
People who have spoken about the subject with the Phillies general manager believe his wish list is headed, in some order, by Placido Polanco, Mark DeRosa, and Adrian Beltre. All are free agents...
...Amaro has met or spoken by telephone with the agents for a number of free-agent third basemen. In addition to Polanco, DeRosa and Beltre, the crop includes Chone Figgins and Miguel Tejada. All interest the Phillies.
Polanco already screwed up in Philly once (Ed Wade traded him in June 05 for Ramon Martinez and Ugueth Urbina. Hm.) Beltre is a Boras guy, and may be priced out of their range, even though he is coming off surgery. Maybe Boras will tell Amaro that Beltre is immune to deconstruction. Figgins is awfully high-priced, as well. So, that may leave DeRosa and Tejada.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
