Jayson Stark's Daily Update has this nugget about the Phillies, and Pence:
It's now become clear to clubs that have spoken with the Phillies that if that Big Deal is for a bat, almost all their bullets are being aimed at Hunter Pence.
In fact, over the last 24 hours, two different front-office men -- neither of whom works for the Phillies or Astros -- told us they believed the Phillies "had a deal for him" earlier in the week, only to have Houston back off.
When we ran that scenario past one Astros official, he refused to discuss any specific player. What he did say was that his team is still willing to listen to just about anything, and that it hasn't said no to any specific proposal.
It's believed, Stark says, that the deal was centered around Jonathan Singleton, Jared Cosart, and another prospect, but the Astros want four "sure thing" prospects. There you go. /brain melts
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
