Phillies rumors: Early rumblings from the MLB Winter Meetings

The MLB Winter Meetings don’t officially begin until Monday, but plenty of rumors have been coming out of Las Vegas already.

While the MLB Winter Meetings do not officially begin until Monday, that has not stopped the rumor mill as it has already begun churning away from Las Vegas. As expected, the Phillies are right in the thick of things.

The two big names to watch this week are obviously Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. There has been little movement towards a deal for either player, but that will likely change this week as teams, players, and agents all meet in Las Vegas.

An interesting tidbit emerged on the Machado front as Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports reported that the Yankees are not willing to pay more than $300 million for Machado. This would almost certainly take them out of the race for Machado as he is expected to sign for significantly more than that.

Heyman followed that up by stating that the Phils, White Sox, and a couple of mystery teams are the main competitors for Machado. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic tweeted that a rival executive believes at least three other teams besides the Yankees, White Sox, and Phils will be meeting with Machado in Las Vegas.

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Turning to Harper, one agent told Rosenthal about interest in Harper that it Philadelphia is bidding against themselves (subscription required). Rosenthal pointed out that this was an example of wishful thinking common from agents this time of year, hoping that Scott Boras gets caught with his pants around his ankles.

Now we move on to the starting pitching market.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported that J.A. Happ is the next key pitcher to sign with Patrick Corbin off the market. Another pitcher’s agent told Morosi that teams are waiting to see what Happ will do before moving on to other pitchers out there.

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Morosi noted that the Phils and Yankees are the two teams in the best position to sign Happ. Both teams missed out on Corbin as they were unwilling to give him the sixth year that he ultimately got from Washington. Happ will not require the term nor the dollars that Corbin did, leaving room to make other moves this offseason.

Morosi also reported that the Giants are not close to trading away longtime ace Madison Bumgarner. He has become the new darling of trade speculation, with Philadelphia being one of the top landing spots. Morosi said that they along with the Brewers, Yankees, and Braves are some of the possible destinations for Bumgarner if he does wind up being traded.

This will be a busy week for all MLB general managers, including Matt Klentak. By the time the week is over, who knows what Philadelphia’s roster will look like.