{"id":64,"date":"2007-12-17T18:23:21","date_gmt":"2007-12-17T23:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2007-12-17T18:31:27","modified_gmt":"2007-12-17T23:31:27","slug":"phillies-hot-stove-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Hot-Stove Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a month since my last Phillies off-season update<\/a> and a lot has happened, just not, unfortunately, for the Phils.\u00a0 Pat Gillick and company have been desperately searching for pitching help, and also looking\u00a0to add an outfielder and possibly upgrade at third base.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Up to this point, they have nothing to show for their efforts since the November 7th trade for Brad Lidge<\/a>.\u00a0 They came away from the Winter Meetings in Nashville empty-handed and disappointed, with Gillick saying it was unlikely that they’ll be adding another starting pitcher before Spring Training starts.\u00a0 Rich Hofman thinks<\/a> Gillick might be “running some interference” with that claim, but either way it doesn’t instill a lot of hope.<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0of the names the Phillies were rumored to be interested in have already signed elsewhere.\u00a0 Tad Iguchi and Randy Wolf both signed with the Padres and Japanese import pitcher Hiroki Kuroda signed with the Dodgers<\/a> a couple days ago.\u00a0 On all three players, the Phillies would have had to over-pay to get them, because Wolf and Kuroda preferred West Coast teams and Iguchi wanted to stay at second base, while the Phils wanted to sign him as a third baseman.<\/p>\n

With the options starting to dwindle, reports indicate the Phils\u00a0have their sights set on a number of free-agents.\u00a0 Here’s the latest:<\/p>\n