On Friday, we passed along a rumor that the Giants might make a "push" for Hunter Pence if he became available before the trade deadline. Well, there's some more fun with Phillies-Giants on Monday, as reports are tying the Giants to Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino.
There's just one problem: the Phils apparently want Gary Brown in return.
According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Giants are indeed looking for additional outfield help, despite doing a very impressive job improving that position over the offseason (Angel Pagan and Melky Cabera were steals in trades).
Heyman hashtagged Victorino and Pence into those reports and it makes sense if the Phillies are indeed sellers -- we noted on Friday when discussing Pence they might not be, but both the Giants and Phils got swept over the weekend, and that's much more deadly for Philadelphia than San Francisco.
However, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reports that the Phillies want Gary Brown back in any trade for an outfielder.
Um, yeah ... nooooooooo. At least not for Victorino anyway; the Flying Hawaiian is a free agent after this year and the Giants already stripped their farm bare once last year when acquiring a rental outfielder in Carlos Beltran. And it's not like they're that desperate for the help of a guy who's struggled badly this year.
Pence might be a different story, considering he's under team control (although he's eligible for arbitration) for an additional year and could continue to provide help past the 2012 season.
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Still, as Crasnick notes, the Phillies are more likely to get the recently showcased Nate Schierholtz than they are Brown. The question will be whether or not there's enough interest out there in Pence and Victorino in order to drive up the Phils asking price.
Even if that's the case, though, it would be surprising to see the Giants give up an excessive amount of young talent in order to rent a bat for 2012.
