The New York Yankees are aggressively shopping veteran pitchers Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain as the trade deadline draws near, a league insider reported on Wednesday.
According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Yankees are reportedly close to sending Chamberlain to a National League ballclub, which appears to be the Philadelphia Phillies.
Chamberlain has a 5.75 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 22 relief appearances this season, but the Phillies consider Chamberlain as a boost to their bullpen lineup.
The Phillies are also feeling out the market for slugger Michael Young, who is drawing interest from the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
The Yankees are still looking for a viable trade partner for Hughes, who has a 4.55 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 17 starts.
Meanwhile, rumors are swirling over about the Boston Red Sox trading away veteran slugger David Ortiz before the deadline.
Ortiz, who has been playing for the Red Sox since 2003, has been a subject of trade rumor over the past years but it mellowed down a bit after the slugger signed a lucrative two-year deal in the offseason.
Moreover, it's very much unlikely for the Red Sox to trade away one of their best hitters especially if he's racking up big numbers again despite playing at the age of 37.
"To be honest with you, all those years I got to free agency, I never thought about going somewhere else," Ortiz tells WEEI.com's Alex Speier, according MLB Trade Rumors last June. "I feel like I'm a big part of these ball clubs. I feel like what I was asking for wasn't anything they couldn't give me. You look into situations, and I never had the feeling that I was going to go somewhere else, to be honest with you."
The 9-time MLB All-Star is batting .327 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs in his 10th season with the Red Sox, winning two World Series titles with the ballclub.