The market for Phillies reliever Antonio Bastardo is heating up, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter). A source tells Salisbury that the Pirates are among the teams pursuing him.
Late last night, CSNNE.com’s Sean McAdam reported that the Red Sox explored a deal with the Phillies that would have swapped Bastardo for prospect Sean Coyle. Bastardo has a 3.36 ERA, 2.61 K/BB rate and an 11.6 K/9 in 216 2/3 IP out of the Philadelphia bullpen over the last four seasons. He’s been almost as equally effective against right-handed batters (holding them to a career .664 OPS) as he has against left-handed batters (career .621 OPS), though control has been an issue, as evidenced by his career 4.3 BB/9.
