Rollin's agent to meet with Amaro

December 3, 2011

Dan Lozano

Jimmy Rollins' agent, Dan Lozano, told CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury that he will have a face-to-face meeting with Phillie's general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. at the winter meetings, which begin Monday in Dallas.

News on the Phillie's shortstop situation, and even news on the entire free agent market itself has been scarce, since free agency began.

However, things should start heating up on Monday, and Rollins could be the one to spark the fire.

After adressing the closer situation with the signing of Jonathan Papelbon, and strengthening the bench with Jim Thome and Ty Wigginton, the Phillies taking care of short was next on the list.

Rollins, 33, is probably the organizations most appealing option. He's been in Philadelphai for 11 years and expressed interest in coming back. The only problem is that Rollins is very driven to get a five-year deal.

This may cause a problems in negotiations. Amaro has shown that he is not willing to give the veteran shortstop a deal of that length, and is looking for more of a three year type deal.

The San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves are teams that have been rumored to have interest in Rollins, but there has been nothing to confirm these rumors.

Now, Salisbury is reporting that the Brewers, Tigers, and Cardinals could have interest. The Cardinals's interest would most likely hinge on whether or not they can resign Albert Pujols (that's going to take a lot of money to do).

Options outside of Rollins are Jose Reyes, 28, and Alex Gonzalez, 34.

Reyes has met with Amaro in Philadelphia already, but it would cost a lot to bring him considering the $90 million that the Miami Marlins are looking to sign him for.

Gonzalez would be cheaper option, but he is a year older than Rollins and would not add anyhting to the offensive side. The Giants are also looking into Gonzalez according to Salisbury.

The winter meetings will surely be an interesting one for the Phillies. They clearly want to address the situation at shortstop, but how they will do it is unclear yet.

We will have to see how Lozano's meeting with Amaro goes, to see if the Phillies will move forward with trying to bring back Rollins, or if they will look elsewhere.

You can read Salisbury's article on Rollins at CSNPhilly.com, by clicking on the link below.
http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/news/Talks-between-Phils-and-Rollins-to-heat-?blockID=604378&feedID=693