Phillies Still After Nomar?

As of last evening, reports began to surface about Nomar Garciaparra stating “there remains a small chance that the slugger will go to a contender” before Monday’s waiver trade deadline.

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said last week that the franchise was done dealing for this year, and expects to make no immediate additions to the team. However, the San Francisco Chronicle has confirmed that the Phillies still may be interested in Nomar for bench help.

NESN.com reports that a return to Boston for Nomar is highly unlikely. Garciaparra cleared waivers a while ago, but has reportedly drawn little interest.

Giants, Marlins Interested In Brad Penny

After being released from the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, and with just over a month of regular season baseball left in 2009, Brad Penny once again is waiting to be “claimed”. Last year at this time, it was the Yankees who claimed the righty, but only for the Red Sox to acquire him back to Boston a short time later. Now it looks as if he will be NL bound by the end of this weekend.

Multiple sources have confirmed this morning, that two National League teams, the Marlins and Giants, have expressed serious interest in claiming Penny. According to ESPN, Penny is still owed about $1 million in salary for the rest of this season, and he has $500,000 in bonuses as he reaches 160 innings, 170, 180 and then 190. Penny has thrown 131 2/3 innings this season, which means that if he were to accumulate 50 innings over eight starts, he would cost an additional $1.5 million.

If Penny decides to decline all wavier claims, he will be forced into free agency and lose all of his incentives under his current contract.

Other reports this morning also confirm that the Colorado Rockies will not continue to pursue Penny.