Giants reportedly in 'ongoing talks' with Phillies about Chase Utley trade

If you're looking for a list of teams that might be interested in Chase Utley, why, I ranked them all here. Other than the Phillies, it looks like there are five reasonable possibilities.

Utley lives in only one of those cities in the offseason, though. San Francisco.

Buckle up.

According to Jon Morosi, the Giants aren't just kicking tires. They're talking turkey.

Sources: #SFGiants and #Phillies in ongoing talks about Chase Utley trade. Stage is advanced enough that prospect names have been discussed.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 12, 2015

Utley has a funky, incentive-based 2015 salary, so I'm not sure how much he's owed for the next three months, but it's close to $5 million. He also has a $2 million buyout for next season. So the prospects in question might not be of the super-fancy variety. Considering the Giants just gave millions to Lucius Fox, it's hard to see them giving up one of their best prospects just to make the Phillies eat money.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the doctors opened up Joe Panik's back and found a corkscrew and an apple core. Utley helps in the short-term with Panik being out, and he helps for the rest of the season as a bench bat. It makes sense ... if you believe that his bat isn't permanently discombobulated. He's been Casey McGehee for the Phillies this season, really, and that's being generous.

Still, I'm guessing that at least part of his decline is because of poor luck. There are Uggla-shaped fliers, and then there's this. The worst part would be having to root for the guy, but he's a tier below Orel Hershiser and Steve Finley, so it wouldn't be too hard. I'd get used to it after the first pinch-hit double.

The trade rumors don't stop/won't stop. Chase Utley makes a fair amount of sense, and the Giants are discussing names.