Report: Phillies Having ‘Ongoing Dialogue’ with J.A. Happ

As the baseball winter meeting begin to heat up, the Phillies seem to be in the center of just about every player this offseason.

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado still seem to be in play, but that doesn't mean they've lost focus on other areas in improve the team.

One area that seems to be on the wish-list is starting left-handed pitching.

One name that fits that bill is former Phillie lefty J.A. Happ.

According to Jayson Stark of The Athletic the Phillies have had "ongoing dialogue" with Happ over the last several days.

Per Stark in the tweet, the Phillies have a long shopping list, but its good to see that a left-handed starting pitcher seems to be near the top of that list.

The former phillies starter is in demand, after a season where he had a 3.65 ERA and 193/51 K/BB ratio in 177 2/3 innings this past season for the Blue Jays and Yankees.

The 36-year old went 12-4 with a 1.93 ERA for the Phillies back in 2009 before being traded as part of the Roy Oswalt deal.