Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Indians and Dodgers are "seriously discussing" a potential blockbuster deal that would send both Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez to the Dodgers in exchange for James Loney, one of the Dodgers' young starting pitchers, and prospects.
Rosenthal notes that the deal still does face significant obstacles, which is to be expected in any deal that involves so many players.
Additionally, he reports that because both Lee and Martinez are signed through 2010 the Dodgers may be willing to pay a steeper price to obtain both of them.
The Dodgers clearly aren't happy with their current team, even though they have built a substantial lead in the NL West, which is widely considered the worst division in baseball.
In terms of the young starting pitcher included it's believed that it would either be Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley. No word yet on who it will be, but I have to imagine the Dodgers would much rather include Billingsley than they would Kershaw, however, the Indians would most likely demand Kershaw.
Class AA third baseman Josh Bell, Class AA outfielder Andrew Lambo, Class AAA starter Scott Elbert and Class AAA right-hander Josh Lindblom, are among the other prospects being talked about.
This could be a potentially huge deal for the Dodgers as they would acquire two All-Stars in one shot, however, I'm still interested to see if Kershaw is part of the deal. All reports were that the Dodgers weren't willing to part with him for Halladay, and if they weren't going to give him up for "Doc" I can't imagine a scenario where they would give him up for Lee, regardless if Martinez is in the deal. If they could get both Martinez and Lee for Billingsley, Loney and some other prospects than I think the Dodgers have to go ahead and pull of that deal. Lets not forget the Dodgers have to deal with the fact that the Cardinals just got Matt Holliday, and the potential that the Phillies get Halladay, which clearly has amped up their aggression.