Major League Baseball

Dodgers working hard to land a lefty

Published Jul. 30, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Cubs' Ted Lilly or the Pirates' Paul Maholm. The Dodgers are intent on landing one left-hander or the other.

The perception around the club and of at least one team in the starting pitching market is that the Dodgers are focusing on Lilly.

The team continued its simultaneous pursuits of both lefties on Friday, but remained apart with each club on prospects and dollars.

While the Dodgers are not necessarily close on a deal for Maholm, both clubs believe that a trade is a genuine possibility, according to major-league sources.

The Dodgers, however, appear to be trying even harder to land Lilly, though the Cubs are awaiting word on proposals to several other clubs.

Lilly is more established than Maholm, but also more expensive, with roughly $4.2 million remaining on his contract, compared with the roughly $1.5 million remaining in Maholm’s 2010 salary.

The Cubs would need to include cash in a deal with the financially challenged Dodgers to cover part of Lilly's remaining money.

The Yankees have expressed interest in Lilly, but would do a deal only if it was highly favorable to them. Some club officials are concerned about how Lilly would perform in the AL East at this stage of his career. After breaking into the majors with Montreal in 1999, Lilly pitched for the Yankees in 2000-02, going 8-12.

Discussions on both the Lilly and Maholm fronts remain fluid. The Padres — one of the Dodgers’ principal rivals in the NL West — are among the other teams pursuing Maholm.

Part of Maholm’s appeal is that he has an affordable contract. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, he is earning $4.5 million this year. He is due $5.75 million in 2011. The Pirates also hold a $9.75 million club option (with a $750,000 buyout) for 2012.

Maholm has delivered a quality start in seven of his last 12 outings. But he’s also had ugly outings against contenders such as the Rangers and Phillies.

For the season, Maholm is 6-9 with a 4.52 ERA. He isn’t scheduled to start again until next week.

Maholm has averaged roughly 190 innings per season over the last four years — a key attribute for the Padres, in particular, given their desire to monitor the innings of their young starters.

The Padres acquired a veteran position player on Thursday, getting infielder Miguel Tejada from Baltimore. San Diego has a 21/2-game lead over San Francisco in the National League West; the third-place Dodgers are seven back.