ESPN baseball insider Jayson Stark talked to the Dale & Holley show Wednesday about what he’s heard from around the baseball world as July 31 looms. It seems like every team in contention, including the Red Sox, could look for some bullpen help via a trade, but according to Stark, they’re not finding much.

“Right now, I think [the Red Sox] are mostly focused on relief pitchers,  and this is one of the most abysmal bullpen markets ever,” Stark said. “I think it’s almost unanimous that the most attractive relief pitcher on the market is, are you ready, Scott Downs of the Blue Jays. He’s being priced insanely high, and for a team in the division, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the price is probably twice as high. You wouldn’t get him for 60 cents on the dollar, you’d get him for like $2.60 on the dollar.”

If the Red Sox are running into trouble looking for a reliever, they may be in luck as they look for a right-handed bat because according to Stark, the Phillies are really trying to get rid of Jayson Werth, who the Sox reportedly have targeted in the past.

“It’s clear now that the Phillies are marketing Jayson Werth. Buster Olney and I spent a lot of time on this yesterday, last night. The Phillies are trying to trade for a starting pitcher. Clearly, they have their eyes on Roy Oswalt, and to make the money work for this year, they would make a companion deal and trade Jayson Werth. The Red Sox would be a team right at the front of the line if they can figure out how to match up with the Phillies. Right now, I’d say Tampa Bay’s ahead of them though.”

Some of highlights of that interview are below. To hear the entire interview, go to the Dale & Holley audio on demand page.

What is out there on the trade market for the Red Sox? Are there any players you could get for 50 or 60 cents on the dollar?

I think one of their issues is they have so many players coming back from injury that if you knew exactly who was coming back when and what they were going to be when they came back, it’d make them a lot easier to pinpoint exactly where they want to go. Right now, I think they’re mostly focused on relief pitchers, and this is one of the most abysmal bullpen markets ever. I think it’s almost unanimous that the most attractive relief pitcher on the market is, are you ready, Scott Downs of the Blue Jays. He’s being priced insanely high, and for a team in the division, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the price is probably twice as high. You wouldn’t get him for 60 cents on the dollar, you’d get him for like $2.60 on the dollar. So they run into issues there.

They also like to address a right-handed thumper if they could. It’s clear now that the Phillies are marketing Jayson Werth. Buster Olney and I spent a lot of time on this yesterday, last night. The Phillies are trying to trade for a starting pitcher. Clearly, they have their eyes on Roy Oswalt, and to make the money work for this year, they would make a companion deal and trade Jayson Werth. The Red Sox would be a team right at the front of the line if they can figure out how to match up with the Phillies. Right now, I’d say Tampa Bay’s ahead of them though.

The Red Sox actually seem like they’re in a pretty good position in third place because they’d be able to block trades by the Yankees and Rays through the waiver wire.

Yeah, that’d be next month. You’re exactly right. They could block, control or jump in and claim any player that they thought those two teams would try and trade for. That is an interesting position to be in, but the thing they’ve got to do between now and then is survive. Now, they’ve been in survival mode for almost three months now. I’ll leave it to you guys whether they have survived. They’re six out in the division, and they’re three-and-a-half out in the wild card. With 70 games to go, that’s an OK position to be in. But they’re still kind of hanging in that danger zone. In the next 10 days, to me they can’t really fall that far behind or being in that position isn’t going to mean a whole lot.

What do you think the Yankees are going to do with Andy Pettitte going on the DL?

My guess is probably nothing. But they are the Yankees, remember that. They’re always going to look around. They’re always going to shop. They’re always going to try to figure out what their options are. I just think that once Cliff Lee moved, they didn’t see a pitcher out there, a starting pitcher, who could really make a difference. Andy Pettitte is coming back. Now, we’re looking at them having to fill probably six or seven starts until he comes back. Look at the position that the Yankees are in. I mean, if you drop them into the wild card race, the only teams within 10 games of them are the Rays and the Red Sox. So I think the way that they look at is they are going to make the playoffs. So if they’re going to make it, why would they overpay for somebody like Ted Lilly or Ben Sheets who they don’t think is that much better, is going to be worth that many more wins than Sergio Mitre. I think really they’re going to try to tread water unless something really drops into their lap.

Do you think the Yankees are catchable in the AL East?

You know I’m not entirely sure I agree. They’ve started to have some pitching issues too, and it really is interesting, I mean, the Red Sox, last time I checked, had outscored the Yankees for the year even with all the players they’ve sat down. If Andy Pettitte is ever going to quite be the same and Phil Hughes is starting to run out of gas and A.J. Burnett is not going to right the ship, all of a sudden you look at the Yankees rotation and say, “The Red Sox rotation is way better than that.” The Red Sox, even with all their injuries, have scored more runs. I think the Red Sox defensively are better than the Yankees. You know you can make the case where the Red Sox are the better team, and the Rays have the chance to make a big deal here. That’s a very talented team. They’re only three out in the loss column. I’m not ready to say that the season’s over. I’m really not.