The big baseball news breaking late Monday night was the bombshell Cliff Lee dropped by signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee’s signing isn’t without its Kentucky baseball implications. Check out that story and others below in almost daily roundup of Kentucky baseball news:

• Both John Heyman of Sports Illustrated and Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweeted Monday evening that the Phillies were looking to trade former UK right-handed pitcher Joe Blanton to free up salary space for Lee.
• Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reports via Twitter that the Phillies were in deep discussions Monday to send Blanton to the Boston Red Sox.
• Heyman tweets that the Phillies have a deal in place with Boston for Blanton.
• Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports former UK right-handed pitcher Brandon Webb “remains excited” about the Washington Nationals.
• Bruce Miles of The Daily Herald reports the Chicago Cubs continue to scout Webb and would like to sign him to a contract with a low base salary with incentives for performance.
• Dan Woike of The Orange County Register profiles former UK left-handed pitcher Scott Downs and his career path to the Los Angeles Angels.
• Jim Callis of Baseball America reports via Twitter that the Seattle Mariners hope to sign former UK left-handed pitcher James Paxton, the teams’ fourth-round draft pick, in time for Spring Training.