One possibility is Will Ohman, the former Atlanta Braves reliever who held lefthanded hitters to a .200 batting average and .257 on-base percentage last season.

"We've had real good positive conversation with the Phillies over the past week, and I know Will would love to pitch in Philadelphia," Ohman's agent, Page Odle, said Sunday. "He's faced them a lot being in Atlanta, and has a lot of respect for the team and the organization."

For the Phillies, the numbers would have to be right.

"We don't really have any interest unless it's a situation where the dollars are extremely modest," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said yesterday.

Odle said Ohman, despite getting two- or three-year offers from other teams, was open to a one-year contract with a competitive team like the Phillies.

"We've been talking mostly with the Phillies and Mets the last couple weeks," Odle said. "He just wants to be in that pressure-packed situation. I think that's why both the Phillies and the Mets are ideal situations for him.

"He's a fearless competitor and he's intense, and more than anything he just wants to pitch in meaningful situations."

Another bullpen option would be veteran Dennys Reyes, who spoke with the Phillies at the winter meetings after becoming a free agent.

"I want to be on a contender," the former Minnesota Twin said when reached at his winter home in Mexico over the weekend. "I've been in Minnesota the last three years, and I enjoyed going into September and fighting. I know we've been talking to the Dodgers and the A's. We'll see what happens."

Yet even at bargain prices, Amaro indicated that signing a lefthanded reliever might not be right for the Phillies unless the perfect deal presented itself.

"I know that there's a lot of free agents out there," he said. "We have touched base with several of them, but what they're looking for as far as compensation is beyond where we want to be.

"To me, it's not about the handedness, it's about being effective. There's a lot of righthanders that can get lefthanded bats out, too. We have to try to be versatile and get the people who will be most effective."

If the Phillies are going to stick with their younger players, they have four options: relievers Mike Zagurski, Jake Woods and Sergio Escalona, and starter J.A. Happ, who was on the team's major-league roster in October.

Zagurski is recovering on schedule from left-elbow surgery in late March, but the team isn't counting on him to be ready for opening day, assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said.

Woods reached the majors with Seattle at the end of the 2008 season, but struggled in brief cameos and asked for his release after the season.

Escalona, a Venezuelan prospect, has spent the last two seasons in single and double A but turned heads in the Arizona Fall League, where lefthanded hitters were just 4 for 21 against him and he struck out 16 in 142/3 innings.

Happ, who started four games for the Phillies in 2008, will be in the running for the fifth starting spot.

"We have to keep our options open," Amaro said. "We have to make sure that we do what we can to be as versatile as we can."