BALTIMOREThird baseman Placido Polanco was out of the Phillies' lineup for the third straight game Friday night and he wont be back in it until next week.Polanco injured his left wrist while making a tag in Tuesday nights game against the Dodgers. Polanco said he suffered a small tear in the wrist and had a cortisone injection to help the healing on Friday morning. It generally takes a few days for a cortisone injection to work.Manager Charlie Manuel said he did not believe Polancos injury would require a trip to the disabled list. Polanco could pinch-run if he had to, but he wont hit. Ty Wigginton started at third in place of Polanco on Friday night.Looking for relief helpPhillies officials seldom talk about their efforts to acquire players, but before Friday nights game, during a conversation about his bullpen with reporters, Manuel revealed, Were trying to do something.Manuel was asked if that meant the Phils were seeking relief help.Were trying to see if we can improve our team, he said. Im not saying something is going to happen.Later, assistant general manager Scott Proefrock employed the same vagueness when asked if the Phils were seeking bullpen help.Were constantly trying to get better, Proefrock said.The Phils have a number of areas that need improving. Set-up relief is one of them. They only have two right-handed setup men and one of them (Chad Qualls) has been extremely inconsistent and the other (Michael Schwimer) is unproven. Qualls entered Friday night with a 5.32 ERA and he had allowed eight of 14 inherited runners to score. Overall, the Phils bullpen entered the game ranked 27th in the majors with a 4.27 ERA and an opponents batting average of .256sixth highest in the majors. Phils relievers also ranked near the bottom, allowing 35 percent of inherited runners to score. Only three teams bullpens had allowed a higher percentage. Entering Friday, Torontos bullpen had allowed 16 percent of inherited runners to score. That was the best mark in the majors.Pursuing Soler?The Phils have had longstanding interest in Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, who hit the free agent market this week. Citing policy, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. would not say whether the Phils have made an offer.Phillies officials have seen a number of Solers workouts and met with him personally. It would not be surprising if the Phils made an offer to at least stay in the game, but for months there have been indications that Soler would command more than the Phils are willing to spend on him. Soler could get more than 20 million.Galvis updateFreddy Galvis, on the DL with a lower back strain, had a battery of tests Friday. There was no immediate update on his condition, but one could be coming late Friday night or Saturday.
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com.