SAN FRANCISCO -- The Los Angeles Dodgers are among about a half-dozen teams interested in acquiring free agent infielder Chase Utley, according to his agent.
Agent Joel Wolfe said Wednesday he is in discussions with five or six teams about Utley, who was traded in August from the Phillies to the NL West champion Dodgers and played 34 games with Los Angeles down the stretch. He had played his entire 13-year major league career in Philadelphia before the trade, and now is hoping for a multiyear contract.
"It'll be interesting. There's quite a bit of interest in him," Wolfe said. "Hopefully over the next couple of weeks we'll kind of start to distill it down."
Wolfe spoke Wednesday at AT&T Park, where shortstop client Brandon Crawford discussed his $75 million, six-year contract.
It's no surprise the big-spending Dodgers are again in the mix for Utley, who grew up in the L.A. suburbs and played for UCLA. With a no-trade clause in his last contract, Los Angeles was a club he approved joining. The 36-year-old Utley still is looking to be a fairly regular player, if not a starter. The second baseman batted .212 with eight home runs and 39 RBI in 107 games last season.
"I think every player, certainly at his age, would like to have multiyear security if you can get it," Wolfe said. "Every player I've ever dealt with would prefer to have two over one or three over two."
Utley still would prefer to be a regular player -- if not an everyday player.
"Mostly," Wolfe said. "Whether it will be every day or 125 games to 140 games or somewhere in there. And there's been interest at that level, both at second and the fact that he plays at third and some first. He's more versatile than he was, and he's healthy now, which is good."
Los Angeles lost in a five-game NL Division Series to the New York Mets, the club's second straight first-round loss after reaching the NLCS in 2013 and losing to the Cardinals. The Dodgers haven't reached the World Series since 1988 when they beat the Oakland Athletics in five games.