Could D-Backs’ closer Chad Qualls be on his way out of the desert? (Photo: Tom Olmscheid/AP)

According to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman, Arizona Diamondbacks closer Chad Qualls was recently placed on waivers by the club.

Qualls is making only $2.5 million this season, and is a free agent at the end of the year, making him a prime candidate to be claimed off the waiver wire.

Don’t you think the Phillies would love to have Qualls’ services for the remainder of the season. The defending champs already have arguably the best lineup in baseball, and invested heavily in starting pitching by acquiring Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee to bolster their rotation. Their biggest (and maybe only) question mark in their quest to repeat is the closer position.

Brad Lidge is struggling, and that’s putting it mildly. Lidge entered last night’s game against Pittsburgh with a 4-3 lead. Zero outs, three hits and three runs later, the Phillies walked off the diamond with another loss and Lidge’s season record fell to 0-6 while his ERA ballooned to 7.33. Opponents are hitting .299 against him after hitting just .198 against him last season when he converted all 41 of his save opportunities.

Qualls hasn’t exactly been a world beater, but if you put his 2009 stats against Lidge’s he looks like Dennis ‘Freaking’ Eckersley. Qualls is 23 of 27 in save opportunities, opponents are hitting just .259 against him and his ERA is a respectable 3.58.

I’d fully expect the Phillies to make a claim on Qualls–what do they have to lose?