Philly Front Office

It’s an easy thing to say that Dave Dombrowski needs to make a big trade. The Phillies have the best record in baseball but could clearly use some help on offense and ABSOLUTELY need an arm for the bullpen. So, yeah, he needs to make a move. Dave’s in a box though. He clearly has a budget he is working with and prospects he does not want to trade. How in the world can he upgrade the roster and where?

First thing’s first, the bullpen. I am going to be updating this list every few weeks, so I don’t think we need to go into it. Plus, it’s a given. We are going to get somebody before the deadline. Mark it down.

Second, lets reel it in juuuuust a bit. Trea Turner is not going to move to centerfield before the trade deadline. That’s so outside the box right now that it drives on the other side of the street. Also, the Phillies are not going to trade JT or Stott, and probably not Bohm either. There simply are not quality upgrades available at those positions.

Third, where do we need help? Generally, the offense. More specifically, the outfield. Could this mean moving Harper to the outfield to get a first baseman? In theory yes, but after writing this whole article and going back to proofread, I can tell you this probably is not happening, with one exception.

Fourth, the really bad teams out there who are definately going to be sellers, well they have a fatal flaw. They stink. I don’t mean just the record, I mean the talent. There is no one on the Marlins, White Sox, Rockies, or Athletics that we would want and they would trade. That’s why we have to get creative here. Let’s get to it:

Boston Red Sox

Boston traded for Garrett Crochet not to contend this season, but to anchor the next great team they are putting together. Their top prospects Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony are almost all ready for the Show at this point. That means some vets are going to be on the block.

• Masataka Yoshida – Bryce Harper’s biggest fan is still injured from surgery in October, but he is almost back. The Red Sox would love to get rid of his big contract that still has 2.5 years and $18m per left on it. He’s a lefty who hits for a solid average and has no more place to play on the Red Sox. To make this trade, it would need to be for something like Max Kepler and Taijuan Walker. A straight salary dump on both sides.
• Rob Refsnyder – He is cheap and mashes lefties while not being a terrible outfielder. Weston Wilson has just not been the guy for us this year. He would be like getting Austin Hays but without the kidney infection.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• Bryan Reynolds – Reynolds is having a bad year and signed a long extension two years ago. That extension wasn’t crazy expensive though. He is only on the hook for about $14m a year for the next 5 years. Pittsburgh probably regrets signing him and that terrible owner would love to save some money. There’s a chance he could be moved for something like Max Kepler and one of our draft picks last year, Dante Nori or Griffin Burkholder.

Toronto Blue Jays

• George Springer – I know he’s old, but he’s still a solid righty centerfielder. He would be more of a platoon with Marsh and he is very expensive, but still worth a look as long as the price is barely anything. That’s the real problem/opportunity with him. He is owed a pro-rated $25m this season and another $25m next season. Woof. Toronto has other options in center and might be willing to facilitate his exit by paying off a ton of salary.

Houston Astros

• Jake Meyers – While playing a solid CF, Meyers is having his best season of his career at the plate. He hits right, but is crushing righties this season, something he had never done before. He is 28 and has 2 seasons of arbitration left so he will come with a cheap salary, but maybe not a cheap price tag. The Astros may ask for Justin Crawford here, but I don’t think the Phillies would go that high. The Astros probably will not be sellers anyway, but he would be worth a call.

Texas Rangers

• Adolis Garcia – He is in the middle of a second consecutive bad season but has the kind of playoff chops that people don’t forget. Despite being 32, he is still in is arb years. Despite being a righty, he has always been better against right handers. This year especially, he has fallen off a cliff against lefties. The Rangers have another OF prospect named Alejandro Osuna ready to take his place anyway. He likely would not cost much

Baltimore Orioles

• Cedric Mullens – He would be a pure rental in his last year before free agency. He has had an uptick in slugging, but still doesn’t hit for average. I put him in here to show how little there is to upgrade CF. He is not much better than Marsh, if at all, considering he is a worse defender.
• Ryan O’Hearn – Kind of out of nowhere, O’Hearn is having his best season in his last of team control. He is currently hitting .340/.428/.558. That’s bonkers. He is a lefty outfielder that only costs $8m. The Orioles NEED to move him. If he keeps up this pace, I think you plug him into the everyday LF role and never look back. He gets more expensive by the day though. Would we give up Justin Crawford for him? That is a lot for a rental but goddamn look at that slash line!!!

Milwaukee Brewers

• Rhys Hoskins – The reason you write articles like this is to propose a reason to bring back your favorites. Rhys is having a great year in Milwaukee without even going on a patented tear yet. There are two BIG caveats to bringing Hoskins back though. 1. His defense is bad. Remember the World Series? You would be substituting a great first baseman for a bad one while forcing Harper back to the outfield where he hasn’t played for years now. It is asking for injury. 2. His great year is fueled not by homers, but by singles. He has 48 hits including 9 doubles, 7 homers, and 0 triples. His luck on these hits is WAY above his career average and therefore likely to come down. I love him, but I am not the captain of the bring back Rhys train.

Cleveland Guardians

• Steven Kwan – He is here because he is the dream acquisition. He walks as much as he strikes out and hits for average. I don’t think Cleveland would be too interested in giving him up, but considering they have three solid OF prospects with 2 knocking on the door, they might consider a deal. They will probably ask for Aiden Miller to which we will say no. Justin Crawford and Mick Abel though? That’s pretty fair for 2 full seasons of Kwan.

That’s it. There aren’t many good options out there. O’Hearn, Kwan, and Refsnyder are the only trades of these I would consider. Maybe Bryan Reynolds (but it would have to be for nothing).

Getting O’Hearn would be interesting considering how well he hits lefties. Would they put him, Harper, and Schwarber all together? Maybe split them with Bohm?

1. Turner
2. Harper
3. Schwarber
4. Bohm
5. O’Hearn
6. Castellanos
7. Stott
8. JT
9. Marsh/Rojas

What about getting Kwan? He probably takes over the leadoff role

1. Kwan
2. Turner
3. Harper
4. Schwarber
5. Bohm
6. Stott
7. Castellanos
8. JT
9. Marsh/Rojas

Fingers crossed.