Philly Front Office

One of the biggest fears during trade season is putting short term goals ahead of long term potential. Still, when your team has a chance to win the World Series, there is a lot of pressure to just go for it. You just cross your fingers that the players dealt don’t come back to haunt you with long, great careers. Of course, sometimes that doesn’t even matter. For example, let’s look back at the 2011 MLB Trade Deadline and specifically what happened to the Giants and Phillies.

Monday, April 6 at 9:45p – Andrew Painter vs Adrian Houser (R)
Tuesday, April 7 at 9:45p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Robby Ray (L)
Wednesday, April 8 at 3:45 – Aaron Nola vs Tyler Mahle (R)

Oracle Park – San Francisco, CA

Setting the Scene

The Phillies had won the World Series in 2008, went back in 2009, and then lost to the Giants in the NLCS in 2010. Those Giants went on to win the World Series off the incredibly strong pitching trio of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner. The Phillies saw this collection of arms and figured they needed to level up. That offseason, the Phillies brought back Cliff Lee to join Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt to form maybe the best rotation on paper in MLB history.

The 2011 season was rolling along with both teams leading their divisions as the trade deadline approached. Yes, they both had that great pitching, but both were struggling for offense. The teams just so happened to be facing each other in Philadelphia that week. As of the morning of July 28, the two teams had the rubber game of their series that night. So far, the Giants had only scored 4 runs for the series. They were 60-44, 3 games up on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West when they decided to make a move before the game. The Phillies had won the first game by putting up 7 runs and riding a complete game from Vance Worley, but wasted a Cole Hamels gem in the second game by only scoring 1 run. The team was a healthy 5 games up in the NL East and a league leading 65-38, but the offense in right field was struggling and 2nd year man Domonic Brown was replaceable. After dropping the next one 4-1, the Phillies made their move.

The Giants at the Deadline

Though he went 0-4 in his debut against the Phillies, the Giants had acquired a big addition in Carlos Beltran from the Mets before the game. Despite being over .500, the NY had been 10+ games out in the division for most of the season and decided to make the most of their 34-year-old star who was in the final year of his contract. At the time, Beltran was hitting .289/.391/.513. All the Giants had to do was give up their first pick, #6 overall, from the 2009 Draft. It was a straight 1 for 1 swap: Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler. Wheeler was ranked by Baseball America as the #55 prospect at the time

The Phillies at the Deadline

For the second straight night, the Phillies only scored one run. I guess seeing the Giants make the move for Beltran right in front of them was the final straw for GM Reuben Amaro. He called up the Houston Astros and made a move for goofy right fielder and All-Star Hunter Pence. Pence still had one year of team control remaining and was hitting .308 at the time of the trade. Instead of a 1 for 1 like the Giants, the Phillies threw the kitchen sink at Houston, sending SP Jarred Cosart, 1B Jon Singleton, RP Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later to the Astros. Singleton was ranked 30th and Cosart 70th by BA.

July 29, 2011: Phillies vs Eagles

What Happened?

Despite Beltran hitting .323 with a .920 OPS the rest of the way, the Giants struggled down the stretch and turned a 4-game division lead into an 8-game deficit by the end and miss the playoffs. Beltran would leave SF for St. Louis at the end of the season.

Zack Wheeler blossomed in the minors for the Mets and became a top 10 prospect in baseball. From there, we all know what happened. Injuries marred his time in Queens to the point that the Mets grew incredibly frustrated and he eventually hit free agency. The Phillies gave him a 5/$118m contract that the Mets had no desire to match and he became maybe the best pitcher in baseball during his time in Philadelphia.

The Phillies gave up a much bigger package for the extra year of Pence compared to Beltran and for the rest of the regular season, Pence delivered. He hit .324 with 25 extra base hits in his 54 games. The thought process was that this team couldn’t fail to bolster the offense at the deadline when their pitching was so dominant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The Phillies had an early 4-0 lead in game 2 before losing 5-4 then dropped the fifth game 1-0 in one of the most heart breaking losses of my life. The Phillies mini-dynasty ended that night. Pence managed only 4 singles and a caught stealing in the series.

Worst Philly Losses of the Last 30 Years

As for the prospects, things started bad, got worse, and ended up not hurting the Phillies at all. Singleton became the first player to ever sign a contract extension before playing in a MLB game and homered in his first game. Cosart debuted in 2013 and pitched to a 1.95 ERA in 10 starts. The PTBNL ended up being Domingo Santana who became a Top-100 prospect, was traded to Milwaukee, and hit 30 HRs in his first full season. All of them flamed out shortly thereafter. The only thing harder for Singleton to do than hit over .200 was pass his drug tests. Cosart criticized management in Houston and got himself traded to Miami where he got hurt and was eventually traded into obscurity. Santana couldn’t duplicate his big season and ended up out of baseball not long after.

Did We Learn Anything?

Not really! I wish I could dunk on the Giants for dealing Wheeler, but I can’t at all. While Wheeler is probably considered “the one that got away” for Giants fans, it’s not like his loss hurt them in the near term. 2012 and 2014 brought more World Series titles to the Bay Area while Wheeler wouldn’t have been much help. Could they have used him over the last 8 years? Everyone could have. The Giants ended up just fine and it was all because of the Phillies.

Seeing their farm system depleted over the years with the trades for Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Pence, the Phillies traded their right fielder to SF at the deadline the following year. While Pence didn’t do much for the 2012 team, he did dominate in the 2014 playoffs and put up .800-ish OPS seasons for the next 4 years. Who did the Phillies get for him? Welp. Tommy Joseph, Seth Rosin and Nate Schierholtz provided very little other than concussion problems, lack of production, and sadness.

The Wasteland: Phillies Drafts from 2003-2017

The death of the Phillies after 2011 wasn’t due to the team gutting the farm system. Of all the trades that were made to improve the team during that era, the Phillies won them all. Travis d’Arnaud was probably the best to actually leave. The killer was when they traded for prospects. None panned out. The exile of Cliff Lee was a killer and the Pence trade was possibly worse. Combine those losers with Dom Brown not amounting to anything and terrible drafting and there was nothing to build.

Somehow despite giving up maybe the best pitcher of their generation, the Giants were fine. The Phillies gave up 3 players who busted bad and ended up worse. That’s baseball.

Stats: Baseball-Reference

Photo: Zack Wheeler in the 2010 Futures Game as a member of the Giants – Stephen Dunn/Getty Images