Perhaps the No. 1 need for the Philadelphia Phillies as the Aug. 1 trade deadline approaches will be adding another impact right-handed bat to a lineup that’s become a little to left-handed.
Yes, Nick Castellanos has been one of the more complete hitters in the National League in 2023, and was rewarded Sunday with an All-Star Game selection.
Alec Bohm is also hitting .354 with runners in scoring position, and has a chance to drive in 100 runs in 2023, especially if he taps into the home run power that he flashes just frequently enough to keep you intrigued.
And yes, the Phillies need more out of both Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto if they’re going to make a run to the World Series for the second consecutive season.
Still, this is a lineup that needs another right-handed hitter — ideally one that will hit some home runs — to break up the likes of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh. And while the trio of Edmundo Sosa, Josh Harrison and Cristian Pache all serve a purpose for the Phillies, they aren’t capable of making up for the middle-of-the-order presence that was lost when Rhys Hoskins tore his left ACL late in Spring Training. Perhaps no one will be able to replicate Hoskins’ production on what seems to be a weak trade market, but an improvement needs to be made nonetheless.
In a perfect world, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would be able to acquire one of two future Hall of Famers employed by the St. Louis Cardinals, either Nolan Arenado or Paul Goldschmidt. For a variety of reasons, though, landing Arenado or Goldschmidt seems overwhelmingly unlikely.
Assuming that Harper will be ready to play first base on at least a part-time basis after the All-Star Break, Schwarber will begin to get more at-bats as DH, opening up playing time in left field. With that in mind, here are some potential right-handed trade targets that would improve the Phillies.
Teoscar Hernández, Seattle Mariners
Seattle was a playoff team a year ago, and at 40-42, they aren’t entirely out of the American League Wild Card race. They are, however, fourth in their own division, and Seattle’s president of baseball operations Jerry DiPoto almost never sits pat when he has an opportunity to make a trade. Hernández does currently lead baseball with 111 strikeouts, but he’s a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner that has experience playing both corner outfield positions and serving as a DH. It would take more than a warm body to acquire Hernández, but the 30-year-old is an impending free agent, so his price tag likely wouldn’t be precipitously high.
Mark Canha, New York Mets
While Canha would likely get the bulk of his at-bats in left field, he does have experience at first base, so he could slide there on games where Harper is the DH and Schwarber is in left field. Also on an expiring contract, Canha has a .772 career OPS.
Lane Thomas, Washington Nationals
Thomas is slashing .299/.348/.506 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs in 2023, one of the few bright spots for a lowly Nationals team. The 27-year-old has experience at all three outfield positions, and can’t become a free agent until after the 2025 season. On one hand, that makes him a very attractive trade candidate for the Phillies. On the other hand, the Nationals likely would want quite a bit in return for Thomas, and it’s not entirely clear how he would co-exist with Harper and Castellanos likely to be in the corner outfield spots in 2024.
Josh Bell, Cleveland Guardians
Bell is a switch-hitter, one who is more feared from the left side of the plate than the right. But after a very slow start in his first season in Cleveland, Bell posted a .787 OPS in June. He’s primarily a first baseman, but does have limited experience in the corner outfield spots and might be passable in the small left field at Citizens Bank Park. However, if the Phillies ended up playing a postseason series in a more spacious stadium — such as Oracle Park in San Francisco — it would be a tough ask for either Bell or Schwarber to be in left field. Bell also is due for $16.5 million in 2024, assuming he doesn’t exercise his opt-out next offseason.
Tommy Pham, New York Mets
Things obviously haven’t gone as planned for the Mets in 2023, but the one-year/$6 million signing of Pham has proven to be one of the biggest bargains of the offseason. The left fielder is slashing .295/.362/.530 with nine home runs, 34 RBIs and an .892 OPS. If the Phillies are comfortable with Harper at first base at least on a part-time basis for the remainder of the 2023 season, Pham would be a nice rental addition.
C.J. Cron, Colorado Rockies
Cron is exclusively a first baseman, so if the Phillies traded for the veteran slugger, they would have to either bag the idea of Harper at first base or keep Schwarber in left field on a full-time basis for the rest of 2022. Cron fits the profile of what the Phillies need offensively, or at least he has in prior years before a back injury cost him more than a month this season.
Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates
Even at 39-44, the Pirates aren’t out of the playoff race in the lowly NL Central. There’s no guarantee general manager Ben Cherington would want to trade away the franchise icon even if the Pirates fell out of contention. McCutchen has had success against both left-handed and right-handed pitching in 2023, an improvement over two seasons ago with the Phillies. Though he would still probably be a defensive upgrade over Schwarber at this stage, the 36-year-old has been almost exclusively used as a DH in 2023, so he may not be the right fit for a reunion with the Phillies.
Jorge Soler, Miami Marlins
The Marlins are 48-37, so the Phillies would probably need to sweep them this weekend and put them on a downward spiral for general manager Kim Ng to sell. If for whatever reason the Fish fade in the coming weeks, Soler would be a tremendous fit for the Phillies. The former World Series MVP has had a nice bounce-back season in 2023, where he’s clubbed 22 home runs with 47 RBIs and an .853 OPS. The 31-year-old would probably only be a rental, as he’s likely to decline his $9 million option for 2024 and return to free agency this offseason.
Jurickson Profar, Colorado Rockies
Profar has struggled this season with the Rockies, but homered 15 times, drove in 58 runs and posted a .723 OPS last year with the San Diego Padres. He’s got experience playing pretty much everywhere on the diamond, including left field and first base. It would be quite the turn of events for Profar to be in red pinstripes this October a year after he was ejected in Game 3 of the NLCS as a member of the Padres.
Starling Marte, New York Mets
Mets owner Steve Cohen acknowledged last week that if things keep going south for his team, they won’t be a buyer before the trade deadline. But to what degree would New York actually sell? Pham and Canha are impending free agents. Marte — an All-Star in 2022 — is still under contract for two more seasons beyond 2023. But he’s 34 years old, so you would have to think the Mets would at least listen to offers for him, and it feels like the Phillies have been rumored as landing spot for Marte for years now.
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