There’s no reason for the Philadelphia Phillies to play it safe this season.
In a hotly contested National League, the Phillies have a puncher’s chance of winning a long-awaited World Series. They need Bryce Harper to come back healthy and they need to find a closer, but even those things might not be enough to seal the deal.
Center field has become the Phillies’ Achilles’ heel. Phillies center fielders have only two combined home runs, the fewest at the position of any team in the majors, while ranking 24th in fWAR at 0.4.
One baseball writer came up with a trade idea that could land a bona-fide star at the position–provided he stays healthy.
On Sunday, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller proposed a hypothetical trade that would send Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton to Philadelphia for top pitching prospect Mick Abel and catching prospect Alirio Ferrebus.
“Philadelphia’s outfield has been darn near the worst in baseball, the quartet of Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler and Johan Rojas worth a combined negative-0.7 bWAR this season,” Miller wrote. “But Buxton is having a sensational season in Minnesota and could become the Phillies’ primary DH for the three years left on his contract, should they fail to re-sign Kyle Schwarber this offseason.
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“2020 first-round pick Mick Abel would be a major chip to part with, but the Phillies do have an excess of starting pitching, with Andrew Painter presumably close to ready for his MLB debut and Aaron Nola presumably returning from the IL at some point.”
Buxton, 31, hasn’t been able to play more than 102 games since 2017. But through 66 this season, he’s already managed 3.3 bWAR, 19 home runs, and an incredible .928 OPS. He’s still playing phenomenal defense in center as well.
Giving up on Abel would be a tough proposition, but this version of Buxton would undoubtedly make it worth the Phillies’ while. If anything, the question here is whether the Twins will be ready to wave the white flag in the name of penny pinching.
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