As the baseball world wonders what the Phillies are, the Phillies have been one of the most interesting teams on the rumor pages. Most, like Pat Gallen’s 97.5 FM co-host Jayson Stark, have concluded that the Phillies don’t have a whole lot of pieces that would return much value much like we did ten days ago.
Yet, in that time, the Phillies have won seven out of nine games and moved within 5 games of first place in the NL East, improving their playoff odds from just over 3% to 9.4% according to ESPN’s projections.
Let’s take a look at some of the early trade rumors:
– Just a few days ago, Jimmy Rollins revealed that he would be open to accepting a trade now that he has broken the franchise hit record. With 8 HR, 11 SB, Rollins is having a bounce-back year and is a legitimate All-Star candidate with a .247/.340/.396 line. A big hurdle to Rollins being traded, in addition to his ability to veto trades, is his vesting option, which vests at $11 million with 1,100 PA in 2013 and 2014 combined. At 959 PA, Rollins will certainly hit that 1,100 threshold.
– An interesting development has come in the trade-ability of outfielder John Mayberry Jr. With a .256/.363/.526 line with five homers in 91 PA, Mayberry has made himself one of the best bench bats in the National League in a small sample in 2014. Despite his limited playing time, Mayberry has been the Phillies fourth-most valuable position player per fWAR. According to Jim Salisbury, the Yankees and Red Sox have interest in the 30-year old otufielder.
– According to a report by Stark, a trade involving Chase Utley is “not happening“. Like Rollins, Utley has a series of attainable vesting options that could make him $15 million per year in 2015, 2016, and 2017 that might scare off potential suitors.
– Finally, the Stark piece indicates that sources around the league think the Phillies may shop Domonic Brown around the league for a change-of-scenery trade. Brown is hitting .223/.272/.332 and has been one of the Majors’ worst regulars by both OPS and fWAR.
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