Phillies re-acquire Freddy Galvis in trade with Orioles
The Philadelphia Phillies have re-acquired infielder Freddy Galvis from the Baltimore Orioles, per Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports.
Galvis broke into the league with the Phillies in 2012, spending parts of six seasons with the team. The Phillies traded Galvis to the San Diego Padres for Enyel De Los Santos ahead of the 2018 season. The veteran has also spent time with the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds since his first stint with the Phillies.
Now 31, Galvis was slashing .249/.306/.414 with nine home runs, 26 RBIs and a 1.4 fWAR with the Baltimore Orioles. Galvis has extended experience at second base and third base, but has spent the overwhelming majority of his career at shortstop. The Phillies have Didi Gregorius at shortstop currently, and he’s due to make $14 million in 2022. That said, Gregorius is slashing just .209/.263/.382 with -9 defensive runs saved in 2021, so for at least the time being, Galvis could be an upgrade over Gregorius.
Galvis is currently out with a right quad strain, an injury that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Friday will likely keep him out until between Aug. 10 and 15. Dombrowski was hesitant to commit to any sort of defined role for Galvis, but he did say he gives them an option that can play multiple positions. Dombrowski also added that while the Phillies believe Gregorius is a better player than he’s shown in 2021 and that he’ll bounce back from what was a difficult first half, Galvis does give them another option.
While Galvis would be a defensive upgrade at shortstop — at least on some days, it’s hard to imagine Gregorius altogether being benched — he isn’t the defender that he once was. Since the start of the 2020 season, Galvis has -2 defensive runs saved at shortstop across 836 ⅓ innings. He also has -1 outs above average in 2021.
Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer says that the Phillies traded 23-year-old minor league reliever Tyler Burch to land Galvis. In 23 games — 29 ⅓ innings — Burch had a 3.99 ERA.
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