Report: Nationals wanted to involve Phillies in Juan Soto trade to land Andrew Painter

If you need an idea of why Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was so protective of RHP Andrew Painter in trade talks, here’s a pretty good one.

In his updated look at the top 50 prospects in baseball, ESPN‘s Kiley McDaniel ranked Painter as the No. 32 prospect in baseball, and even says the Washington Nationals kicked around ideas of how to include the Phillies in the Juan Soto deal in hopes of landing the talented righty.

“Painter (great pitcher name) has had a huge velo spike this spring, gaining 3-4 ticks (he’s now hitting triple digits) and firming up his already 55-to-60 grade raw stuff to be even better. He’s the consensus best pitching prospect in baseball below Double-A — chatter around the league is that he was one of the players the Nationals were trying to initiate side deals or three-way trades to include in Juan Soto trade proposals.”

McDaniel’s report doesn’t mean that the Phillies were ever seen as a landing spot for Soto — there’s no indication that was a consideration. However, Mike Rizzo and the Nationals were apparently so keen on Painter that they kicked around different ideas for how to not only involve the Phillies in the deal, but do so in a manner where they would have received a player notable enough to part with their top overall prospect.

This is just speculation, but maybe such a deal could have looked like this.

San Francisco Giants receive: Soto

Phillies receive: Carlos Rodón

Nationals receive: Painter and a slew of other top prospects from the Giants

Ultimately, there were a host of flaws in this type of trade.

First of all, if the Giants were going to make a trade for Soto, they probably wouldn’t want to trade their top starting pitcher. Sure, a trade for Soto may have been more for 2023 and 2024, but if you’re still within striking distance in the Wild Card race, you probably don’t want to punt on 2022 after acquiring one of the five best position players in baseball.

Additionally, Rodón can — and almost certainly will — decline his $22.5 million player option for 2023 and become a free agent this offseason. So the Phillies would be trading their top prospect for a rental. Could they re-sign the 29-year-old this offseason? Probably, but the reason Rodón had to settle for a short-term deal last offseason was because teams had concerns about his ability to stay healthy over a lengthy pact. So even if Rodón would have given the Phillies a tremendous trio of arms at the top of their rotation with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola for the rest of 2022, he may not have been the type of arm that you mortgage the future on.

It should also be pointed out that even though the Phillies are 9-4 since trade deadline passed, they are only a half game up on Soto and the Padres for the second Wild Card spot. They remain 10 1/2 games back of the New York Mets in the National League East. Even if the Phillies would be willing to part with Painter, Mick Abel (ranked at No. 46 by McDaniel) or Griff McGarry under the right circumstances, they might need to be having a season like what the 75-41 Mets are having to believe that this was the time to cash in their very top prospects.

By all accounts, though, the Phillies aren’t bluffing about how fond they are of the trio of Painter, Abel and McGarry. And just because McGarry, 23, is the oldest of the bunch doesn’t mean that they are years away from the majors. After the recent promotions of Painter and Abel, all three are now at Double-A Reading. Dombrowski has already suggested all three will be invited to Major League Spring Training in 2023. And who knows, perhaps one or two of them will play a real role down the stretch for the Phillies next season.

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