Phillies Trade Value Update
The Philadelphia Phillies season has crumbled once again, and with the MLB non-waiver trade deadline now just six weeks away the club could make a number of moves.
Earlier this season, I wrote a piece detailing the trade value of some of the players the Phillies had on the roster, and whether their stock was up or down at that time.
At the time that post was written, the team was a surprising 24-18 and incredibly looking into the idea that perhaps they might be buyers, adding to the roster rather than subtracting.
It’s truly amazing what a month can change, as the Phils have gone 6-23 since that time. They are now solidly in the “seller” portion of the national trade conversation.
Naturally, with that comes a look at what the team might have to peddle to other clubs out on the trade market. The Phillies do indeed have a number of veterans who could be valuable additions to contending ball clubs.
Let’s take a look now at three of those veteran players: a relief pitcher, a starting pitcher, and a position player.
Trade Value Up
Gomez was a good addition to the bullpen last year and has solidified himself, thanks to Hector Neris‘ decline, as its best and most consistent member this year.
Emerging as the Phillies’ surprising closer, Gomez has saved 19 games in 21 chances. He’s doing it by getting grounders at a 51.5% clip, keeping men off the bases by not walking people, and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
His 3.00 ERA is a bit of a mirage, as he’s posted a 3.76 FIP and a 4.46 DRA, meaning that regression could be coming at any time. But otherwise, the righty has provided the team with great value for his contract.
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Before coming to the Phillies last year, Gomez was looked at as more of a swingman/mop-up duty type of pitcher. Last year, he was used in high leverage situations more and more as that season wore on. This year, Pete Mackanin called upon him to end games once several others failed to do so in the early weeks of the season.
That type of flexibility could be very valuable to contending teams who could use Gomez as a type of closer insurance in case of injury, or as a reliever that could be trusted in high leverage situations.
With the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals showing in each of the past two seasons what a dominant bullpen can do once the playoffs begin, teams like Detroit, Washington, and Texas with 2016 playoff aspirations, but whose bullpens have struggled, might be some of the first called on by Matt Klentak as the deadline approaches.
Next: Trade Value Up on a Starting Pitcher
Trade Value Up
There has been much written this year about the dearth of available starting pitching in the coming offseason. What has also been written is that this trading season will see a low quantity of much quality starting pitching available as well.
That will likely mean that reliable, youngish, veteran hurlers like Hellickson, who has been respectable this year, could be put out there as a cheaper option for teams in need of pitching.
While his ERA isn’t exactly glamorous (4.46), the righty is posting the best K/9 of his career (8.32), as well as his best BB/9 (2.36).
He wouldn’t be a pennant-race altering type of acquisition, but when the prices of some of the possible arms available are almost laughable, Hellickson, a pending free agent, would be someone who could interest teams with struggling rotations that need an extra dependable arm for down the stretch.
Teams like Baltimore, Boston and Houston, whose rotations are among the worst in the game, but who nonetheless are contenders, should definitely have interest in an arm like Hellickson, especially since he wouldn’t command anywhere near the price of someone like Sonny Gray out in Oakland.
Next: Trade Value Down on a Beloved Catcher
Trade Value Down
On May 16, Ruiz was hitting a very respectable .300/.373/.500 in a part-time role with the only team he’s ever known.
The beloved ‘Chooch’ was healthy, and while not posting great defensive metrics, still had the confidence of the coaching staff to lead some of the younger arms as they matured at the big league level.
Since that date, Ruiz has hit to a paltry .079/.205/.079 slash line in 44 plate appearances. While this is a small sample size to be sure, there really is no doubt that he should only see the field once, maybe twice a week. His anemic bat simply isn’t worthy of a starting spot any longer.
I wrote earlier about the possibility that Ruiz could be a good addition to a contender as a backup for a playoff push. This would be especially valuable for a team like Kansas City or St. Louis, who ride their starters hard throughout the regular season, but might like to sit the regulars down in the stretch run once theoretical playoff spots were less in doubt.
Ruiz’ poor play of late has extinguished any hope that this might be possible, as he is more likely to get released at this point than he is to be traded.
Manager Pete Mackanin has recognized this, and has played Cameron Rupp more often than not lately. We fans now have to watch another hero of 2008 limp slowly into the sunset of their careers when they obviously deserved better.
Hopefully, the front office is ready to move on from these players as soon as a reasonable opportunity presents itself.
The Phillies are positioned to beat the market by no longer being in contention, possibly adding to the young core being built at AAA Lehigh Valley and AA Reading. That should be at the forefront of their collective agendas. Perhaps these players might bring a piece that enhances that core for the next Phillies winner.