Some trades could have happened that never panned out
Compared to the rest of baseball, the Phillies were relatively quiet at this year’s winter meetings. The White Sox began what could be a complete disassembly of their team in trading away Chris Sale and Adam Eaton. While it seemed like Andrew McCutchen would be on the move sooner rather than later, he stayed where he was in Pittsburgh.
There were some that thought the Phils could make another big trade this winter. Seeing the return the White Sox got for Eaton, Chuck Booth of Section 215 here at FanSided thought it might be worthwhile to consider trading Odubel Herrera. T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, who writes about the Rangers, said the Phils might have considered trading Herrera.
Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly also noted that the Tigers would have been interested in Cesar Hernandez if they were able to trade Ian Kinsler. If they had managed to deal Kinsler, Hernandez could have been moved for Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez. Salisbury said, “So keep an eye on Kinsler. If he moves, the Phillies could pursue the veteran bat that would make their offense better.”
While Vince Velasquez rumors were all the rage when the season ended, there was little chatter about him when the meetings came around. It looks like the hard-throwing righty will be around next year, if not longer.
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The Phillies remained quiet for the most part at the winter meetings this year, but that isn’t to say it went poorly for them. Joaquin Benoit was a nice pickup to help solidify the bullpen, and the Rule 5 draft didn’t hurt them too much. Even if some moves were left on the table, their 2017 potential is about the same, if not more, as when they entered the meetings.