FanSided Offseason Simulation: Phillies trade Tommy Joseph to Indians
By John Town
In their third move at the FanSided MLB Winter Meetings, the Phillies traded first baseman Tommy Joseph to the Indians for pitcher Ryan Merritt.
DISCLAIMER: This article is part of the FanSided MLB Winter Meetings simulation. It in no way reflects real events.
The Phillies continue to wheel and deal at the winter meetings, sending first baseman Tommy Joseph to the Cleveland Indians for left-handed pitching prospect Ryan Merritt.
The deal happened rather quickly over Twitter. At first, the Phils reached out in the hopes of acquiring Trevor Bauer for Joseph and Dylan Cozens. That was swifty denied, but the Joseph-Merritt swap soon followed.
Joseph was the lone piece left from the 2012 Hunter Pence trade. Originally a catching prospect, concussions derailed his career behind the plate, forcing him to move to first base. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster after the 2015 season, but he made it to the majors in May of 2016.
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Joseph showed some potential in his rookie campaign, hitting 21 home runs with an .813 OPS (113 OPS+) in 107 games. His production slipped in 2017, with his batting average dropping to .240, going from 0.5 wins above replacement in 2016 to -1.3 in 2017. His 85 wRC+ was the worst among qualified first baseman this year.
After Rhys Hoskins‘ dynamic rookie debut, he looks to be the future at first base.
Meanwhile, Joseph was on the outside looking in and he is now in Cleveland.
In exchange for Joseph, the Phils get Merritt, who was Cleveland’s No. 21 prospect according to MLB.com. The lefty made his major-league debut in 2016 and saw his first action in the playoffs in Game Five of the ALCS. He tossed 4.1 innings, limiting the Blue Jays to just two hits and no walks in what turned out to be the deciding game of the series.
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In 19 appearances in Triple-A this year, Merritt had a 3.03 ERA, 10-5 record, 1.22 WHIP, and 3.40 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In five outings in the majors, he gave up just four earned runs in 20.2 innings.
Merritt is praised for his plus command, and he walked just 25 batters in 116 innings this season. However, what he has in command he lacks in stuff. His fastball will only run into the high 80s. He has an above-average changeup and average curveball, but it isn’t enough to dominate hitters. Merritt has to use his command to beat hitters, which can only take him so far.
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In Merritt, the Phillies got a serviceable rotation arm, but one that might wind up bouncing between Triple-A and the majors. However, considering they only had to trade Joseph for him, the deal doesn’t hurt the team at all.