Phillies take their infield logjam and push it somewhere else
By John Town
The Phillies briefly had a respite from any logjams by trading Freddy Galvis before creating another one by signing Carlos Santana.
Perhaps the biggest storyline of the Phillies offseason was their infield logjam. They had two prospects on the brink of the majors with J.P. Crawford making his debut in September and Scott Kingery soon ready to make the jump as well. This left the team in a weird position as they already had Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco, and Rhys Hoskins as established starters.
To solve this logjam, they traded Galvis to the Padres for pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos Friday. This move clears the way for Crawford to be the starter next season while leaving Hernandez and Franco in place. It also gives Kingery time to develop in Triple-A before a potential midseason call-up.
However, just when things looked like they were getting cleared up, the team made a surprise move, signing first baseman Carlos Santana to a three-year, $60 million contract just an hour later.
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Santana, who will be 32 come April, is a strong all-around hitter. He hit 23 home runs, drove in 79 runs, and scored 90 in 2017 with the Indians. Perhaps the most impressive thing about his offense is that he walks nearly as much as he strikes out, with a strikeout-to-walk ratio above 0.90 in three of his last four seasons. The team is showing a preference for players with high on-base percentages like Hernandez, Rhys Hoskins, and Crawford, and Santana fits that mold.
While Santana will certainly give the team a boost on offense, his position puts the team right back into another logjam. The only position he has played for the last three years has pretty much been only first base or designated hitter, with seven games in right field this season. With the Phillies only being able to use the DH in away interleague games, Santana will probably stick to first base in Philadelphia.
This means that the club likes Hoskins’ defense in left field enough to play him there full time (Pat Burrell anyone?). This would be fine and dandy if the main pieces of the outfield needed to be hammered out like in previous years, but for once the outfield actually looks pretty solid.
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Odubel Herrera had another solid season in center field. Nick Williams had a strong rookie debut and didn’t look overmatched by major-league pitching at all. Aaron Altherr dealt with a lot of injuries, but when he played he was among the team’s best hitters. Now, one of them will either be stuck on the bench or have to be moved.
It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that the club sticks with a Hoskins-Herrera-Williams outfield with Altherr as the fourth outfielder. Altherr is versatile enough to play center field and would certainly be one of the better backup outfielders in the game.
On the other hand, this seems like a waste considering his offensive potential when starting.
This outfield logjam could lead to a trade for a starting pitcher. Rather than dealing from a position of depth in the infield, they now can do that with their outfield. Herrera probably has the most value in a trade, but the team would probably have an even higher asking price than they did for Hernandez. If anyone is going to be traded, it will likely be one of Altherr or Williams, plus some prospects.
Next: Tommy Joseph a backup option for Boston
It appears the Phillies are following Patrick Star logic to solve their problems: taking their infield logjam and pushing it somewhere else.