Grading Phillies biggest acquisitions for 2018 season

Asdrubal Cabrera

As the trade deadline approached, it was clear the Phillies needed to improve the shortstop position. J.P. Crawford was dealing with injury issues and Scott Kingery just wasn’t cutting it offensively. The team wasn’t willing to break the bank to acquire Manny Machado, so they sought other alternatives, eventually landing on Asdrubal Cabrera.

Before being traded by the Mets, Cabrera had a .277/.329/.488 line with 18 home runs and 58 runs batted in. While his defense was sub-standard, the hope was he could hit enough to outweigh the poor defense. Let’s just say that didn’t happen.

In 44 games with the Phillies, Cabrera has a .227/.276/.399 line with five home runs and 17 runs batted in. He declined in nearly every measure once he changed uniforms. He has -5 defensive runs saved at shortstop, which isn’t helping his case at all. Cabrera has been better at the plate over the last few weeks, but it is a case of too little too late.

Cabrera was supposed to turn around the shortstop position for the Phillies, but the problems only continued. When you add in the fact that they had to give up a notable pitching prospect in Franklyn Kilome to acquire Cabrera, it doesn’t get any better.