The Phillies could find their next utility glove on the free agent market
After not being tendered a contract by the New York Mets, Wilmer Flores could fall into the Phillies lap this offseason and be a productive player.
Among several things on the Phillies checklist this offseason is to rebuild the bench. After acquiring Wilson Ramos, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Justin Bour over the summer all four enter the offseason as free agents.
Philadelphia is now left with a bench consisting of Aaron Altherr, Mitch Walding, Andrew Knapp, Roman Quinn, and J.P. Crawford, potentially the worst bench in baseball. They’re essentially back to square one with the bench.
The 27-year-old Flores has played all across the infield since making the big leagues with at least 100 games at four different positions. New York has limited his appearances at shortstop since 2015 after he made 14 errors that season. Over the last three years, Flores has played just eight games at short.
Flores does have a quality bat, hitting no-worse than .263 with double-digit home runs over the last four years. He also gets on base at a decent rate and struck out just 42 times in 126 games last season.
He’d be an upgrade offensively from Walding and Crawford, though Crawford has the upside defensively should he return in 2019 and not be traded for someone like Jean Segura.
For what it’s worth, Flores has hit well in Citizens Bank Park throughout his career with a .291 average and four home runs in 32 games.
Flores isn’ a perfect match, but he’s an upgrade on the Phillies bench in 2019 and could be a cheap addition after the Mets opted not to tender him a contract.