Which prospects could be on the move?
Like the Machado deal, any deal for Rendon would cost Philadelphia an arm, a leg, and a couple of organs. Not only would the Nationals wave the white flag midseason, but they’d also lose two of the faces of their franchise (Rendon and Bryce Harper) to their division rival within five months.
It’s hard to compare prospects from previous deals, but the Baltimore-LA deal for Machado was a five-for-one deal. Baltimore’s number 2, 9, 19, and 22 overall prospects came from the deal, and Baltimore’s farm system was not that deep before the deal was made.
Philadelphia would likely have to part with two top-10 prospects and at least two more top-20 prospects to pry Rendon away from Washington.
Philadelphia would have a serious internal debate regarding top prospect Alec Bohm, their first round pick from 2018 who projects to be a fast-moving, power-hitting third baseman. If Philadelphia is confident they can sign Rendon, 29, to a long-term deal then Bohm is certainly on the table.
Philadelphia Phillies
After moving top pitching prospects Sixto Sanchez and Franklyn Kilome within the division for Asdrubal Cabrera and J.T. Realmuto it’s clear Klentak isn’t overly worried about moving top arms. That brings in top pitching prospect Adonis Medina, who has struggled at times in his first season with Double-A Reading. MLB Pipeline’s 65th-overall prospect has a respectable 3.44 ERA but has walked 21 batters in 10 starts with a 1.29 WHIP. More recently Medina has succeeded, throwing seven shutout innings against Erie before giving up a run in the eighth.
Former top picks Mickey Moniak and Adam Haseley, who is currently on the major league injured list, would also be up for sale. They’ve been projected to clash at some point in their careers, especially with Harper taking a stranglehold of one outfield position for the next 13 years. One,, or both, would likely go in this deal.
A pitcher lower in the Phillies farm system (Spencer Howard, JoJo Romero, Francisco Morales) would also likely be in this deal, along with a bat or two.
Washington has a young shortstop in the big leagues and one of the top shortstop prospects in baseball, likely taking out Phillies prospects Luis Garcia, Arquimedes Gamboa, and Nick Maton.
Philadelphia also has several young catchers, and if Realmuto is the catcher of the future, then Rodolfo Duran or Rafael Marchan become expendable.
You’d also imagine Maikel Franco goes in the deal to Washington to give them a player viewed either as a stop-gap until their next guy comes or as a high-ceiling guy who could thrive once out of the spotlight of a big market team.