Phillies: Most impactful deadline deals of the decade

While many of the Phillies prior trades in 2012 and 2013 were the official kickoff to the rebuild, the Cole Hamels trade was supposed to completely reset the organization. Unlike with Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard the Phillies recognized they had a valuable young asset who could fetch a handful of top-tier prospects in return.

Coming off a no-hitter in Chicago the price tag could not have been higher for a 31-year-old Hamels, who was under team control for four years under a reasonable contract.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. hoped to sway his nickname Ruin Tomorrow Jr. by setting up the next general manager with an all-time trade that would replenish a farm system he drained over three seasons.

Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia received a haul of Rangers prospects who were ranked among the top-10 in the organization. MLB Pipeline rated catcher Jorge Alfaro the Rangers second-best prospect in 2014. Outfielder Nick Williams was Texas’ fourth-best prospect, and pitcher Jake Thompson was eighth.

On the back-end of the deal Alec Asher was rated 14th and Jerad Eickhoff 20th. Pitcher Matt Harrison helped balance out the money going to Texas in Hamels’ contract.

In all of baseball Alfaro was the only player rated in MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospects, rated the league’s 30th best prospect.

Conceivably the Phillies got their catcher of the future, an everyday outfielder, and possibly two starting pitchers in the deal. It felt like a home run for Amaro, his swansong as the Phillies general manager.

Unfortunately, the deal hasn’t turned out for Philadelphia with four of the six players no longer in the organization.

Harrison was never expected to play coming off an injury, being included in the deal solely for financial purposes. Asher was horrendous in his rookie season, losing six of seven starts with a 9.31 ERA. His five big league starts in 2016 were better with a 2.81 ERA, but he was ultimately traded to Baltimore for cash prior to the 2017 season.

Thompson never materialized into the number one or two starter many projected him to be. Making his major league debut on Aug. 6, 2016, Thompson allowed six runs in four and a third innings. He turned a couple of quality starts, but never stuck in the big leagues as a starter or reliever.

After three years bouncing between the IronPigs and Phillies with a big league 4.87 ERA in 30 games the Phillies sent Thompson to Milwaukee for cash.

Williams is one of the more disappointing players in the deal, flashing five-tool potential with 20 home run power. He showed flashes in 2017 when he hit .288 with 12 home runs in 83 games, and in 2018 he had an opportunity to start, appearing in 140 games hitting .256 with 17 home runs. Consistency was never William’s strong point, and after starting 2019 on the big leauge bench he was sent to Lehigh Valley with a batting average under .200.

Eickhoff also showed flashes of being a steal in the deal with a workhorse mentality. In his first 41 starts Eickhoff had a 3.44 ERA with a 1.136 WHIP. Injuries knocked him out late in 2017 and for all but three games in 2018.

Finally healthy, Eickhoff looked like the middle of the rotation starter Philadelphia needed to get through the 2019 season. Through five games he had a 1.50 ERA and pitched eight shutout innings against the Cardinals. Since that start versus St. Louis Eickhoff’s ERA inflated to 10.16 in seven games.

The big piece in the Hamels deal was clearly supposed to be Jorge Alfaro, a rare five-tool catcher who’d be the heir to Carlos Ruiz. Alfaro had monstrous power, a cannon behind the plate, and the ability to hit like few big leauge catchers. In 29 games he hit five home runs with a .318 batting average late in the 2017 season, flashing big signs of potential. Starting for the Phillies the following season Alfaro hit just .262 with 10 home runs, ultimately losing the starting job to Wilson Ramos.

Still with a lot of room to grow Alfaro was traded to Miami for All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto.

The Hamels deal might be one of the more disappointing trades in Phillies history, but in terms of impact, it sent the organization deep into their rebuild with a glimmer of hope. The Hamels deal indirectly led to the Realmuto trade, which flipped the organization out of their rebuild and into playoff contention.