Phillies: Five players likely to be traded this offseason

Maikel Franco

Few players during the Phillies rebuild have been as disappointing as Maikel Franco, the former top prospect expected to be the franchise’s next great third baseman who continues to fall flat.

Philadelphia may have put harsh expectations on Franco (it doesn’t help when Mike Schmidt calls you an MVP candidate), but at the very least he should have been a productive player. After four years of riding a rollercoaster at the plate, Franco was demoted to Lehigh Valley, officially putting him on notice for the future.

Unfortunately, the Phillies will have a tough time trading Franco and will get nowhere near the value they would have gotten prior to him playing any meaningful major league time. Franco would be best suited on a team that’s either rebuilding or just coming out of a rebuild. Those teams would be the Tigers, Orioles, Marlins, Pirates, Mariners, Royals, and Blue Jays.

Pittsburgh has one of their top prospects Colin Moran manning the hot corner, so there’s no room in Pittsburgh for Franco.

Dawel Lugo was a top-15 prospect for the Tigers who hit .245 with six home runs in limited playing time as a 24-year-old. Unless Detroit moves him to another position, I don’t see a spot for Franco there.

Kansas City already has a young third baseman in Hunter Dozier, who hit 26 home runs with a .279 batting average. They’re out on Franco.

Baltimore had 25-year-old Rio Ruiz play 127 games last year hitting .232 with 12 home runs. Would they take a stab at Franco or let Ruiz play more during the rebuild and hopefully develop?

Miami has their power-hitting, low-batting average third baseman in Brian Anderson already, and unless the Mariners can pull a trade for Kyle Seager, they’re set with an established big league infielder.

The market is already expected to be dry for Franco, and with only a handful of compatible teams, the Phillies will be lucky to get anything significant for their former top prospect.