5 of the worst trade deadline deals in Philadelphia Phillies history

2012: Phillies trade Hunter Pence to the San Francisco Giants for Nate Schierholtz, Seth Rosin and Tommy Joseph 

Following five straight years of making the postseason, the Phillies struggled throughout their 2012 campaign, just trying to stay above .500. As a result, as sellers at the trade deadline, Philadelphia moved star outfielder Hunter Pence to the San Francisco Giants for a trio of players. 

Outfielder Nate Schierholtz would only end up appearing in 37 games for the Phillies as a reserve player, posting a .273 average, one home run and five RBIs. Right-handed pitcher Seth Rosin saw all of one game with Philadelphia, giving up five runs in just two innings of work. Finally, first baseman Tommy Joseph was the most productive of the three, producing back-to-back 20+ home runs and 40+ RBIs seasons with the Phillies between 2015 and 2016 before being supplanted by Carlos Santana at first base. He never saw another MLB game.

As for Pence, he became a mainstay in the Giants’ outfield for seven consecutive seasons (eight overall) while batting a solid .265 with a .750 OPS, along with 95 home runs and 412 RBIs over 789 games played. More importantly, the four-time All-Star helped the Giants to three postseason appearances while winning it all and capturing the World Series title in two of those seasons. Had the Phillies held on to Pence, perhaps they wouldn’t have endured a decade-long drought of not making the playoffs.

2002: Phillies trade Scott Rolen and Doug Nickle to the St. Louis Cardinals for Plácido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin

During 2002, Phillies star third baseman Scott Rolen was getting frustrated with the team’s performance in recent years, which resulted in him wanting out in favor of a contending team. As a result, Philadelphia ended up moving Rolen to the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline that year. However, the return that they got was quite underwhelming, with infielder Plácido Polanco the main piece coming back.

Reliever Mike Timlin left the Phillies via free agency following the 2002 season after making 30 appearances for the team during the final couple of months. As for left-hander Bud Smith, he remained buried in the minors in the Phillies’ system until 2004 and was out of baseball entirely by 2008. Polanco ended up being the only piece that gave Philadelphia any value as he spent seven total years in the organization split over two stints. He recorded a solid .289 average and .739 OPS along with 365 runs scored, 51 home runs and 281 RBIs over 688 career games with the Phillies.

However, that still paled in comparison to the tremendous impact that Rolen ended up having with the Cardinals. Never mind how Doug Nickle actually turned out for St. Louis, but just Rolen himself provided enough value to more than satisfy the franchise. He averaged close to 25 home runs and 100 RBIs over a full 162-game schedule with St. Louis over six seasons, leading to four All-Star appearances and three Gold Glove Awards, along with finishing fourth in NL MVP voting in 2004.

More significantly, he led the Cardinals to three playoff appearances over that time frame, including winning the World Series championship in 2006. To top it off, Rolen has now since been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023. Although the Phillies were forced to move Rolen, the overall outcome of the trade no doubt left a bitter taste for Philadelphia fans.