The Philadelphia Phillies' 2024 trade deadline didn't exactly work out as planned. After the trade for left fielder Austin Hays backfired, the Phillies cut him loose this offseason instead of giving him a chance to prove himself with a full season of good health.
Now, the Phillies have Max Kepler inked to a one-year, $10 million contract, while Hays just signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately for Kepler and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, people in Philadelphia will be comparing the two left fielders all season as we wade through the aftermath of the Hays debacle.
Phillies' Max Kepler and Reds' Austin Hays will be compared all season long
It's hard to blame Hays for his health issues after the trade. He only played 22 games in the final two months of the season, during which time he had two IL stints, with a strained hamstring and a kidney infection (the former caused by the latter, Hays said at one point).
Essentially swapping Hays, who was projected to earn $6.4 million in arbitration this winter, for Kepler's $10 million salary was a strange move for a front office that has continually preached a restrained approach this offseason thanks to a payroll that has eclipsed the top luxury tax threshold of $301 million.
It was also a strange move after Dombrowski admitted how much they liked Hays at the time of the July trade. He revealed they had attempted to trade for Hays the two previous summers, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. A right-handed hitter, Hays was supposed to bring more balance to the lineup and solidify left field.
Instead, the Phillies are relying on Kepler to bounce back this year. If Hays had stuck around and won his arbitration with the Phillies for $6.4 million, he'd still be cheaper than Kepler.
Both players underperformed in 2024. Dealing with health issues, Kepler hit .253 with an underwhelming .682 OPS and eight home runs in 105 games for the Minnesota Twins. Hays, a platoon player in Baltimore, struggled to a .255 average and .699 OPS with five homers in 85 games with the Orioles and Phillies.
The best-case scenario for the Phillies is if Kepler comes in and has a season equivalent to one of his better MLB seasons (2019 and 2023 stand out). In which case, we won't care that the Phillies went out of their way to bring in a more expensive option than the one they made an effort to acquire only to non-tender. If that happens, we'll all eventually forget that Hays was even a Phillie, and his tenure in Philadelphia will fade in the annals of time.
All we can do is wait to see which underperforming outfielder has a better 2025 season.