The Philadelphia Phillies are at a crossroads this offseason.
Coming off their fourth-straight playoff loss in increasingly humiliating fashion, the Phillies know their current roster likely isn’t championship viable. But it very well might be with a few tweaks — it just isn’t certain that whatever tweaks they make will be the right ones.
Amid all the noise, one player whose job is clearly in jeopardy is third baseman Alec Bohm. He was a popular trade rumor subject last year when he was coming off an All-Star season, and now that he’s one year from free agency, he’d be little more than a change-of-scenery candidate.
As the offseason begins to heat up in earnest, one baseball writer foresees the Phillies replacing Bohm with one of the all-time greats at his position, who is nonetheless a question mark in his own right.
On Thursday, CBS Sports’ Dayn Perry predicted that the Phillies would trade for eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado, who has two years left on his contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I do think he gets dealt out of St. Louis this offseason,” Perry wrote. “Arenado experienced further decline at the plate this past season, but he remains a top-tier defender at third base. This time around, Arenado has said he’s willing to approve a trade to more destinations than he was last offseason and, most critically, Cardinals ownership has said they’re willing to kick in more cash than they were in past trade discussions.
“It’s not hard to see Arenado as a 2 WAR-ish kind of player across a full season, and I think the Cardinals will pay enough of his remaining salary to make him moveable on the market. I’ll guess he lands with the Phillies.”
This would be a curious move for the Phillies on many fronts, because after three straight years of decline, it’s easy to wonder if Arenado will ever be an above-average hitter again. There’s no doubt his veteran presence in the clubhouse would be welcome, though, and if anything could rejuvenate his offense, it might be taking aim at the short left-field fence in Citizens Bank Park.
How much money the Phillies would take on of the $32 million he’s still owed by St. Louis is another consideration, of course. But at the end of the day, making this move would have to come down to the Phillies believing Arenado fit them better than Bohm, with all definitions of the word “fit” considered.
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