The Phillies have work to do.<\/p>\n
They know it. They said it Wednesday on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish we would have maybe done a little more,\u201d Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said following the Rule 5 Draft. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t feel comfortable. But it\u2019s not done either. The Meetings are done, but the conversations aren\u2019t over. You have to be careful.<\/p>\n
‘We had a couple conversations that were going yesterday that were quite heavy. They didn\u2019t happen. Then all of a sudden, it\u2019s, \u2018What about this? What about that?\u2019 I said, \u2018Hold on, let\u2019s take a step back. We don\u2019t have to force anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The expectation remains that the Phillies will do something at some point. It\u2019s unclear whether it will come via free agency or trade.<\/p>\n
So far, they have not traded their top prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been there before, done it before,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cNot sure it was the right time for us to do that right now. I think there\u2019s a few reasons behind it. We have four quality starting pitchers. And we have a young pitcher coming right behind them [Andrew Painter] that we like a whole lot.<\/p>\n
“So to give up that type of talent … We\u2019ve had [Alec] Bohm, [Bryson] Stott, [Brandon] Marsh, [Cristopher] S\u00e1nchez, [Johan] Rojas, but we really rode out the development of our farm system over the last few years. And we\u2019re just getting to the point of having the impact of those guys. It\u2019s not quite here, but we\u2019re on the verge of having some really good young players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are three players traded this week who had been linked to the Phillies, either because of real interest or because the Phils have a need:<\/p>\n
Garrett Crochet<\/strong><\/p>\n The Phils pushed hard for Crochet in July, but the White Sox traded him Wednesday to Boston for prospects Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez. According to MLB Pipeline, Teel is the No. 25 prospect in baseball, while Montgomery is No. 54. Meidroth and Gonzalez were upper-level Red Sox prospects.<\/p>\n What could the Phillies have offered to match or beat that? Maybe nothing, if Chicago continued to insist on Painter, Philadelphia’s top pitching prospect. MLB Pipeline\u2019s Jonathan Mayo said a relatively comparable package from the Phillies could have included Aidan Miller (No. 26 prospect in baseball), Justin Crawford (No. 53 prospect in baseball) and outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 11 prospect the in organization) and right-hander Jean Cabrera (No. 13).<\/p>\n Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly said recently that Rincones might be the most underrated prospect in the system. Cabrera was the Phillies\u2019 Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2021 and placed on the 40-man roster last month to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.<\/p>\n If the White Sox had insisted on another infielder, instead of Rincones, the Phils could have included Devin Saltiban (No. 9) or Bryan Rincon (No. 10).<\/p>\n Kyle Tucker<\/strong><\/p>\n The Astros traded Tucker on Friday to the Cubs for third baseman Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and prospect Cam Smith (No. 73 prospect in baseball).<\/p>\n Tucker would have been huge in the Phillies\u2019 lineup, but he will be a free agent following the season. He figures to command a contract that could easily surpass Bryce Harper\u2019s $330 million. The Cubs paid a hefty price for him. Paredes has been one of baseball\u2019s best third basemen the past three seasons. He won\u2019t become a free agent until after the 2027 season. Wesneski hasn\u2019t put everything together, but he has been effective floating between the rotation and bullpen. He is under team control through 2029.<\/p>\n The Cubs just selected Smith in the first round of the 2024 Draft.<\/p>\n A trade here probably starts with third baseman Alec Bohm and a top prospect like Miller or Crawford, plus more.<\/p>\n Devin Williams<\/strong><\/p>\n The Brewers traded closer Williams to the Yankees on Friday for starter Nestor Cortes, infielder Caleb Durbin and cash. Cortes will be a free agent after the season. Durbin was just placed on the 40-man roster after a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. What would\u2019ve been a comparable deal for the Phillies? It starts with left-hander Ranger Su\u00e1rez, who is a free agent after the season.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d trade anybody at a particular time, but it\u2019s not a driving force for us at this time,” Dombrowski said. “We\u2019d give up anybody for the right player, but at this point, I don\u2019t know that the timing was right for us to give up that type of quality and quantity of players.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Phillies have work to do. They know it. They said it Wednesday on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Dallas. \u201cI wish we would… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n