This season was about development for the Phillies. It was about the emergence of players such as Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams and Jorge Alfaro at the big-league level, and strong minor league seasons from prospects such as Sixto Sanchez and Scott Kingery. It was an ugly season on paper, but there’s a lot to be excited about.
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The Phillies have found themselves something of a core. They have a front-line starter in Aaron Nola. They have a two-way center fielder in Odubel Herrera. They have a bruising slugger in Hoskins, and possibly a premium shortstop in J.P. Crawford. What now remains is the need to build around these pieces, and the winter meetings offer an opportunity to do just that.
The NL East isn’t exactly looking to be very competitive outside of Washington next year. Here’s how the Phillies can exploit that.
Trade for Michael Fulmer
Fulmer is coming off a down year that was cut short by elbow surgery, but even a down year still showcased his considerable talent. Fulmer still has years of team control left, and because of that he’d be expensive. There are health concerns here, of course, but that helps lower his trade cost, and the procedure was relatively minor as far as elbow surgeries go. Fulmer got ulnar transposition surgery, which moved a nerve that was being irritated to a different spot in his elbow. The procedure is the same one Jacob deGrom underwent last winter, and deGrom was able to come back and pitch a full season.
It’s a bit of a roll of the dice, but it could pay off huge if Fulmer comes back strong, and especially if they can do this without giving up their top two prospects in Sanchez and Crawford. They’d be trading for Fulmer at the low point of his value, but this is still the 2016 Rookie of the Year.
If the price on Fulmer is too high, the Phillies could explore a trade for someone such as Danny Duffy, who should also theoretically be available.
Sign Greg Holland
The Philadelphia bullpen is in need of improvements, and Holland is one of the best relievers available on the open market. Perhaps second only to Wade Davis, Holland had a phenomenal bounce-back year with the Rockies and is in position to cash in. The Phillies would have to work hard to convince Holland to go to a team that doesn’t look like an immediate contender when he’ll likely have offers from teams such as the Cubs, Cardinals, Angels and more. But an addition of Holland’s caliber would be huge, in that he would bring a (theoretically) stabilizing force to the ninth inning and move Hector Neris into a setup role.
They’ve already reportedly brought back Pat Neshek on a two-year deal, which is a great start. Holland would make the bullpen even stronger.
The Phillies would also do well to try to obtain someone such as Brian Duensing, or even reigning Japanese MVP Kazuhisa Makita, who was posted alongside Shohei Ohtani.
Move Vince Velasquez to the bullpen
Velasquez has always had really nasty stuff, and has had periods of success as a starter. But staying healthy has been a consistent issue, and many feel that it’s time to see what Velasquez can do while airing it out in short stints. There may be a strong reliever here, and if the experiment works it could give the Phillies a dangerous weapon to deploy as needed. His starter’s background could even give him the capability to work multiple innings in a single appearance. Philadelphia should bring him to camp stretched out as a starter, but shouldn’t hesitate to move Velasquez into a relief role if they feel he can produce more value that way.
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Trade for Manny Machado(?)
It’s worth noting that Roch Kubatko of MASN has reported that the Phillies have also spoken to the Orioles about a possible trade for superstar third baseman Manny Machado. Machado certainly fits on the roster given Maikel Franco’s struggles, and even if Franco was performing well it’s hard to pass up a shot at a player of Machado’s level. The Orioles supposedly (and understandably) desire Sanchez, as well as Kingery. Freddy Galvis also came up, per Kubatko’s report.
The deal would necessitate a 72-hour period for Philadelphia to sign Machado to an extension. Machado is set to become a free agent next winter, so the trade would make little sense for the Phillies if Machado wasn’t going to sign on for the long haul, and the Phillies almost certainly won’t part with Sanchez unless they’re getting quite a prize in return.
Machado, certainly, would be a prize, and would likely remove the possibility of a Fulmer trade. But that’s a worthy price to pay for one of the best players in all of baseball.
Because most of their lineup is set with young position players, the Phillies should center on pitching. The only outlier, apart from a potential Machado deal, is the long-rumored trade of Cesar Hernandez, which would open up second base for Kingery to take over at some point early on in the season. Galvis would likely shift to second base in the interim, which would allow Crawford to get full-time reps at shortstop.
The Phillies are far closer to being contenders than they seem. General manager Matt Klentak may not necessarily want to push his chips in just yet, but there’s a window here for an early run to the Wild-Card game, and possibly even more. It’s a course of action that the team should seriously consider.
