10 Fire-Sale Trades the Philadelphia Phillies Could Make at the Deadline
July 24, 2012 by Alec Snyder
Filed under Fan News
If you haven’t yet come to terms with the Philadelphia Phillies‘ 2012 season, it’s time to face the facts. Barring any unforeseen five-game (or more) winning streak, the Phillies will almost surely be sellers by next week’s July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
The Phillies sit in the basement of the NL East at 43-54, 14 games behind the division-leading Washington Nationals and 10 games out of the second NL Wild Card spot. Almost all hope to win a sixth consecutive NL East title has been lost, and their chances of even making the postseason are bleak, though possible, as I outlined last week.
If the Phillies continue what has become the status quo this year, then they are bound to sell off at least some of their team this season. Rumors have started to come about concerning many of the team’s players, ranging from Placido Polanco and Juan Pierre to Shane Victorino and Cole Hamels. Whether or not a deal for each of the team’s rumored players will materialize between now and next Tuesday will remain to be seen, but when the deadline comes to pass, what has been solely rumors to this point will or will not be reality.
Last year, when I was a bit less knowledgeable about the state of affairs of the trade deadline, I wrote a slideshow that talked about potential deals should the Phillies buy or sell. None of the deals in that piece made sense, but this year, I promise that the trades in this slideshow will all be at least a little more practical should they have to occur.
Each of the 10 trades in this slideshow will be about one individual player and will give the team he will be traded to as well as the return for him (prospects and/or cash considerations), whether from rumors or just my speculation. Any prospect rankings are from the 2012 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, which ranked teams’ top 30 prospects before the season.
Without further ado, I bring you this year’s new-and-improved version of trades the Phillies could make at the deadline, fire-sale style.