While the Philadelphia Phillies have made it known that they are willing to move nearly any player on their roster, it’s fairly surprising to learn that Marlon Byrd is the one who’s drawn the most interest to date. Byrd has been the team’s “most popular” trade target, sources have told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Byrd, 37, is scheduled to be paid $8 million in 2015 and has an $8 million vesting option in 2016, which only vests if he accumulates at least 463 plate appearances in 2015. In the 154 games he played in for the Phillies in 2014, he recorded slash lines of .264/.312/.445 with 25 home runs and 85 runs batted in, along with a .757 OPS, 110 OPS+ and a 2.6 WAR. In 637 plate appearances during the 2014 season, Byrd managed struck out 185 times, which was second-most in the National League, resulted in a 29% strikeout per plate appearance rate, or every 3.44 plate appearances. Byrd’s 25 home runs during the 2014 campaign would of been the most of all free agents, only second to Nelson Cruz, who homered forty times for the Baltimore Orioles.
The Phillies are expecting to enter into a full rebuilding mode over the next two seasons. This is a new type of phase for an organization that had won five consecutive National League East division titles from 2007 to 2011. In the past few years, the Phillies thought that they weren’t ready to rebuild, yet, and that their aging ballplayers, like Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, would produce and carry the team: that would not happen.
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Howard, 34, only posted a slash line of .223/.310/.380 with 23 home runs and 95 runs batted in, along with a .690 OPS, 93 OPS+ and a -1.1 WAR in 648 plate appearances over 153 games. The Phillies are hoping they can move the 34-year-old first baseman to an American League team, so that he could be a designated hitter, Buster Olney reported earlier today. Howard is owed $50 million for the 2015 and 2016 seasons and either a $23 million option for the 2017 season or a $10 million buyout.
Rollins, 35, hit .243/.323/.394 during his 2014 campaign for Philadelphia, hitting 17 home runs and driving in 55 runs in 609 plate appearances over 138 games. Rollins has only one year left on his contract, as he is due to be paid $11 million for the 2015 season, but he has a 10/5 trade right, allowing him to block any trade (which he reportedly did at this past July’s trade deadline). Rosenthal notes that he could be an option for either the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Yankees.