Brandon Phillips a fit for the Arizona Diamondbacks?
The baseball world is confused with the Arizona Diamondbacks right now. They’re coming off a trade that sent Top-100 prospect Touki Toussaint to the Atlanta Braves with Bronson Arroyo in exchange for infielder Philip Gosselin. The apparent motive for Arizona was to move the $10.5-million they’ll owe Arroyo through the winter, though moving a promising arm like Toussaint to do so still seemed a bit much.
However, they now have $7.8-million in savings (after taking into account Toussaint’s $2.7-million signing bonus) as well as the $3-plus million cleared when moving Mark Trumbo, and are in position to add a piece at the trade deadline. Arizona is surprisingly just 4.5 games behind the first-place Dodgers and could stand to improve at second base. Current option Chris Owings has posted a -0.3 WAR through
While this summer’s trade market offers little in the way of middle infield help, Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips could likely be had at the right price. Phillips’ name has been mentioned in trade rumors for two years now, and recent reports have said the Reds are “open” to dealing the veteran second baseman.
The 33-year-old’s power production has taken a hit in each of the last two seasons, but he’s currently on pace to finish the year with his best on-base numbers since 2011. Adding Phillips would serve as a long-term move, as he’s signed through the 2017 season, though if Dave Stewart was sincere in saying he wants to make his team younger, he’d also have no problem adding a controllable big-league contributor and strong locker room presence to his young competing club.
Despite the departure of Toussaint, the D’Backs have more than enough prospects to make a deal work without emptying their farm system. The club still has three Top-100 prospects, and would likely need to part with one or less to make the deal happen. While the system may not be stacked with star-hype players like the Cubs’, lower-ranked prospects like Stryker Trahan, Socrates Brito and Jeferson Mejia, or even Owings himself, all offer significant upside and could be influential names in trade talks.
It’s been both surprising and impressive to see Arizona in the thick of things in mid-June, but they’ll have to improve if they are serious about making noise down the stretch. With the Reds likely ready to start selling off chips and Owings posting a -0.3 WAR to this point, it appears that Phillips could be a perfect solution.
Next: No perfect game, but Scherzer has been pretty perfect for the Nationals