Addressing the two biggest Phillies’ rumors

Targeted acquisition:

Before an outfield injury led to the advancement of Nick Williams, the Phillies had approached the Miami Marlins about Christian Yelich. He was a fit for the middle-of-the-order threat Klentak desired before inking Carlos Santana.

While the buzz in mid-July involved the upcoming availability of Giancarlo Stanton, the hometown nine coupled their offer for Yelich with a salary dump regarding Stanton’s contract. Of course, everything was on hold until the sale of the franchise.

Yelich, 26, is only one of two regulars Miami is keeping as a foundation piece going forward. Translation: He can average .280 to .300 and blast 20-25 homers with 80 to 100 RBIs. Young catcher J.T. Realmuto is the other starter.

In the scheme of things, the Marlins also know Yelich’s contract is team-friendly: $44.5 million remaining through 2021. But when he was off the table, any Phillies’ interest in Stanton was too. Yet some scribes kept them in the mix until the swap with the New York Yankees five months later. They weren’t!

Before the Phils moved Freddy Galvis to the San Diego Padres for flamethrower Enyel De Los Santos, they had aggressively pursued a deal. And the reasons were a projected commitment of $7.4 million and his final year before free agency.

Handling the defense will be J.P. Crawford, who will make the MLB minimum, roughly $7 million less than Galvis. In other words, the red and white will still have an elite glove without possibly sacrificing much offense.