3 recently traded players who could have become Phillies

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Phillies have work to do.

They know it. They said it Wednesday on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Dallas.

“I wish we would have maybe done a little more,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said following the Rule 5 Draft. “We just didn’t feel comfortable. But it’s not done either. The Meetings are done, but the conversations aren’t over. You have to be careful.

'We had a couple conversations that were going yesterday that were quite heavy. They didn’t happen. Then all of a sudden, it’s, ‘What about this? What about that?’ I said, ‘Hold on, let’s take a step back. We don’t have to force anything.’”

The expectation remains that the Phillies will do something at some point. It’s unclear whether it will come via free agency or trade.

So far, they have not traded their top prospects.

“I’ve been there before, done it before,” Dombrowski said. “Not sure it was the right time for us to do that right now. I think there’s a few reasons behind it. We have four quality starting pitchers. And we have a young pitcher coming right behind them [Andrew Painter] that we like a whole lot.

"So to give up that type of talent ... We’ve had [Alec] Bohm, [Bryson] Stott, [Brandon] Marsh, [Cristopher] Sánchez, [Johan] Rojas, but we really rode out the development of our farm system over the last few years. And we’re just getting to the point of having the impact of those guys. It’s not quite here, but we’re on the verge of having some really good young players.”

Here are three players traded this week who had been linked to the Phillies, either because of real interest or because the Phils have a need:

Garrett Crochet

The Phils pushed hard for Crochet in July, but the White Sox traded him Wednesday to Boston for prospects Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez. According to MLB Pipeline, Teel is the No. 25 prospect in baseball, while Montgomery is No. 54. Meidroth and Gonzalez were upper-level Red Sox prospects.

What could the Phillies have offered to match or beat that? Maybe nothing, if Chicago continued to insist on Painter, Philadelphia's top pitching prospect. MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo said a relatively comparable package from the Phillies could have included Aidan Miller (No. 26 prospect in baseball), Justin Crawford (No. 53 prospect in baseball) and outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 11 prospect the in organization) and right-hander Jean Cabrera (No. 13).

Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly said recently that Rincones might be the most underrated prospect in the system. Cabrera was the Phillies’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2021 and placed on the 40-man roster last month to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

If the White Sox had insisted on another infielder, instead of Rincones, the Phils could have included Devin Saltiban (No. 9) or Bryan Rincon (No. 10).

Kyle Tucker

The Astros traded Tucker on Friday to the Cubs for third baseman Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and prospect Cam Smith (No. 73 prospect in baseball).

Tucker would have been huge in the Phillies’ lineup, but he will be a free agent following the season. He figures to command a contract that could easily surpass Bryce Harper’s $330 million. The Cubs paid a hefty price for him. Paredes has been one of baseball’s best third basemen the past three seasons. He won’t become a free agent until after the 2027 season. Wesneski hasn’t put everything together, but he has been effective floating between the rotation and bullpen. He is under team control through 2029.

The Cubs just selected Smith in the first round of the 2024 Draft.

A trade here probably starts with third baseman Alec Bohm and a top prospect like Miller or Crawford, plus more.

Devin Williams

The Brewers traded closer Williams to the Yankees on Friday for starter Nestor Cortes, infielder Caleb Durbin and cash. Cortes will be a free agent after the season. Durbin was just placed on the 40-man roster after a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. What would’ve been a comparable deal for the Phillies? It starts with left-hander Ranger Suárez, who is a free agent after the season.

“You’d trade anybody at a particular time, but it’s not a driving force for us at this time," Dombrowski said. "We’d give up anybody for the right player, but at this point, I don’t know that the timing was right for us to give up that type of quality and quantity of players."