Bill Streicher USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Phillies are likely going nowhere again this season, with a 17-23 record entering Tuesday’s action. Multiple players are sure to be the subject of trade talks between now and July’s non-waiver trade deadline, but bad contracts for a lot of the bigger name Phillies stand to prevent very much return in trades.
The Phillies seem to have a surplus of outfielders though, under the assumption Domonic Brown is called up from Triple-A soon after returning from a left Achilles’ injury. Third baseman Cody Asche was demoted to Triple-A recently in order to make a transition to left field, and it’s likely only a matter of time before he returns to the big leagues to further clog Philadelphia’s outfield situation.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Phillies’ outfielder Ben Revere is being scouted by other teams, and he mentioned the Los Angeles Angels as a team that had interest in Revere previously. Among a group of overpaid veterans, I think Revere is the player Phillies’ general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. should be looking to trade with some hope of getting good value in return.
Revere’s numbers so far this season don’t jump off the page, with a .268/.314/.356 slash-line, 12 RBI and eight stolen bases over 159 plate appearances. But he is hitting .329 (23-for-70) so far in May, with at least one hit in seven of his last nine games and six hits over his last two games (five multi-hit games during the month). Revere is also an above-average defensive outfielder, even though he lacks great arm strength, which should not be discounted.
Revere is making $4.1 million this season, and he will be arbitration-eligible for the next two years before hitting free agency after the 2017 season. That cost control stands to appeal to other teams, but it’s worth wondering if Revere will prove himself worthy of the salary raises that are likely to come over the next two winters.
Even with a six-game winning streak going right now, the Phillies need to make moves with an eye toward the future. Trading a 27-year old outfielder that is theoretically in his prime seems to run counter to that, but Revere’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in May (.348) suggests that a correction is coming and right now may be the peak of his trade value.
Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
