The Major League Baseball trade deadline is the time to take some bold swings to improve a roster.
In 2025, the Philadelphia Phillies may need ot be bolder than most. This is a team with every intention of winning a championship, something they’ve narrowly failed to do over the last three years, and a hotly contested National League to fight their way through in October.
The most obvious need for the Phillies since the start of the 2024 season has been the outfield. They tried to patch it up with the acquisitions of Austin Hays at last year’s deadline and Max Kepler this offseason, but those moves haven’t paid dividends.
Could they opt this time for a player with a higher ceiling and a much lower floor? That’s one potential solution, says R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports.
On Monday, Anderson named Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox as a potential Phillies trade target this summer.
“Robert Jr. was the most obvious trade candidate entering last season. His offensive performance has fallen off a cliff, however, owed to an increased whiff rate and — this year, at last — an unfortunate tendency to get too far underneath the ball, resulting in an unwieldy pop-up rate,” Anderson wrote.
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“Robert can still impact the game defensively and on the basepaths, and a team might chance it hoping they can help revert his offense to a better state. The White Sox will almost certainly have to fork over money as part of a trade, which isn’t something that seemed likely even 18 months ago. Potential landing spots: Phillies, Braves, Royals.”
One might be stunned to look at Robert’s stats and envision the Phillies considering him, especially at a $15 million salary this year (it’s the final year of a six-year, $50 million extension). But Robert was an All-Star with 38 home runs two years ago. Teams will always chase after talent with that kind of ceiling.
At the same time, if Robert kept up the .584 OPS he’s had so far this season in Philadelphia, fans would never understand why president of baseball operations David Dombrowski took on that contract or that inherent risk.
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