The Philadelphia Phillies have two clear and obvious needs at the 2025 trade deadline.
First, they’ve got to find an outfielder who can contribute offensively. Nick Castellanos is the only outfielder on the roster with an above-average OPS+. And somehow, they’ve got to strengthen their middling bullpen.
One baseball writer thinks they could solve both issues in one fell swoop.
On Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter proposed a hypothetical trade in which the Phillies would acquire Chicago White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi and relief pitcher Steven Wilson in a package deal.
In return, Reuter had the Phillies sending right-handed pitcher Michael Mercado, who is in Triple-A and briefly debuted in the majors last year, to Chicago.
“(Benintendi) has a $17.1 million salary this season and another two years and $32.2 million remaining on his five-year deal, but the White Sox have already indicated a willingness to include cash to facilitate a deal. He has a 106 OPS+ with 10 home runs in 226 plate appearances this season,” Reuter wrote.
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“Paying his 2026 and 2027 salaries down to something in the $5-7 million range might help get a deal done, as would packaging him with a useful bullpen arm like Steven Wilson, who has a 1.73 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 8.7 K/9 in 27 appearances and comes with club control through 2027.”
Benintendi, a 2018 World Series champion for the Boston Red Sox, has been a huge disappointment for the White Sox purely because they made the mistake of signing him to the largest contract in franchise history. He’d be just another cog in the lineup in Philadelphia, though.
If there’s minimal risk involved, as there would be in Reuter’s proposal, there’s no reason for the Phillies not to take a swing at a motivated Benintendi.
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