Philadelphia Phillies: Five players to watch at Trade Deadline

As the Philadelphia Phillies continue to rebuild for the future, several key players on the current roster are expected to be gone before July’s Trade Deadline. 

Pete Mackanin‘s team currently are 22-45, which is the worst record in the MLB so far this season. As a whole, the Philadelphia Phillies have scored the second-fewest runs in the MLB with 259, and have a combined .241 batting average.

Key players Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco have drastically under performed so far this season, combining for 105 strikeouts between them and are both hitting below the .250 mark individually.

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Pitching-wise, what looked like a young and optimistic rotation for the future has really sunk to a new low in 2017. With the exception of Ben Lively, every Phillies starting pitcher’s ERA is higher than a 4.00.

Aaron Nola is 3-5 with a 4.76, while Jerad Eickhoff is 0-7 with a 4.81. Veteran Jeremy Hellickson has failed to find consistency on the mound, while off-season acquisition Clay Buchholz only pitched seven innings before seeing his season end due to shoulder surgery.

July 31st is the MLB Trade Deadline, and it would not be shocking at all to see several Philadelphia Phillies players traded to a contending team. Key members for the future like Aaron Altherr, Herrera, Franco, and Cesar Hernandez all should be kept but others will look for a way out.

Here is a list of five Phillies players you should expect to see gone before August begins.