Philadelphia Phillies center field candidates: The much better class of expensive trade candidates like Kevin Kiermaier or Lorenzo Cain
Finally, the Phillies can make a trade for an outfielder. This opens them up to far more possibilities. However, there aren’t too many teams out there we could expect to trade away their center fielder.
Kevin Kiermaier and Lorenzo Cain are two older players on bigger contracts we could see dealt away in “salary dump” type deals. Kiermaier remains a superior defender in the game with Cain’s abilities fading a bit more. I’d only be hesitant to trade for either because it feels like the Phillies would excuse this as their “big free agency splash” of the offseason. It can’t be. This needs to be a solution to a problem they created with poor drafting.
While each of them comes with some doubts and big salaries, guys like Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles would cost a fortune the Phillies cannot afford in terms of prospects. I wouldn’t even try to figure out a way to steal him away from Baltimore. It’s just not reasonable.
Maybe not as expensive but still out of reach could be Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Defensively flexible, he’s another guy that would fit in great with the Phillies. The shame of it all is how little they have in the farm system to create a trade package worthy of acquiring him.
In the case of Mullins and Marte, I’m doubtful either is on the move this winter anyway.
The Phillies may need to build around a weak center fielder next year. Add one of the top remaining free agent shortstops, get a left fielder that can hit, and have your center fielder focus on his defense. Maybe they can get away with it. More likely, this discussion repeats itself in a year.