Philadelphia Phillies can improve the outfield with these 3 free agents
By Tim Boyle
The Philadelphia Phillies should sign Joc Pederson to platoon in center field and provide depth at the corners.
None of the free agent center fielders should excite Phillies fans all that much. There is one solution to it. That’s going with an old-fashioned platoon.
It starts with the left-handed part, free agent Joc Pederson. His lifetime .232/.332/.462 batting line may not excite you. His 27 home runs and 67 RBI per 162 games may.
Pederson has turned into more of a corner outfielder in recent seasons but still got almost 200 innings in center field last year with the Atlanta Braves. A below-average defender, the Phillies have a choice to make at this spot. Do they punt offense or defense?
I think Pederson can provide them with the best mix of both. Likely to sign an affordable enough contract where it’s not such a hindrance if he does end up moving to the bench, he’s the start of a platoon I couldn’t mind seeing the Phillies deploy.
A weakness of recent Phillies teams has been a lack of depth. They spent big on many of their starters but neglected to add veterans like Pederson into the mix. His history of consistently hitting below .250 (he never has been above .249) can be cause for some alarm. However, as a shorter-term solution at a position the team will eventually need to find a much better player to fill, they might be able to get by fine.