Philadelphia Phillies: What a trade for Kevin Kiermaier could look like

Over at Bleacher Report, Zachary D. Rymer put together a list of 8 MLB trade proposals that he believes would be a win-win for both teams involved. Wouldn’t you know, it didn’t take long for me to find something about the Philadelphia Phillies. They were first on his list.

The deal involves one of the club’s top targets to play center field in 2022. Kevin Kiermaier of the Tampa Bay Rays is declining and eating up a large portion of the franchise’s salary. Still productive, particularly as a defender, he has been someone Phillies fans have eyed for months.

Making any deal with the Rays has its risk because of how well they seem to manage things. While this will not compare to the Bobby Abreu for Kevin Stocker trade, I think it might be exactly what the Phillies aim to do.

What a fair Philadelphia Phillies trade for Kevin Kiermaier would look like.

Rymer says this is the trade the Phillies and Rays should make:

The Phillies land a Gold Glove-level center fielder whose bat has a little something left in it but let’s not go too crazy. At $12.1 million this year and a $13 million team option or $2.5 million buyout in 2023, the Phillies are protected beyond this season.

Kiermaier’s best days as an offensive player are certainly behind him. Given the weak market out there and the Phillies’ desperation, he’s a fine player for them to add, and hope a switch to a ballpark like Citizen’s Bank can boost the numbers even just a little bit.

Then there’s the part the Phillies are giving up. Is it time to swallow the red pill with Mickey Moniak and move on? I’m not confident he’ll ever be anything more than a fourth outfielder. This trade has some shades of last summer’s trade with the Texas Rangers that finally put an end to the Spencer Howard experiment.

The other player in the deal, Cristopher Sanchez, got his first taste of big league baseball last year with the Phillies. The 4.97 ERA in 12.2 innings barely tells us anything about him. However, the 4.56 ERA in over 300 minor league innings suggests he’s expendable. Originally a member of the Rays’ organization, Rymer seems to believe they could be interested in a reunion. I’d suspect they could always plan to turn him into an opener because that’s just what they do.

For most fans, the real question comes down to whether or not Kiermaier is worth the potential of Moniak. From what we’ve seen out of the kid throughout the minor leagues and even in the show, now might be the best time to move on from him before other general managers realize the Philadelphia Phillies reached in the draft.