Philadelphia Phillies: 15 best trades in franchise history

1) Best Philadelphia Phillies trade: Steve Carlton for Rick Wise.

Rick Wise was a nice pitcher for the Phillies in the 1960s and early 1970s. He’s kind of underrated in the history of the club and possibly because he left the team when he was traded for the best pitcher in franchise history: Steve Carlton.

After a ton of success with the St. Louis Cardinals, Carlton was traded to the Phillies for Wise after the 1971 season. He went out and had his historic 27-win season in 1972 for a team that won only 59 games all year. It was a statement by Carlton to achieve what he did that year. A bad team was not going to hold him back from winning his first Cy Young.

Carlton managed to win three more of the awards with plenty of other accolades along the way. One of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all-time, Carlton went 241-161 for the Phillies with a 3.09 ERA. He is among the leaders in several statistics with strikeouts being the most notable. His 4136 total strikeouts is fourth among pitchers in MLB history. If you only included the 3031 he had with the Phillies, he’d still rank 20th as of 2022.

Carlton achieved everything a pitcher could. In 1980s, he even added a championship—the second of his career and first with the Phillies. Not many players in Phillies history can claim this.