Philadelphia Phillies: 3 trades to catch the Mets in the NL East

3. Philadelphia Phillies trade to catch the Mets: Ian Happ.

There aren’t too many great center field options we should expect on the market this summer. One guy the Phillies could shoehorn into the job is Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ. As part of their expected continued fire sale this summer, Happ is one of the players Chicago could be prepared to move on from.

What’s most intriguing about Happ is how versatile of a defender he is. Mostly a left fielder this season, he has spent his career bouncing all over the place with innings literally at every position aside from shortstop and catcher. A negative defender at most places he plays and in most metrics, he’d be someone to start in center field then move to a corner position late in the game while being replaced himself by someone with a better glove in center field.

The problem the Phillies created for themselves defensively may have them needing to double-down and not so much worry about the games they’ll lose because of bad defense. Happ is a bit of a “hedge player” in that he isn’t a great defender or hitter but isn’t too atrocious in center field and has a good enough bat to be in the order every day.

Happ does have a year of control left so Chicago might want to hold onto him. There aren’t too many better options to take over at center field. Perhaps pairing Rockies outfield Randal Grichuk with Daniel Bard is something to consider. Grichuk is less versatile than Happ as a fielder but far more experienced in center field.

The Phillies probably won’t go into the trade deadline and make one major move. Expect, if they continue to win, for some lighter moves than one major swing.