Philadelphia Phillies: 6 recent trade deadline misses
By Tim Boyle
5. Philadelphia Phillies trade deadline miss: Asdrubal Cabrera.
The Phillies actually made two trades with the rival New York Mets in the middle of the 2018 season. One brought them veteran slugger Jose Bautista for a more part-time role. The other added Asdrubal Cabrera to the roster.
Cabrera was having a really good year in New York at the time of the trade. He boasted a .277/.329/.488 slash line with 18 home runs in 407 trips to the plate. He couldn’t have been much different in Philadelphia. In those 185 plate appearances, Cabrera batted .228/.286/.392 with 5 home runs.
The weak bat went slightly unnoticed because of a much bigger issue. At age 32, Cabrera was no longer someone capable of playing a quality shortstop. The Phillies, in the way they seem to do things these days, forced him into the position when he was far better suited to play second base or third base. He was a far below-average player at the position with some of the worst range imaginable at the position.
This was the same season where the Phillies tried Scott Kingery at the position for the majority of the year. It didn’t seem to matter who they put there. The Phillies got barely any offense out of the position and other than the games when J.P. Crawford played there, defense was a problem, too.
Fortunately, all Cabrera cost the Phillies was prospect Franklyn Kilome who has never made a big impact in the major leagues.