Philadelphia Phillies: 4 trades to make after the Bryce Harper injury
By Tim Boyle
A broken thumb is what it took for the Philadelphia Phillies to question whether or not they will be trade deadline buyers or sellers. For a good portion of the year, they’ve hung around as a hopeful buyer, only recently accomplishing enough to secure themselves as a potential wild card team.
Unfortunately, Bryce Harper breaking his thumb might have the front office waving the white flag.
How they perform over the next three weeks in his absence will determine what they ultimately decide to do at the trade deadline. In Harper’s absence, they should be looking to add an outfielder as soon as they can—possibly even one they can move into center fielder if Harper is able to return fully healthy.
Philadelphia Phillies trade candidate to help replace Bryce Harper: Ian Happ.
Ian Happ is a favorite trade target of mine because of all of the positions he can play. The Chicago Cubs starting left fielder also has a lot of experience in center field as well as multiple infield positions. He has essentially accomplished what the team had hoped Scott Kingery could several years ago.
Happ is also having a fine year at the plate. While nowhere near the power hitter Harper is, he is among the league leaders in OBP. Happ also happens to be under team control through next season as well which means he’d be more than a rental for the Phillies.
Because of the Harper injury, we might see the Phillies buy a little less right now and hope for better days ahead in 2023. With Happ, they actually secure themselves a player for next season already. He could be a good enough starting center fielder for them or even a candidate to play second base if they let Jean Segura walk.
A vastly different player from Harper, Happ can help the Phillies’ offense role in a different kind of way and maybe even slide in as an atypical leadoff option.