The Philadelphia Phillies are looking to add a center fielder before July 30, but one of Philadelphia’s main targets has been ruled out, according to one MLB insider.
On Sunday, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden linked the Phillies to three center fielders: Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox, Jazz Chisholm of the Miami Marlins, and Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs. Bowden not only firmly declared that those three players are Philadelphia’s top targets but that the Phillies will acquire one of the three before the deadline.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia’s options became even narrower, according to another MLB insider, who claimed that one of the three players named by Bowden is no longer in the running to become a Phillie.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal appeared on Foul Territory and asserted that Philadelphia will not be trading for Robert Jr.
“I don’t see them trading for Luis Robert Jr., to answer everyone’s question,” Rosenthal said. “Because they don’t necessarily have a need for that type of guy right now. Everyone would love to have Robert, of course, but they also want to preserve what they have in young talent, the prospects coming, to balance their payroll in the years ahead.”
Rosenthal also posited that the Phillies will be more than hesitant to include their No. 2 prospect Aidan Miller in a deadline deal, eliminating them from contention for players like Robert Jr. Interestingly, Bowden had alluded to Miller as a surefire goner in predicting that Philadelphia’s president Dave Dombrowski will do whatever it takes to acquire one of his three targets.
How highly do the Phillies value Miller, and how will Dombrowski weigh this value against the possible acquisition of a Robert Jr., Chisholm, or Bellinger?
All will become clear within the next three weeks.
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