This does present the question though of whether the Phillies should be more aggressive with these types of trades. Simply put, this is why you acquire prospect depth. This is why you trade for another million (we can still do that BTW) in international allocations. This is why you trade veterans like Galvis and Rupp and Hernandez. You acquire depth of mid-level prospects so you can flip them for major league players in their prime.
Top trade candidates are players in smaller markets that will become expensive in aribitration. 4 mid-level prospects plus the ability to pay Cole $30 million or so over 2 seasons is the type of trade capital the Phillies have. A question that is very legitimate is why we are not using that ability. Win projections already have the team in the 76-78 win range. Add a Stroman or Realmuto or Yelich and you have an 85-win team potentially now that is still relatively young.
I am not in favor of trading our top prospects. But I think I would trade a bunch of Kilomes and Eshelmans and Dominguez types, even Moniak, just about any chance I could get if it delivers young players who are good and are in their prime. I think our payroll just climed over the $60 million mark with the arbitration settlements. Clearly we are leaving cash on the table in our goal for talent acquisition.
