Phillies Acquire OF Corey Dickerson

[bkox]

Outfielder Corey Dickerson has been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, source tells ESPN.

— Jeff Passan ( @JeffPassan ) July 31, 2019

I hear Phillies will not be sending a player to Pitt for Dickerson. I imagine him getting time off bench and in LF with Haseley playing some CF and Kingery getting some time at 3b

— Jim Salisbury ( @JSalisburyNBCS ) July 31, 2019

Seems to contradict whether a player is being sent or not

#Phillies are giving up relatively little to acquire OF Corey Dickerson, who is making $8.5 million this season and will become a free agent after the season: a PTBNL and international bonus money.

— Todd Zolecki ( @ToddZolecki ) July 31, 2019

[allentown]

I guess he'll be our lead-off hitter.

[andyb]

Maybe we don't need the international allocations any more because our top guy fell through.

[Austinfan]

Or deal for them later when the price goes down and the second wave of players are available.

[andyb]

Or deal for them later when the price goes down and the second wave of players are available.

The price won't go down though this year because there are no longer teams in the penalty. And there is no second wave of players available that are anywhere near as good as the first wave. This wave is just some fiction you have created in your mind. We probably overpaid for Gessner because allocations where cheap. That is neither a wave nor evidence that allocations will be inexpensive this year.

[Austinfan]

International players aren't an open auction, most deals are negotiated well before signing.
Which means there are teams that have missed out on deals and will want to dump their remaining allocations.

[andyb]

So you are now saying there is no great wave of talent that emerges late in the cycle? The reality is there are not as many allocations available because most teams used them. And when we had a million dollar deal fall through, it is logical to assume we had no great place to use it. This is making the best of a bad international year for the Phillies. We are going to have a tough time spending much more than $3 million in the right places because we made a bet on the wrong player.

[julio]

Dylan Cozens DFA’d to make room on the 40-man roster for Dickerson.

— Corey Seidman ( @CSeidmanNBCS ) July 31, 2019

Phillies make it official. They acquire Corey Dickerson from Pirates for international signing money and player to be named later. Dylan Cozens DFA

— Jim Salisbury ( @JSalisburyNBCS ) July 31, 2019

[phillychuck]

Dickerson has similar stats to some of Andrew Jones' years. Others not so much...

Below are Jones' HoF metrics. Probably not in, I'd think.

[David_Criss]

Do the Phillies re-sign Dickerson in the off season? The outfield next year has lots of options: Williams, Dickerson, Hererra and McCutchen are all huge question marks with pros and cons. Quinn, Haseley, Bruce will be back, but in what capacity? Harper IMO is the only sure bet in 2020.

[Austinfan]

I'd prefer Dickerson to Bruce, but it depends on the cost, Bruce is cheap but limited.

Haseley looks like he's locking down one of the OF spots, he's got the range to play CF, while he's not a speedster, he gets really good jumps on balls and covers a lot of ground. And he has a nice hitting stroke.

[phillychuck]

I'd prefer Bruce to Dickerson, but I'd keep both if that's an option.

[David_Criss]

Bruce is already signed through next year. Dickerson will be a FA, I think.

[andyb]

We have no room for both Dickerson and Bruce if Cutch is healthy. Bruce is much less expensive so any talk about Dickerson staying is really misplaced. If he could play CF adequately that might be different, but he can't. We also will have 3 other LH hitting OF plus a switch hitter in Quinn (if he stays).

[julio]

Bruce is already signed through next year. Dickerson will be a FA, I think.

This is correct.

We have no room for both Dickerson and Bruce if Cutch is healthy. Bruce is much less expensive so any talk about Dickerson staying is really misplaced. If he could play CF adequately that might be different, but he can't. We also will have 3 other LH hitting OF plus a switch hitter in Quinn (if he stays).

Agreed. If McCutchen is healthy, then Bruce makes more sense than Dickerson - LH power on the bench. If Cutch is not ready, then Dickerson's ability to lead off is attractive.

It's not clear what Dickerson would cost - he'll be a FA this winter, his current salary is $8.5 million. The Phils could probably keep him with a QO (about $18 million, probably), or perhaps reduce the AAV cost by offering him several years (and then trading him down the road?). Bruce is due $13 million in 2020.

My guess, though, is that they do not QO Dickerson, and he signs somewhere else.

[bkeich]

We have no room for both Dickerson and Bruce if Cutch is healthy. Bruce is much less expensive so any talk about Dickerson staying is really misplaced. If he could play CF adequately that might be different, but he can't. We also will have 3 other LH hitting OF plus a switch hitter in Quinn (if he stays).

Certainly one of Bruce and Dickerson is not part of the plan (if not both). Since we got Dickerson for basically nothing (PTNL, Int Money) we dont have much of a downside, but it is a pretty good sign that the team thinks that Bruce will not be available for the rest of this month or season.

If we could trade Bruce for a bullpen arm this offseason and resign Dickerson that would be the best "value" in my opinion, but my guess is that Dickerson just walks. The team needs to start to maximize these types of assets, I know Klentak has spent the last 2 deadlines dumpster diving but at some point we need to start to either acquire useful parts or maybe even core parts (not a criticism of Klentak, who has done a good job of getting a little bit of something for nothing in the last 2 deadlines, but at some point he has to do more).

If we don't start to pick up the missing pieces this team needs soon (in the next 18 months?) then the rebuild will have been a complete failure. We have already cashed in much of the rebuild (Alfaro, Crawford, etc.) for older pieces to try and win, but then they didnt follow through and actually finish that during this deadline because (I assume) the teams management realized that we were not going to win the division and therefore our "shot" this season was minimal. That needs to change in the next 2 seasons or we will be back to square one because our farm system is not strong enough to provide another "core" to build from.

The next two drafts and international periods are CRUCIAL to this teams success. We have a farm system that does not have the prospects to maintain a winning franchise, they need to have strong, strong farm growth and possibly cash in some of our veterans for prospects (difficult to do when you want to try and win) or we will be in big trouble in 2021 and beyond and will be back to rebuilding (but this time without a 5 years success period similar to last time).

This offseason is critical, again.

[andyb]

One would have to think Dickerson could get at least a 2-year contract. Maybe 2/18? Something more than the Phillies would ideally offer if they have Bruce at a much lower price and knowing that he is a bit older and would accept a part time role more readily. I am also not sure we will want Cutch playing CF much next year, so the playing time there would go to Haseley, Quinn, Herrera, or someone new.

[Austinfan]

I think Herrera is history for a number of reasons.

Haseley is a good bet to be the CF if he keeps demonstrating good range, with Quinn behind him, who has great talent but there is simply no way you can write him in as a starter.

Stephan and Moniak should start next year in AAA ball, so they'll have insurance.

[allentown]

I'd like to keep Dickerson, but certainly not for $18 million. I think we need him as a lead-off hitter as Hernandez has certainly fizzled in OBP this year. "If McCutchen is healthy" is the big question. I don't expect him to be ready to go in April. Dickerson comes down to how much he costs, since we need $ for pitching. I guess I'd go $10-11 million for Dickerson, expecting that we trade somebody when convinced that McCutchen is healthy and on track and Haseley isn't mired in a sophomore slump. That says a Quinn trade is called for. If Quinn finishes this season very strong, then we would have to re-evaluate that, although it still might be a case of sell high.

[zambonir]

This is Dickerson's first and (and likely only) free agent payday. He'll be 31 in May. Someone will probably give him either a starting job, more than one year, or both. If Bruce was a FA he wouldn't be sticking around either, since he still thinks he should be starting. If the Phillies can somehow get value for Bruce while keeping Dickerson, that could be worth the extra $/years.

I expect to see Cutch in LF on Opening Day. Just not sure he'll be good.