I imagine some deals like Cave are in the $100K to $200K range to basically jump the waiver wire (where the acquisition cost is $20,000 and has not been inflation adjusted in a long time).
These deals give the player a preferred placement with a better shot at playing time. Heck in a platoon role Cave could put up an 800 OPS in Colorado pretty easily if he gets regular playing time.
Other deals like the "pare down to 165" deals are probably for nominal cash. The Phillies are either doing a favor for the player (i.e. their agent sees a better opportunity with a specific organization) or another organization ("need a AA catcher type of deal"). The 165 limit forces lots of releases anyway, so it is a team-friendly market with lots of marginal players looking for a spot not in an Indy league).
The Phillies do seem to be playing the roster management game aggressively. They just put a huge number of pitchers on the 60-day IL and not all of them had TJ surgery. I assume all were verifiably hurt, but also it is pretty easy to stash them for a few months at the beginning of the season especially before FCL starts and they have lots of extra bodies. Things will get more interesting of course when they have 5 teams going around those 165 spots. Extra players in extended Spring become much more difficult to have at that point.
