Phillies make another trade with Twins, acquire righthanded outfielder
When Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski met with the media in the Phillies clubhouse at Rate Field in Chicago to announce the team acquiring Jhoan Duran, he was asked if there was another move coming.
'We're not done,' he said, before quickly backtracking to 'we're not done talking.'
Talk he did, and to the same team that brought them Duran, to the Minnesota Twins for a second deal that brought the Phillies righthanded outfielder Harrison Bader. They sent a pair of prospects, outfielder Hendry Mendez and righthanded pitcher Geremy Villoria, as return.
Bader, the 31-year-old, has traveled the league in his nine seasons and is considered a very good outfielder. He was named the Best Defensive Outfielder in the National League in Baseball America's 2019 Best Tools survey of managers, coaches, scouts and executives and in 2021 won the Gold Glove award for centerfield.
He signed a one-year contract with the Twins before the season for $6.25 million with a mutual option for 2026.
Bader isn't the big bat or more well-known player that was rumored to be coming to the Phillies in the previous days. Those names were Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox, Cleveland's Steven Kwan or Arizona's Eugenio Suarez, who was moved to the Seattle Mariners, to name a few. But the addition of Hader will perhaps stabilize an outfield for manager Rob Thomson that has platooned Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas in center and left for most of the season.
Is the team done with their $10 million experiment in Kepler, who is hitting just .203 this season? Are they going to give Justin Crawford a shot as he is hitting .325 in Lehigh Valley with 33 stolen bases? Is there room for another upscale defender, low-power guy in the outfield? Crawford has just three home runs in 329 at bats, Rojas is a player the organization just wants to try and reach base to create some havoc with his speed and, though he is hitting the ball very well of late, Marsh isn't exactly a bopper, as his five home runs prove.
Marsh, it appears, is pretty much set in stone to get a majority of playing time, whether it be left or center. Though his .204 batting average and .286 on base percentage against lefties this year isn't ideal. Bader is also someone who can play either left or center and someone who hits a bit better against righthanders (.266 avg., .347 OBP) than lefties (,241, .318). One thing that is for certain is that Nick Castellanos will be the right fielder.
As much delight, and rightfully so, the Duran trade brought to the baseball fans of the Delaware Valley, the addition of Bader seems to be garnering the 'uh, okay' type of reaction that sticks to a player that now will be suiting up for his sixth team in nine years.
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