Honestly between Santana and Phillips, I think I would prefer Phillips.
Fangraphs in ranking him the Brewers 15th best prospect had this on him: "Phillips hit well in his small sample of big-league at-bats, slashing .276/.351/.448 and reaching on each of his five steal attempts. xStats, which calculates expected stats based on batted-ball data, suggests that this was a mirage, as does Phillips’ .408 BABIP.
Scouts aren’t sold on Phillips’ bat. He has a clunky leg kick and weight transfer that prevent him from turning on balls consistently, and he is violent about the head during his swing, exacerbating Phillips’ whiff-prone stiffness. He has struck out in 24% of his pro plate appearances and in 30% of his PAs the last two seasons. He projects as a 40 hitter, and his approach to contact will likely limit his game power output.
But he does lots of other things. Phillips is an above-average runner and high-effort player who makes it work in center field despite lacking great instincts. He has strong hands and is able to poke balls out the other way on occasion. Most notably, Phillips has elite, game-changing arm strength and uncorked a throw in excess of 104 mph, according to Statcast, this year. Some scouts think Phillips’ patience, raw power, and ability to play center field will make him an average everyday player, but most think his inability to hit will limit him to a lesser role."
That said, these questions about his bat should make him come cheaper in a trade. Possibly much cheaper than Santana.
The Braves should definitely be on the phone with the Brewers about Santana!
Braves1976 (01-25-2018)
But I bet Santana or Phillips go to the Rangers.
Funny, Wisler probably gets DFA'd to make room if we make such a trade and need a spot. Blair still has value though as he could be a good reliever if he fails at starting. Blair went from very impressive with Arizona in tough pitching leagues to stinky fast with us. This doesn't speak well to our pitching coaches IMO. I am not as surprised about Wisler though. I knew he had a good chance to bust all along.
jpx7 (01-25-2018)
Wonder if we could package Flowers and a reliever/Sp for one of their OFs
50PoundHead (01-26-2018)
I'm not saying the trade wasn't fair, but I don't believe it was a win for the Marlins and the Marlins needed a win...not fair.
And Brinson is not better than all Braves prospects not named Acuna...maybe better than any other hitting prospect, but I would venture to bet he doesn't amount to much in MLB...he'll also be 24. I'm willing to say he's going to be one of those AAAA players. Too good for AAA, but never good enough to be a good regular in MLB. His minor numbers appear to be decent because he played in mostly hitting friendly leagues, and his really good numbers in the minors were likely inflated due to a high BABIP.
They still have value as Santana hit 30 homeruns with 85 RBI's last year and had an .875 OPS. So despite his defense he won't likely come real cheap. Brett Phillips is ranked 80th in BA's top 100 prospects and had a .799 OPS in a small sample debut. So both certainly have value as trade pieces and the Brewers are hoping to sell high on them.
Yeah Santana is worrisome with his 178 SOs, but he does walk quite a bit so it's not like he's clueless about the strike zone. Unfortunately unless the Braves trade Markakis they really have no need to trade for an outfielder unless it's for the bench... Phillips probably fits that bill more.
Last edited by Orphan Black; 01-25-2018 at 10:11 PM.
Well....see ya Julio...been good