The Phillies, now in the race in the NL East, have every reason to hold off on selling, and Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com confirmed Saturday that is indeed their plan. So that means, as of now Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, Chase Utley, Michael Young and Carlos Ruiz are very likely to stay.
But some officials on other teams wonder whether they still might consider a trade for one of those players, and that player is Young.
"They could plug in Kevin Frandsen, and there wouldn't be that much dropoff at all," one NL executive opined.
The Phillies may not have this in mind, at all. They probably like Young in part because of his intangibles, as other teams may, as well.
But based on the production of those two respective players, that exec may have a point. Young has seven homers, 31 RBI, a .288 batting average and .766 OPS; meanwhile, Frandsen has three homers, 16 RBI, a .297 batting average and .835 OPS.
Another thing to consider is the Phillies are pretty well stacked with third base possibilities. Cody Asche might be ready to come up from Triple-A, while one of their very top prospects, Maikel Franco, also is a third baseman.
The Yankees and Red Sox are known to have interest in Young, while the Reds do, too, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com. The Royals, A's and Orioles might be candidates to consider Young for second base depending on how their current guys do.
Young makes $16 million in the last year of an $80 million deal, so it's possible he could clear waivers and be traded after the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. He has a complete no-trade, which he received as part of his deal to accept the trade from Texas to Philly.
The Phillies, practically at their high-water mark of the year at .500 now, aren't seen as a seller of any of their key players now. But they would ultimately like to get younger, and this is at least something to consider as a way to add a prospect or two.
