clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Phillies make trade with Angels for Taylor Featherston

"MORE INFIELDERS," came the cry.

By Justin Klugh
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

It was suggested of late that the Angels, in their tangled mess, might be smart to consider a trade involving Mike Trout. As fans begin filling school buses with the number prospects Anaheim would expect to receive in exchange for their 8.0 WAR center fielder, the Phillies immediately spring to mind. We all know that when Trout is finished with his little California experiment, he'll head home to New Jersey and play for the team he rooted for as a child (which was like, five years ago). It's okay if that's not now. We can wait.

In the mean time, however, the Phillies have made a trade with the Angels already. Promising to send a player or cash at a later date, Klentak's crew acquired infielder Taylor Featherston, a 26-year-old 2011 draft pick who has played 101 games in the majors, all last season. He hit .162 with 46 strikeouts and seven walks after being plucked from the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft. Featherston's 0.5 WAR looks even lower, too, now that I've mentioned Trout's up there. Sorry everyone.

But he can do this, on a night when he would not stop haunting White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers:

Everyone knows Featherston adds depth to the Phillies infield, in the same way that David Lough adds depth to the outfield and Bobby LaFromboise adds depth to the pitching staff (LaFromboise was actually DFA'd to make room for Featherston). Depth, depth, depth. It's sort of a different way of saying that the Phillies, a baseball team, are adding baseball players to play baseball.

Featherston joins an infield crew in which many of the current inhabitants can dart all over the infield with glee, including Andres Blanco, Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, and Darnell Sweeney. It's a healthy attitude, with two of the other spots taken up by a pair of part-time first basemen in Ryan Howard and Darin Ruf.

Who needs Mike Trout, anyway? Well, everyone does. Everyone except this kid, who got one look at Taylor Featherston and changed his tune.


More From The Good Phight