Phillies, unlikely to make a trade, may make trade

You’re going about your daily mid-summer routine of wondering where all of the other sports went when BAM - Zolecki drops a Z-bomb.

A trade? For a Phillies outfielder? Who could it be?

• Odubel Herrera: The Rule 5 pick the Phillies turned into an All-Star?
• Cody Asche: While he’s produced, he’s also been off the DL for about 15 minutes.
• Tyler Goeddel: You’d think with the success this team has with Rule 5 picks (see above) that they’d be shoving him out there to see what he can do, even when there’s no game.
• Jimmy Paredes: 0-for-3 with 2 SO to start the second half.
• Peter Bourjos: This is obviously who we’re talking about, I just like bullet points.

Jeremy Hellickson, who is more trade chip than man at this point, is mentioned, as is Peter Bourjos, whose first half surge has been thus far replaced by a 2-for-16 performance in the season’s latter half. The Phillies could move either of them to make room for Altherr, but moving somebody like Bourjos to create space in the outfield makes more sense (Though Hellickson may have more drawing power as a starting pitcher).

Altherr is notable for being a Phillies prospect that wasn’t acquired in either the Cole Hamels or Ken Giles trades (The Phillies drafted him in 2009). He hit .241 with an .827 OPS (with 11 doubles and four triples) in 39 games last season. With a promising 2016 ahead of him, a tendon tear in his left wrist cut short a season in early March that was supposed to be critical to his development, as the Phillies were going to see what was actually going on with the 25-year-old outfielder and two-time minor league All-Star. Columnist Mike Sielski definitely favored him.

He is 6-foot-5, with a fluid, athletic build and a swing that is both long and quick, and he has been productive if inconsistent over the sparse time he's been in the major leagues. He has the most powerful throwing arm of any outfielder in camp. The Phillies don't know yet exactly what they have in him. Their plan this season is to find out.

It is exciting to think the 4-6 month recovery period for Altherr’s injury is close enough to over that we’re discussing this - his rehab started July 8, and the Phillies will have to reinstate him in twenty days if he’s all healed up. He could be the first of the new prospects to push their way onto the major league roster, and while Bourjos leading the offense has been... thrilling... there’s something cathartic about a prospect pushing a depth-providing veteran out of the way to start potentially building the future.

Waaait a second, this is just the “Don’t expect the Phillies to make a trade” narrative threaded through a different hole, isn’t it? Instead of the likelihood of there not being a deal, this is just coming at it from the angle of the slim chance they do make a deal! My god, the blogs are going to have a field day with this.

Wait. Ah, damn it.