Philadelphia Phillies Reportedly Only Viewing Pipeline as Trade Chips

With the Major League roster as stacked as it is, the Philadelphia Phillies might be looking to offload some prospects to boost their World Series chances.

Apr 10, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies are clearly in a World Series window right now.

If that wasn't evident by coming two games short of lifting the trophy in 2022 and being on the doorstep of back-to-back appearances last season, then their start which has them sitting with the best record in baseball should make that abundantly clear.

This roster is stacked.

From elite pitching that goes beyond their two aces of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, to superstars across their lineup like Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber, to emerging young players turning into stars of their own, Dave Dombrowski has built a championship-caliber roster.

Because of that, there isn't a whole lot of opportunity for players in their farm system to crack the Major League roster.

Normally, prospects will get called up towards the end of the year as rosters expand to get some limited game action, but it's going to be hard for the Phillies to find even limited roles for some of those players this year.

Because of that, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports the front office largely views their farm system as trade chips right now.

"All the Phillies expect from their minors in 2024 is, perhaps, a trade piece or two to use at the July deadline," he writes.

That makes sense.

Out of Philadelphia's Top 10 prospects, pitcher Mick Abel is the only one who is in Triple-A. Gabriel Rincones Jr. is the lone Double-A player as Andrew Painter is out for the year recovering from Tommy John surgery. The rest are playing in Single-A or rookie ball.

The timeline actually works out great for the Phillies.

They don't want to completely gut their farm system because they've seen what happens when they don't have elite young players coming up through the ranks.

Maybe Dombrowski and his front office puts some of those top prospects in a package that returns someone who can immediately impact this team in their pursuit of a World Series while holding onto their truly elite ones like Painter, Able, Aidan Miller, and Justin Crawford.

That would be the best case scenario.

What eventually happens by the time the July 30 trade deadline rolls around will be seen, but it sounds like the front office is already eyeing some moves.