Philadelphia Phillies Top Prospect Was Untouchable Before Jesus Luzardo Trade

Before the Philadelphia Phillies eventually traded their top prospect for Jesus Luzardo, they reportedly hung up on teams who called about him multiple times.

Detailed view of a Philadelphia Phillies hat and glove in the dugout / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Right now, it looks like the most notable move the Philadelphia Phillies will make this offseason is acquiring Jesus Luzardo from their division rival Miami Marlins.

Dealing with that team has been fruitful for the Phillies in recent years, having acquired star catcher J.T. Realmuto ahead of the 2019 campaign for a package that never amounted to much of anything with the Marlins.

Philadelphia is hoping history repeats itself here.

Luzardo is being brought in to bolster a rotation that had four elite contributors, but a black hole at the fifth spot which was a major reason why they didn't secure the National League's best record last season.

With two years of club control remaining at a reasonable price, he could be the missing piece that helps the Phillies bring home a World Series title.

But unlike in the Realmuto trade, it's unlikely Philadelphia won't feel the sting of what they gave up.

The Phillies parted with Staryln Caba as the headlining piece of the package, a top five prospect in their pipeline who was inside the top 100 in all of baseball when they dealt him.

He projects to be a high-ceiling Major League shortstop whenever he gets called up, and he was not someone Dave Dombrowski and the front office wanted to part ways with at any point before they ultimately shipped him to Miami.

In fact, he was virtually untouchable before the trade.

According to Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer, teams around the league called about the star prospect, only to be turned down on multiple occasions.

"So, after a year of hanging up on teams that called about Caba, the Phillies dealt him to the Marlins in December for lefty starter Jesús Luzardo," he reported.

That's certainly notable.

Philadelphia has been pretty conservative with their top prospects, something that is completely opposite of the past ethos Dombrowski has had when it comes to boosting his Major League team at the expense of the farm system.

He earned a reputation for teetering on reckless when it came to mortgaging the future of franchises he was running when he believed his team could win a championship, but that has not really been the case with the Phillies.

Sure, he's shipped out some highly-touted guys like Ben Brown and Logan O'Hoppe in 2022, Hao-Yu Lee in 2023 and George Klassen and Sam Aldegheri to get Carlos Estevez last year.

But Caba seems to be the first one out of their current top crop he didn't want to move before he eventually pulled the trigger on a deal.

If Luzardo produces at the rate he did in 2023 for Philadelphia the next two seasons, then moving Caba will certainly be much more palatable.