Phillies Reportedly Interested in Top Free Agent if They Can Trade Their Own Star

The Philadelphia Phillies have interest in the top available free agent, but only if they pull off this trade first.

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies playoff run ended this past season quicker than anyone wanted it to after their most successful regular season in over a decade.

Having made runs to the World Series two years ago and a return trip to the NLCS the following season, hopes were high that this could be the year the Phillies got over the hump and brought another World Series banner back to Philadelphia, but instead things ended just as quickly as they began with a four-game elimination at the hands of the New York Mets in the NLDS.

Dave Dombrowski was open about the fact that big changes could be coming to shake things up within the lineup which came up short once again, but what exactly those changes could be was a mystery at the start of the offseason and seems to still remain a mystery with very few if any significant moves being made. All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm was seen as a trade candidate which would put the Phillies in the third base market, but Bohm has not been dealt. In his Tuesday column, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported his belief that Philadelphia would be involved in the sweepstakes for Alex Bregman if they can find a suitor for Bohm.

"The Philadelphia Phillies would have interest [in Bregman], but only if they traded third baseman Alec Bohm, and their steep asking price is why Bohm still remains with the club," Nightengale wrote.

Bohm to Bregman is of course an immense upgrade, but that doesn't mean the Phillies should simply give Bohm up for nothing. Making his first All-Star appearance in 2024, Bohm was a 3.0 WAR player with a .280 batting average and best OPS since his rookie year. But things turned ugly towards the end of the season with inconsistent play along with swirling rumors of immaturity culminating in a benching in the playoffs.

If the maturity issues are accurate, Bregman would be the complete opposite in the clubhouse. A consummate professional who has been one of the major faces of baseball's premiere franchise over the better part of the last decade, Bregman would bring a winning mentality to an organization trying to break through the glass ceiling in the playoffs and win a championship.

Of course, the money is a factor here with Bohm under team control for the next two seasons and Bregman expected to command a nine-figure contract. But the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are proof enough you can never have enough stars, and if the Phillies are going to get it done in October, this is the kind of upgrade which could put them over the top.