MLB Trade Rumors: Mets trade Asdrubal Cabrera to the Phillies
The Phillies missed out on Manny Machado, so they turned to a division rival for some help at shortstop.
The Philadelphia Phillies have been very busy this trade deadline season as they have been attached, with varying degrees of seriousness, to most of the big names out there. Up until the very end, Philly was trying to pry away Manny Machado from the Orioles before Baltimore ultimately decided to send him to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
However, that did not halt the Phillies’ search for help with their issues in the infield. Scott Kingery has struggled in his first season with the club and Maikel Franco has been up and down this season at third base. To help shore up the left side of the infield, Philadelphia turned to a division rival in the New York Mets to hopefully find an answer.
#Phillies acquiring Asdrubal Cabrera from #Mets for Double A RHP Franklyn Kilomé, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2018
Asdrubal Cabrera has been a solid major league contributor for a long time for several different organizations and 2018 has been no different. While he has cooled off after a very hot start to the season (not unlike the Mets as a team), Cabrera has slashed .277/.329/.488 in 2018 while playing exclusively second base for the team this year. This is relevant because while Cabrera has played plenty of shortstop and (to a lesser extent) third base in his career, the defensive metrics have not been particularly kind to him anywhere in recent years. However, that versatility and potential at the plate seemingly wooed the Phillies enough to pull the trigger and send a promising young prospect to the Mets.
As for the Mets’ return in the deal, Franklyn Kilome was a top 10 prospect in a very good Phillies’ system with a fastball that can reach the upper 90’s with good breaking ball and improving changeup, although his command of his impressive arsenal has been an issue as he has walked 51 batters in 102 innings this season. He is still raw for a guy at Double-A and assuming the Mets can wrangle his impressive stuff, this could be a big score for an organization in desperate need of some good news.