It Sure Seems Like The Phillies Want To Trade Alec Bohm

Alec Bohm's time in Philly has been a roller coaster. It started with him coming out of the gates on fire during his rookie season. He was tremendous in the Covid shortened 2020 season. But he did not even come close to matching that in the next two seasons. His OPS went from .881 in 2020, to barely over .700 the next two years.

His lowest point came in a game where he had 3 errors, got booed, and a hot mic picked up him saying "I f**king hate this place" under his breath. But oddly that moment, and his owning up to it, made Phillies fans fall in love with him a bit. He eventually found his swing, having a much improved season in 2023, and then he made his 1st All-Star game last season.

But the playoffs in 2024 were a new low for Bohm. Coming off a game 1 loss, Bohm was benched. Thomson sat him in game 2 saying he liked the energy Sosa would bring to the lineup. But if you read between the lines, you can get to what Thomson really meant. He did not like the energy Bohm was bringing. Essentially he didn't like seeing Bohm, who was mired in a slump dating back to early August, pout after every out, and slam his helmet.

What made it even worse, is that Bohm did not respond. Thomson pinch hit with Bohm in game 2. He popped up the first pitch he saw. Continuing a trend at Bohm swinging early in the count, and producing weak outs. Bohm went on to go 1 for 13 in the series, with his highlight being a fielder's choice that led to an error and a run. But it was yet another ball that failed to leave the infield for Bohm.

All of that has lost Bohm some favor in the Phillies clubhouse. The poor attitude, and the long slumps, have worn thin, and it sounds like those moments might have been his final ones in a Phillies jersey.

Multiple MLB reporters have now come out and said Bohm is on the trade block. Jeff Passan reported that the Phillies are “looking to shake up their team” and are shopping Bohm. Bob Nightengale wrote that he could see any of Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, or Nick Castellanos being moved. Buster Olney then went on The Baseball Tonight Podcast and reported that Rival Execs think that Bohm will be traded.

"What I’m hearing from other teams is yeah, he’s gonna be traded. Like he’s out there a bunch. And they say, you know, the Phillies have been around long enough that they can squash that if they wanted to. They can go out and whisper to reporters that Bohm’s not really available. They’re not doing that. So the assumption with other teams is that Bohm is going to be traded."

That is 3 prominent reporters in the MLB, all saying the same thing. The Phillies would like to move Bohm. As Olney mentioned, the Phillies could easily squash this. Olney came out himself last season and threw water on the rumor that the Phillies wanted to trade Castellanos. But no one is dousing the Bohm rumors yet.

On top of that, there is a lot of talk that the Phillies are sick of Alec Bohm's act. The childish behavior has worn thin in the front office and in the clubhouse. AJ Peirsynski said on his show "Foul Territory" that he has talked to people around the Phillies, and they think Alec Bohm needs to grow up.

The benching in the playoffs proves that to be true. The pouting, the helmet slamming, and the antics, clearly pay a part in that. AJ is not the only person to say this, he is just the latest.

Bohm is 28 years old. He is not a young player anymore. This will be his 6th year in the league. But he is still acting like one. From everything we are hearing, the Phillies have had enough of it. It is why Thomson benched him, and why he is now the subject of trade rumors.

It is one thing to say to move him. But then you still need to find someone to play 3rd Base. Aidan Miller is not ready to make that leap. 2026 would be the earliest you see him, and 2027 might be a more realistic projection.

We have seen Edmundo Sosa, while a quality bench player, does not hold up when he plays every day. Short of moving Trea Turner to 3rd Base, the Phillies do not have a candidate in-house to replace Bohm at 3rd next season.

The obvious option would be signing Alex Bregman. He is the top free agent at 3rd this offseason. Bregman would offer an upgrade. A slight one at the plate, where he has more pop, and gets on base more often, but a massive one in the field. Bregman has a Gold Glove and is regularly one of the best fielding 3B in the league, while Bohm is middle of the road at best when it comes to the glove.

The question is cost. Bohm is still in arbitration. He is projected to cost around $8.1 million this season. Meanwhile, Bregman is projected to get a 6-year deal worth around $130 million. Is that huge jump in cost worth the upgrade Bregman offers?

I think to really evaluate it, you need to look at their playoff performances. Bohm has been bad all 3 years in the playoffs. Bohm's playoff slash line is .214/.295/.333/.629. His SLG was under .400 all 3 seasons, and he has just 10 extra-base hits in 34 games.

Meanwhile, Bregman has made the playoffs 8 times. His SLG was over .500 3 times, over .600 once, and only dipped below .400 3 times, with one of those 3 times being just a 2-game series where he hit .375. He has at times been a playoff hero. The Phillies saw him in action firsthand in the 2022 World Series where he finished with an OPS over .900.

Also, for anyone worried about age, he is only 2 years older than Bohm. The age is not a major difference. Bregman has just been around the league longer, but he is not significantly older than Bohm. People just think Bohm is young because he acts like he is young.

Bregman is an upgrade. But what happens if they trade Bohm and strike out on him? The other free agent options at 3rd are not great. Eugenio Suarez is the only other starting 3B out there, and he is 33 and brings much of the same issues the Phillies are already dealing with in their lineup. Mainly he strikes out a ton. But even at 33, he still hit 33 HRs for the D Backs last year and hits those HRs against both Lefties and Righties. Still, they don't need a another HR or bust guy.

If they did trade Bohm, it would likely become Bregman or Bust. Unless there is some trade out there no one is talking about, which is always a possibility with Dave Dombrowski.

It certainly sounds like he will be moved. There is too much smoke there. Now just because they want to trade him, does not mean a trade will happen. They could find out there is not enough of a market for him.

But it feels like there will be a market for him. Playoff struggles and poor attitude aside, he is 28, has 2 more years of team control, and is coming off an All-Star season. He offers cheap production for multiple years, and a team that is not around him might be willing to overlook the childish behavior that has him out of the Phillies' good graces.

What would return look like? That part is hard to tell. Do the Phillies look to swap him for another Major League player? Is he a piece to bring back a proven player, like Garrett Crochet of the White Sox? That part we have less info on. But the Phillies should be able to get a good return for Bohm whichever route they go.

What we do know is multiple trustworthy voices around the league are telling you he could be traded. That is not nothing, and Phillies fans should prepare themselves for a Alec Bohm trade at some point this offseason.

After multiple playoff failures, the Phillies need a shakeup. It looks like moving Bohm will be the way they shake things up.

The Phillies just collapsed epically. Their bats went ice cold, and they let the hated Mets kick them out in 4 games. After 3 straight years of the bats blowing up in an important place, people want to shake things up. And the most obvious place to upgrade is in the outfield.

Much of the team is locked up. 1B and SS are not changing anytime soon. You could feasibly move Trea Turner somewhere else, like 2nd Base. But if that happened, it would just mean they are moving Stott to SS.

They have 1 more year of JT Realmuto and 2 more years of Castellanos. CF could change, Dombrowksi certainly did not make any commitments to Johan Rojas, but they might have that spot earmarked for Justin Crawford.

Left Field is the place to look at. Dombrowski might have said that the team likes Brandon Marsh, but that does not mean they will keep him there. He is a platoon player, who has not even been consistent in his half of the platoon.

Looking at the landscape of the Free Agent Market, Left Field is also the easiest place to upgrade. Jayson Stark joined The Best Show Ever this week and talked about some of the places the Phillies could go.

"You've got Anthony Santander, who's a switch hitter with power and is a good outfielder. You're watching Teoscar Hernandez with the Dodgers. He's strikeout-prone, but he's a he's a winning player. Tyler O'Neill is definitely a name to watch. He's hurt a lot, but right-handed hitter with big thump. I know they kick the tires on him at the deadline. Jurickson Profar is to me the profile of the kind of hitter they desperately need." 

Stark also mentioned to not completely rule Juan Soto out. It is not likely, but also not impossible. We talked about that in the below article. But for this list, we are going to keep it to names they have a decent chance at signing.

Related: Juan Soto Unlikely To Come To Phillies, But Dont Rule It Out

So how well do those 4 guys Jayson Stark mentioned fit with this team? Let's take a look at each of them.

Santander has 105 Hrs over the last 3 seasons. He hit 44 last season, with over 100 RBIs. The Phillies need some right-handed pop, they have needed it since they lost Rhys Hoskins. He can certainly provide that. His AVG is a bit low, but he is not a big swing-and-miss guy despite that. His whiff rate of 20% is better than 76% of the league. His K rate of 19.4% is better than 66% of the league. He might be a power guy with a low average, but he does put the ball in play.  

To this point, he has played in Right Field. But you could move him over to Left if needed. He might look too similar to the guys already on this team, but the actual numbers suggest a more careful approach than some of the current Phillies.

Teoscar Hernandez would fit right in with the current lineup. He is a big power guy, 116 Hrs over the past 4 seasons, with a lot of strikeouts, just under 400 over the past 2 seasons. So if you want something different, he is not your guy. Signing him would be doubling down on the current approach of this lineup, which we saw cost them vs the Mets. He is just as much of a swing-and-miss/chase guy as some of the hitters currently on this team.

But as we are seeing this year, he is a big-time playoff performer. He has helped carry the Dodgers while some of their big names put up smaller numbers than you would expect. His OPS was over 1.000 in the Padres series. But he is 0-14 in the NLCS. So you can see the hot and cold he provides. Maybe something the Phillies want to avoid given they already have other guys like that. That said, he will provide you with moments like this.

Tyler O'Neill will remind people of Kyle Schwarber, just from the right side. He hits HRs, he walks, and he strikes out. He hit 31 HRs this year in 113 games. That is some big thump from the right side. He is also a better fielder than Schwarber. O'Neill won two gold gloves in Left field earlier in his career. His overall numbers don't paint the picture of an elite left Fielder though. He has a great arm, but average range. But even if he doesn't win another Gold Glove, he would not be the liability Kyle Schwarber used to be out there. At worst, you are getting average. The Phillies won both their World Series with far worse fielders in Left.

There are some heavy splits there though. His OPS drops from 1.180 against Lefties, to .693 vs Righties. But he did hit 15 HRs vs righties. He is not unplayable vs righties the way Marsh is vs Lefties, but there is a large dropoff that takes him from being a great player on 1 side, to an average player on the other.

Like Jayson Stark said, he is a name they have looked into in the past. They tried to get him at the deadline, but nothing came to be. Now that he is a free agent, he might be the guy Dombrowski looks at. Will it fix the issues they had with not putting the ball in play? No. But he would basically provide what Rhys Hoskins used to provide for this team.

Jurickson Profar might be the guy who excites Phillies fans the most. He has okay pop, but more importantly, he makes contact. His Whiff Rate, K Rate, Chase Rate, and Walk Rate are all in the top 10% of the league. He would bring a different element to this Phillies lineup.

Jayson Stark talked about how the Phillies need a different kind of hitter.

"They need somebody in that lineup who will make contact in a big spot and understand that's enough. Too many big swings in that lineup where only contact was needed. You watch the Mets play and you see how they take what the defense gives them in big moments in the postseason. Who's the Philly who does that? I'm sure that they will be shopping for that kind of guy."

Profar is that different kind of hitter. Stark described exactly what Profar did for the Padres. He might also provide a shakeup to the culture of the team, that desperately needs a change. For me, this is the guy. The other 3 would be good options, but Profar feels like the exact kind of player they need to fix the problems that cost them in each of the past 3 seasons.