The Philadelphia Phillies have often been the subject of the offseason trade rumor mill ever since reports surfaced they were shopping All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm.
He was in the midst of arguably the best year of his career before finishing poorly. He was even benched in the playoffs, partially due to rumored maturity issues that may have worn out his welcome with the Phillies.
This was never confirmed specifically by Philadelphia, and as the market has started to get a bit colder, manager Rob Thomson has even actively disputed the reports by saying the team does not want to trade the 2024 All-Star.
While this could be seen as a leverage play in order to drive up the asking price, shipping him out of town feels like less of a sure thing now than it did a month ago.
Nonetheless, one of the most in the know MLB insiders, Ken Rosenthal, still believes the third baseman will be traded, saying during an appearance on “Foul Territory” that he essentially sees it as a “when” rather than an “if.”
“The Phillies clearly want to trade him, they clearly have not been successful in their attempts so far, but I would expect he will not be on the Phillies by the start of the season,” Rosenthal said before naming the Seattle Mariners as a potential suitor. “It seems to me at some point the Phillies are going to do something … Dave Dombrowski is not the type to end the season the way they did and then come back with the same team … that’s not happening.”
If Bohm is eventually dealt, the Phillies may not get the return they were hoping for when they were first reported to be shopping him.
Inconsistency on the field, especially at the plate, combined with possible off the field issues are not exactly a recipe for making someone a hot commodity.
But nonetheless, Dombrowski has been open about the fact that major changes would come to the lineup, and moving on from Bohm one way or another would be exactly that.
Sending him to an offensively desperate Mariners team has always felt like the most likely outcome, but since the Winter Meetings ended without a deal, this could drag on for weeks or months longer as teams try to round out their rosters.
Even though a trade seems like it has become less likely in the last few weeks, by the sounds of it, Philadelphia fans should not count on Bohm being back in 2025.