Philadelphia Phillies Pull Off Early Trade with Rays for Outfielder

After being rumored to be targeting outfielders, the Philadelphia Phillies have pulled off an early trade with the Tampa Bay Rays to acquire one.

Mar 7, 2023; Clearwater, Florida, USA; iTampa Bay Rays center fielder Ruben Cardenas (71) runs down a fly ball against the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark | Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies have a day off on Thursday as they get ready for their London trip where they'll take on their division rival New York Mets for two games starting Saturday, June 8.

Coming off sweeping the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, the Phillies have to be feeling good about themselves with the best record in baseball.

They'll certainly be buyers around the trade deadline as they try to minimize the small amount of holes on their roster so they can give themselves the best possible chance at winning the World Series.

It's always assumed that any contending team is going to target arms, something that is necessary to make a deep playoff run and to counteract any potential injuries that could arrise during or before the postseason.

However, there was some information released that they were also targeting outfielders.

Well, that seems to have been proven correct as Philadelphia pulled off an early trade with the Tampa Bay Rays to land Ruben Cardenas according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

The 26-year-old is currently in Triple-A putting together a great season with a slash line of .281/.346/.530, 11 homers, 23 extra-base hits, and 28 RBI.

Cardenas seemingly is going to be a depth piece for the Phillies as Brandon Marsh is currently dealing with a hamstring injury and David Dahl was promoted to take his place in left field, producing immediately in his return to the bigs.

Cardenas has also never appeared in an MLB game.

As of now, it is unknown what Philadelphia sent the Rays to acquire the outfielder, but deals like this normally involve cash considerations.

With the Phillies landing the minor leaguer, maybe this shifts their attention back to acquiring pitchers for their bullpen, or starting rotation, depending on how Taijuan Walker continues to look before July 30.