Phillies' Ideal Trade Target Reportedly Being Eyed by Los Angeles Dodgers

The Philadelphia Phillies need help in the outfield.

This has been a topic of conversation for some time, but for some reason, Dave Dombrowski has been unwilling to make major changes to that unit so this can be a group that gives the Phillies a chance to compete for a championship.

Last season, when everyone knew Johan Rojas was having issues at the plate and Brandon Marsh was struggling against left-handed pitching, instead of going out and adding some high-end outfielders ahead of the trade deadline like Randy Arozarena, Luis Robert Jr., Lane Thomas or even someone like Jazz Chisholm Jr., they bought low on Austin Hays.

That turned out to be a disaster.

Hays had two stints on the injured list and performed poorly when he was available.

It was a such a poor tenure that Dombrowski has to non-tender him this past winter based on the backlash he would have received from the fan base despite him personally being a major fan of Hays.

Meanwhile, both Arozarena and Chisholm have become stars for their news teams, and while neither Thomas nor Robert have had strong performances since the 2024 deadline, both would have been upgrades over what Philadelphia is rolling out.

The Phillies aren't the only ones who have been eying Robert, though.

While it seems like Philadelphia has been brought up the most often when it comes to making a trade for the slugger, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in discussions to acquire the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year runner-up before conversations were halted.

"The Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers have tabled trade discussions that would send center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to the Dodgers for Triple-A outfielder James Outman and a front-line prospect," the insider reported.

That's an interesting trade package if that is all it would take to land Robert.

James Outman, who was taken in the seventh round of the 2018 draft by the Dodgers and never was a top 30 prospect in their farm system per MLB Pipeline prior to 2022 when he made his big league debut, burst onto the scene in 2023 with a .248/.353/.437 slash line, 23 homers, 70 RBI and a 114 OPS+ across his 151 games to finish third place in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

However, he struggled last season with a .147/.256/.265 slash line, four homers, 11 RBI and an OPS+ of 50 across 53 Major League games before he was demoted in May and spent virtually the rest of the entire campaign with their Triple-A affiliate.

Perhaps the Chicago White Sox think the best is ahead for the 27-year-old and the 2024 showing he had was the worst season he'll have in the Majors.

Getting Outman and a front-line prospect, whoever that is, would be a massive reduction in what the asking price has been in the past.

Maybe that's because Robert is struggling at the plate.

Coming off his All-Star selection and Silver Slugger Award in 2023, the White Sox star finished last year with an OPS+ of 86 and just 14 homers and 35 RBI across his 100 games after dealing with a strain in his right hip.

Things have only gotten worse this year with a .163/.250/.245 slash line and 47 OPS+ in 14 games.

At this point, Robert profiles into being more of a "buy-low" player instead of a surefire star that he was billed as coming off his performance in 2023.

That could play into the favor of the Phillies considering it should cost them less to acquire him if it gets to that point.

However, with Los Angeles lurky and reportedly already putting some framework talks together with Chicago, there's a chance Philadelphia misses their opportunity to land the player who has been linked to them on numerous occasions the past year-and-a-half.

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