As the Phillies forge ahead without Bryce Harper, Pat Gillick recalls 2007 trade for Chase Utley’s fill-in

It was the middle of the season and the Phillies were four games over .500 and two games out of a wild-card spot when a wayward fastball sent their best hitter to the operating room with a broken bone in his hand.

Bryce Harper in 2022?

Try Chase Utley in 2007.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper’s thumb surgery goes off without complications; August return still possible

Fifteen years apart, the similarities are uncanny. Utley got drilled by a lefty (Washington’s John Lannan); so did Harper (San Diego’s Blake Snell). When Utley went down, he had MVP-worthy numbers (.336/.414/.582, 17 homers) from the No. 3 spot in the order; so does Harper (.318/.385/.599, 15 homers). At the time, the 2007 Phillies trailed the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Uh, have you checked the standings lately?

Upon learning he needed surgery to stabilize the fractured fourth metacarpal at the base of his right ring finger, Utley smiled and told reporters, “I’ll be back. Don’t worry, guys.” Harper has equal confidence in his healing ability. Before and after left thumb surgery Wednesday, his expectation, according to a source, was that he could make it back by the middle of August.

In each case, the Phillies wouldn’t provide a precise timetable. But like the front office that assembled this year’s roster, the brass in 2007 resolved to forge ahead in pursuit of ending a long playoff drought rather than packing it in and looking ahead to the next year.

“The position we were in in ‘07 was that we had a good club and we thought we were going to make it,” former Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said by phone this week. “Losing Utley, we needed a replacement.”

Dave Dombrowski knows the feeling. But how can the Phillies possibly replace Harper? Gillick and his inner circle were thinking the same thing about Utley on July 26, 2007.

And then the phone rang.

One day after Utley got hit, almost before hand specialist Randall Culp set the broken bone, the Phillies traded for Tadahito Iguchi from the Chicago White Sox.

Iguchi wasn’t Utley. But from 2005 to 2007, only five second basemen played more innings than Iguchi, 32 years old and a veteran of Japan’s Pacific League before he helped lead the White Sox to a World Series triumph in 2005. Upon joining the Phillies, he referred to the player he was replacing as “Mr. Utley.”

» READ MORE: The making of an icon: How Chase Utley became 'The Man' for the Phillies

It appeared to be a master stroke in Gillick’s Hall of Fame career, especially once Iguchi stepped into the Phillies lineup and hit .301/.357/.425 in 27 games while Utley was sidelined. But Gillick credits circumstance more than shrewd scouting or wearing down his phone battery.

“We got lucky,” he said with a booming laugh. “We just got lucky. To get a guy that quickly and for him to hit .300 for us during that stretch, I mean, you can be good, but you’ve got to be lucky, too.”

In fact, Gillick can’t cite another time in 27 years as a GM that he swung a midseason trade to replace an injured All-Star. And if Gillick can’t come up with one, it didn’t happen. At 84, his photographic memory is still thumbtack sharp.

“I cannot recall being in a desperate situation, or a real need situation, like when we acquired [Iguchi] because Utley was down,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever run into that. When I was in Toronto and Seattle, if we had a problem, we worked internally. We didn’t go external much.”

That’s because, when a prominent player is lost for a lengthy duration, rival executives often behave like sharks that smell blood in the water. Want to replace some of your All-Star slugger’s production? Sure. But prepare to pay an escalated price.

It has become en vogue to cite the Braves’ trades for four outfielders last summer after Ronald Acuña Jr. had season-ending knee surgery. But they already needed help in left and center field and likely would have acquired at least two outfielders even if Acuña hadn’t gotten injured.

» READ MORE: It’s almost time for the Phillies to focus on 2023 and beyond. Almost.

And while Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, and Eddie Rosario combined to slug .501 with 44 home runs for the Braves, check out the post-Acuña numbers of Atlanta’s biggest hitters:

For the Phillies to survive until Harper returns, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, and especially Nick Castellanos must deliver similar production. While Utley was out, the 2007 Phillies got big contributions from Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, Jayson Werth, and eventual National League MVP Jimmy Rollins.

» READ MORE: How the Phillies are trying to help Nick Castellanos get back on track just as they need him most

But their best in-house option at second base was utilityman Abraham Núñez. They didn’t know for sure how much time Utley would miss. One thing they did know: They needed help.

“I thought right away,” Gillick said, “that we had to get a replacement.”

Even before Gillick could huddle with his inner circle to compile a list of possible targets, he got a call from White Sox general manager Kenny Williams.

Williams played for Gillick in Toronto in 1990. By 2007, they were frequent trading partners, even pulling off some whoppers. Gillick flipped Jim Thome to Williams for Rowand. A year later, he sent pitchers Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez to Chicago for Freddy García.

The White Sox were out of the playoff race and wanted to get a look at young players, including Danny Richar, a 24-year-old second baseman who was tearing up triple A after being acquired from Arizona. But Richar’s path to the majors was blocked by Iguchi.

Once Utley broke his hand, Williams figured he had a taker.

“Kenny really is the one who instigated a call to me before I had a chance to call him,“ Gillick said. “He just said, ‘Iguchi is available. If you’re interested in Iguchi, make us a proposal.’”

Gillick recalled consulting his scouts. WAR wasn’t a mainstream metric then, but Fangraphs tells us now that Ichugi was worth 5.1 wins above replacement-level in 2005-06. The consensus among Phillies people was that manager Charlie Manuel could put him in the lineup every day without worry.

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Williams initially asked about three or four minor leaguers, according to Gillick, who rejected the requests and offered single-A right-hander Michael Dubee, an 18th-round draft pick and the son of pitching coach Rich Dubee. Williams agreed.

“It was a pretty straightforward conversation,” Gillick said. “Let me put it this way: There wasn’t a lot of posturing or haggling going on.”

Even Dubee — Rich, that is — didn’t object.

“I’ll give [Michael] some of my playoff money,” Dubee joked at the time. (His son never made the majors.)

Iguchi got eight hits in his first five games for the Phillies and started every game until Utley made a remarkably swift recovery and returned to the lineup on Aug. 27.

Three days later, Iguchi had his biggest Phillies moment, lining a pinch-hit game-tying single in the ninth inning against Mets closer Billy Wagner and scoring the winning run on Utley’s game-winning single. The 11-10 victory completed a four-game sweep that set a tone for the Phillies’ epic comeback from seven games out of first place with 17 to play.

“Iguchi did a nice job for us,” Gillick said. “Very good person. Good individual, good teammate.”

Richar made his major league debut on July 27, 2007, and batted .230 with six homers in 56 games. But the White Sox packaged him in a 2008 deadline trade for Ken Griffey Jr. He was back in triple A by 2010 and playing independent ball in 2011.

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Gillick never asked and claims that Williams never said anything, but he has always wondered if there was more to the trade than giving Richar a chance. Perhaps, Gillick thought, Williams felt he owed the Phillies after García arrived with shoulder problems in 2007.

“I don’t know if it was known or unknown to Kenny, but Freddy wasn’t the same Freddy,” Gillick said. “García was always a closed-mouthed guy, so he could’ve been having some problems and didn’t pass it along. I think they just wanted to play the kid Richar and had to move Iguchi off the roster. But maybe there was some feelings that they shortchanged us a little bit in the García deal.”

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ Mark Appel makes ‘surreal’ big-league debut nine years after being No. 1 pick

Whatever the case, Iguchi was precisely what the 2007 Phillies needed.

“It worked out well,” Gillick said. “We were fortunate.”

In trying to overcome Harper’s absence, the 2022 Phillies can only hope to get so lucky.