Whit Merrifield’s departure offers a hint at the Phillies’ trade deadline strategy

The release of Whit Merrifield is no small thing. Was it surprising? No. Not at all. You can argue it was inevitable, in fact. But it was also significant.

The baseball season is full of procedural roster moves that have little big-picture meaning. The Phillies’ decision to swap out Merrifield for Weston Wilson was something more than that. As manager Rob Thomson said on Friday afternoon, there is nothing procedural about telling a well-respected 35-year-old veteran that he is no longer the man for the job. That’s especially true when you tell him such thing a mere five months after you convinced him to sign on the dotted line of a not-immodest free agent contract.

“I’ve been a farm director, field coordinator, I’ve had many, many releases and had to fire many, many people and this was one of the tougher ones I’ve had,” Thomson said. “It’s the person, the teammate, the guy in the clubhouse. I personally really liked him a lot.”

Which is why the Phillies’ decision to part ways with Merrifield says a little something about their greater ambitions. If the question was strictly about Wilson being the better player, it would have been easy for Thomson and Dave Dombrowski to continuing erring on the side of Merrifield. The Phillies were in first place by a healthy margin. Brandon Marsh had been playing like a legitimate everyday left fielder, with a .923 OPS in his last 26 games. In the other corner of the outfield, Nick Castellanos was righting his ship, with an .835 OPS and six home runs in his last 37 games. As bad as Merrifield had played when called upon, his was a roster spot that would not necessarily need to be called upon with any degree of frequency.

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The Phillies easily could have waited to see what happened at the trade deadline. In the interim, they could have held out hope that something might finally click and they might begin to see some return on their $8 million investment in Merrifield. They could have searched for a landing spot that allowed him to go out with his head held high, à la Jake Cave. That was the path of least resistance.

That they chose not to follow it says something.

1) The Phillies will be looking to upgrade their outfield before the July 31 trade deadline, and they will be prioritizing a right-handed bat.

Up to now, we’ve mostly had to assume that Dombrowski would view the outfield as a priority in trade talks. A safe assumption, but still an assumption. The Phillies ranked in the bottom half of the majors in OPS at all three outfield spots. While Marsh’s overall numbers are strong, he has been virtually unplayable against lefties, with seven hits and 25 strikeouts in 48 at-bats. That production has not been offset by their two right-handed bats in center, Rojas (.565 OPS), and Pache (.562 OPS), nor by Castellanos (.679 OPS). That’s a significant concern, especially when you consider a potential NLDS or NLCS matchup against the Braves, who would presumably pitch a couple of lefties in Games 1 and 2 (Max Fried and Chris Sale) and back them with a bullpen that features three southpaws. The Phillies decided that Merrifield was not the answer. Which means they are actively looking for a solution.

2) Dombrowski and his front office are still very much in information-gathering mode.

There may have been some degree of professional courtesy in releasing Merrifield when the Phillies did. He’ll have the All-Star break to regroup, plus six weeks to find a new team before the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason roster eligibility. There were also some strategic imperatives at play for the Phillies.

By promoting Wilson to take Merrifield’s spot, Dombrowski and Thomson gave themselves 13 games to evaluate whether the 29-year-old righty can/should factor into the equation. That’s probably not a big enough sample size to rewrite the Phillies’ trade deadline plans. But Wilson could end up playing a role.

Let’s say the Phillies make a run at White Sox center fielder Luis Robert, a right-handed power bat who grades out well as a defender. He would presumably take the roster spot of Pache. No need to carry three center fielders in addition to Marsh. Rojas would be the backup and late-game pinch-running specialist, and the Phillies would still have a roster spot to devote to a right-handed corner outfielder who can platoon with Marsh.

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In that scenario, it could make some sense for the Phillies to stick with Wilson and allocate their remaining trade powder for a pitching move. Robert would be the major upgrade on the right side of the plate. If Wilson replicates last year’s cameo, when he went 5-for-16 with six walks, three steals and a home run, he’d make a viable case to be Marsh’s platoon-mate.

3) The Phillies understand that 2024 could be their best chance at a title during the Bryce Harper era.

The iron is hot, to a greater degree than it may ever be. The Braves are missing their best player (Ronald Acuña Jr.) and their best pitcher (Spencer Strider). The Dodgers are missing their best pitcher (Shohei Ohtani). All four members of the Phillies’ playoff rotation are healthy and pitching at a high level. Alec Bohm is in the midst of his best season as a pro. The worst thing they can do is leave well enough alone. The trade deadline is shaping up to be a defining one. Everyone else in the National League will be looking for pieces that can help them beat the Phillies. The Phillies have no choice but to operate on the offensive.

Releasing Merrifield was a difficult decision on a human level. On a competitive level, it was a move that needed to be made.