The Phillies traded second baseman Eliezer Alvarez to the Rangers for Cash Considerations. On the surface it is a trade that makes sense. The Phillies designated Alvarez for assignment earlier this week in an effort to keep Pedro Florimon in the organization by giving him a 40 man roster spot (more on that late). Once that happens a trade for cash considerations means multiple teams were mildly interested in claiming the player off waivers (but not enough to give up real things), but were will to give up a tiny bit of money to jump in line. In other words once we separate out the decision to part ways with Alvarez, getting something that isn’t a waiver claim, is a plus.
Alvarez was acquired by the Phillies for 3 weeks of Juan Nicasio, Juan Nicasio was acquired by the Phillies off waivers, which just saved the Pirates some money. In the end this is money for money. As for who is Alvarez, he is a second baseman who lit up the Midwest League in 2016, which forced the Cardinals to put him on the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, and to double jump him to AA. In AA he hit like crap, and missed a large amount of time to injury. Alvarez has a lot of talent, but not a lot of actualized skills. He is fast, but not a good basestealer, and while he has the tools for second, the actions aren’t there. Combine that with moderate power and a swing with some holes, and you have an ok, but not great prospect. It was going to be tough for Alvarez to be a regular at second base, which means he was going to need to be able to play shortstop and third base in short burst, not something that was a given. Within the Phillies system, he was clearly below Jesmuel Valentin on the depth chart and I had him ranked as a worse prospect that Jose Gomez, who is a level below him and does a lot of similar things. There is a decent chance that Alvarez was AA/AAA fodder by the end of the year.
Then there is the actual move, which is the Phillies choosing to protect Pedro Florimon. It is a somewhat questionable decision given the presence of Valentin, but the injuries to Eickhoff and Leiter might open a bench spot, and Florimon can play anywhere and has suddenly started hitting a bit. Either way, Florimon is not long for the 40 man roster. That doesn’t mean it really is a mistake to let loose Alvarez for him. There is always someone at the bottom of the 40 man roster, and in this case it was Alvarez after the Phillies designated Tommy Joseph for assignment after signing Jake Arrieta. Right now that bottom guys is probably Cameron Rupp or Zac Curtis. Rupp as the 3rd catcher and Curtis as the 3rd LHP have a lot more value in case of an emergency. Not to mention if Alvarez wasn’t gone for Florimon, he probably would have been gone soon. Scott Kingery will eventually need a 40 man spot, as will Tom Eshelman. If the Phillies choose to have Drew Hutchison in a swing role, he will need a spot. At some point the Phillies were going to need to let someone go, and Alvarez was probably that guy. This might feel premature, and that is fair, but this is why they got him for a reliever that wasn’t even going to be playoff eligible.