The Padres have interest in Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (video link). A deal may not be easy to swing, though, as Rosenthal notes that the Phillies would have to acquire a third baseman or a shortstop from elsewhere in order to move Franco.
Franco, now 25, garnered hype as a prospect and made good on that as a rookie in 2015, when he slashed .280/.343/.497 with 14 home runs in 335 plate appearances. He hasn’t been anywhere near that effective since, however, as he has offered below-average production in each season dating back to 2016. In 229 trips to the plate this year, Franco has hit .255/.297/.425 – nearly matching his lifetime line of .248/.300/.426 – with nine homers.
With a .230/.300/.498 line and 16 HRs in 230 PAs this season, Padres rookie third baseman Christian Villanueva has been better than Franco in the aggregate. But the 27-year-old Villanueva has gone backward in each month of the season, having posted a wRC+ of 199 in April, a 74 mark in May and a paltry 53 this month. Given Villanueva’s struggles and their lack of obvious third base solutions in general, it’s understandable that the Padres are seeking help there, even though they’re 35-44 and well out of playoff contention. Franco could be a multiyear solution for San Diego if it acquires him and he turns his career around, as he’s arbitration eligible through the 2021 campaign.
Despite the subpar production of Franco and other left side infielders Scott Kingery and the injured J.P. Crawford, the Phillies boast a 41-33 record and own a 1 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers for the NL’s second wild-card spot. They’re also in contention in the NL East, trailing the division-leading Braves by just 1 1/2 games. As such, it seems the Phillies are on track to buy as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. If they do bolster the left side of their infield before then, it could come in the form of Orioles shortstop/third baseman Manny Machado or one of the other high-end third basemen likely to be available – the Royals’ Mike Moustakas, the Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson or the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre (who has drawn Philly’s interest).
Should the Phillies land one of those players or other infield help, it could open the door for Franco to head to San Diego. The Phillies may package him with other talent in order to acquire relief help from the Padres, Rosenthal notes. The Padres’ bullpen has been a significant bright spot this year, which has led to interest in relievers such as Brad Hand, Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen. Hand, the closer and the best of the Padres’ relievers, would garner the largest return. The Padres reportedly want a “young everyday player” back for him, and while Franco fits that description, there’s little doubt Philly would have to surrender additional talent for San Diego to give up Hand.
Franco and sixto for hand?
Thats insane
Why is that insane
Sixto isn’t even in double a
It’s not insane, it’s a good proposal.
Not really, Padres are asking for more, and can get it for Hand.
Not really. Better prospects get traded for relievers all the time.
This is almost in line with a CaseysPartner post, that’s saying something.
That’s actually a pretty fair deal for both sides…
Its where the pads would start their ask and then the phils would counter with something, its all about the negotiation.
I’m pretty sure anything including the Phillies no 1 prospect would get back a lot more than Hand. Sixto is untouchable unless it’s for Machado I’m sure. Even then he still may be untouchable.
They wouldn’t trade him for Machado they wouldn’t trade him for a rental
Hand has more trade value than Machado.
Sixto? the 19 year old stud starting pitching prospect, for a garbage trade like this? I wouldn’t include him in a Machado rental trade. he’s about as untouchable as prospects come.
It’s really not that bad of a proposal. I’d assume if Sanchez is untouchable though the Phils would have at least part with Medina and Haseley, and possibly more.
The only way I would think about giving up sixto in a deal is if the return was mike trout
How about Franco, Thompson, Mark Leiter Jr, and Aaron Altherr?
After seeing Moustakas’a market, total lack thereof, last year, Phillies could probably acquire or sign him at some point to be the third basemen of the future at a cheap rate. Still just 29, has 4-5 good years in him
4-5 good years? Is that the amount of time we have to wait for him to get into the batters box?
Lmao
Padres are just collecting mediocre infielders from Philly now?
Phillies get Manny Machado
Padres get Maikel Franco
Orioles get prospect(s) from Padres
You get therapy!
Lmao
This would mean that Machado and Franco have the same value.
“This would mean that Machado and Franco have the same value.”
What do you think two months of Machado is worth?
Someone else will pay more than that, it only takes one jumpy/desperate owner.
More than Maikel Franco
“What do you think 2 months of Machado is worth” probably 1.9 WAR Maikel Franco’s career total.
Connor…..
No one is saying that “Machado and Franco have the same value”……..
But….Franco is under Team Control through the 2021 season….and there’s CONSIDERABLE value in a player with Franco’s potential, when he’s under team control for 3 more years.
The Salary difference alone makes it a worthwhile gamble.
I would say that Philly is going to have to give up more than just Franco to get Machado….if they really want him……even for a rental……if for no other reason than “someone else will give up more”.
What is Maikel Franco’s immense potential? He was never heralded as one of the top prospects in the game. He was a solid prospect who came up and had a nice rookie year and has been an absolute zero every since. Don’t buy into his “considerable value” because you can control a below average ML 3B until 2021. You can sign Danny Valencia this offseason if you want a slightly below average 3B too.
“What is Maikel Franco’s immense potential? He was never heralded as one of the top prospects in the game.”
Baseball America
Pre-2014 #17
Pre-2015 #56
Major League Baseball
Pre-2014 #26
Pre-2015 #55
Baseball Prospectus
Pre-2014 #52
Pre-2015 #96
Didn’t know he was listed so high in ‘14. Thought he was around the 80’s in 15. Not that relevant anymore anyway. 3rd straight year of below average output. But I was mistaken.
Yeah so you’re saying they have the same trade value, and I’d disagree. Machado could be the missing piece for a contender, and Franco has some upside, but he’s not the missing piece. I understand their contract situations play a role, but I’d still rather have Machado for two months if I was a legit contender.
so the Padres pay for Machado and get Franco?…
That assumes Franco is worth the same as Machado. Phillies probably have to send prospects to the Orioles also. And the Padres send less. Maybe a lotto ticket prospect to Baltimore and Philly.
The phillies should just wait for free agency to get machado without giving up sixto sanchez or other top prospects. But I think they trade for Beltre for a veteran club house presence. Then if they really want to go for it, add brad hand.
The Phillies don’t need Brad Hand.
The Phillies don’t need anymore pitchers. They do need to keep the pitching they have on the farm as well as their position talent down there.
If Machado’s price is higher than Franco or Crawford then just wait.
Actually the phillies do need another arm in the bullpen, Outside of Dominguez , who does Kapler trust? They needed to pull the trigger on Herrera
The Phllies are playing wiht house money and they’re not going to trade any part of their future for some perceived postseason run this year.
People saying Hand for Sixto Sanchez are insane. He’s a 19 year old starter with a 2.48 minors ERA AND a consensus top prospect. The Phillies will not trade him for anything.
It may be a “fair deal” now but there’s no way the Phillies risk his potential right now.
Besides that htye have what they believe to be their future closer in the very young Seranthony. They’ll develop him for that role and develop one of their other young arms to set him up, like Edubray Ramos or Luis Garcia.
Basically, the Phillies have an unbelievably deep system with so many arms in the minors it’s ridiculous.
Trading for Machado would be “trading part of their future for some perceived postseason run this year.” Signing him wouldn’t change that cuz they don’t have to trade for him to do that.
Sure
How about .johnny footfall ? The padres did draft humbly
I can’t imagine the Padres are interested in Franco directly, but if Philly is looking for a 3rd party to dump of Franco in a larger deal for machado (or another 3rd baseman), and willing to give up a prospect (probably not a particularly high ranked one) to grease the wheels then maybe i can see a line of logic for the Padres. I have to squint real hard but its not like they haven’t make weirder deals in the last few years.
There’s nothing to squint at. The Phillies are going to want to part ways with Franco in order to make a run at machado. The Padres themselves need a third base stopgap. Plus, the Phillies could get some good relief help from the Padres (Yates or Stammen) as they try to contend. I imagine if they package a prospect with Franco, they could get a reliever back, or like you were saying, they could possibly include the Padres on a bigger 3-team trade involving the orioles.
Padres should load up the bus to get machado. Myers/Maton….plus others. This Maton kid gets crushed….but he is pet of Preller. Don’t get it. Solarte is better than Franco.
You must be watching a different game than everyone else. Even after giving up 2 runs the other day Maton has an ERA of 1.53. But no he’s only in the majors because he’s Preller’s Pet. Go away troll.
To be fair Yangervis is better than Maikel. The rest is nonsense though.
The rebuilding Padres aren’t trading for the rental Machado.
How about…
Orioles: send Machado to Phillies, receive De Los Santos and Moniak from Phillies, Anderson Espinoza from Padres
Phillies: send De Los Santos and Moniak to Orioles, Franco to Padres; receive Machado from Orioles
Padres: Send Espinoza to Orioles; receive Franco from Phillis
I don’t think I’d give up Espinoza for Franco.
Understood — it’s a gamble. But his recovery has been so slow and the Pads seem loaded with talented pitchers with questionable health, so it seemed doable to me.
It’s been less than a year since Espinoza had TJ surgery. I don’t think that qualifies as a slow recovery quite yet.
Preller gave up De Los Santos for Freddy Galvis and De Los Santos is better, a lot better.
Why would the Phillies want to unload De Los Santos when he looks ready to step into a rotation or work effectively as a late inning reliever?
De Los Santos is one of the reasons the Phillies don’t need any pitchers.
It’s too bad the O’s and Nats hate each other, imagine watching Manny and Bryce push for a ring in d.c. the rest of the season.
The O’s should of traded him last trade deadline while his value would of been higher. I can imagine the package they would of got in return.
Where would Machado play? You have Turner and Rendon at SS/3B, respectively. Outfield is jammed with Bryce, Soto, Eaton, and MAT. Only potential spot is move Trea to 2B, but that leaves Murphy/Zimmerman/Reynolds/Adams in a four-way battle for 1B.
For the prospects Os would likely ask for, no thanks.
The O’s would prolly ask for Feede , plus soto or Robles.
I don’t disagree with you. For two months of Machado? Again, no thank you.
I think Machado gets traded to Arizona , And in the offseason the phillies sign him to a nice contract since they have the money.
Definitely could see that happening.
Orioles would not ask for Soto or Robles. I mean they may ask but tht would go nowhere. If we got Kieboom and Fedde back for Machado that’s be a fine return honestly. I don’t think Fedde is much of a prospect anymore but we need all the arms we can get. I don’t think Machado fills the right hole for the Nats though, barring an unforeseeen injury.
I seem to be the only guy who has noticed that Daniel Murphy can’t hold down 2B anymore.
You’re the only guy to notice a lot of things. And that’s not a good thing
amazing, amazing comment Matthew.
As both an angels and phillies fan, I wouldn’t like this deal unless the phillies add machado or beltre. They should wait for free agency to add Machado , they have the payroll space to sign him to a long term deal. I think Beltre would be perfect for them right now, and if they want to go all in for the nl east, get brad hand.
Why, Preller?
Franco is lazy, complacent, and only going to put on weight. Plus, he has terrible plate discipline and has actually regressed since his rookie year. A limitation to 1B is definitely in his future (reminds me of a young Hanley). And when you have Hosmer, Myers, and Naylor in the system, what good would this move do long-term?
Are you suggesting they move one of those to the hot corner?
No, in fact the complete opposite.
Why would you trade for Franco when a) the guy is likely to move to 1B as he gets older/heavier and b) the above three guys already have turned that position into a logjam for the foreseeable future?
Oh, got it, I read too fast and didn’t see your 1B Comment.
Josh Naylor most likely will be traded in the future to an AL team, he’s just not that good of a fielder and I’m sure many AL team would be interested in having him as a DH. The Padres are more open on trading Myers, but the problem is that he’s too injury prone and he’s been struggling since he came back from the DL, so they most likely won’t find a trade partner for him and will remain in RF and Hosmer will be their everyday 1B. I don’t like the idea of the Padres aquiring Franco either, but I can see their pov. His contract doesn’t expire until 2022, Villanueva struggles a lot vs RHP, and the best prospect they have that can play 3B is Ruiz but he’s not expected to be in the majors until 2021. Let’s also take this into consideration, Franco is still young, the Padres most likely won’t have to give up much for him, and he is probably the best choice there is in the trade market (for the Padres). I honestly can’t think of any young, average talent third baseman with a cheap lengthy contract that won’t cost the Padres a top prospect. There are two positions in 2019 that are up for grabs, that is 3B and LF, but even if the Padres end up getting Franco, I still don’t see him as the “for sure” option.
Um play Danny Espinosa at Short or 3rd. This isnt a competing year anyway. Get better assets, particularly pitching.
Yet they are competing.
Franco makes sense in part of a package for Hand. I don’t know what else they would add to said package, but it’s a starting point.
If the Phillies end up adding both Hand and Beltre, I will be pleased with their efforts. Although Beltre’s hamstring issues are still very concerning.
They’re 35-44. They aren’t really competing. The NL West has been ridiculously weak but SDP’s rotation isn’t competing anywhere.
Sorry. I thought you were referring to the Phillies because they just signed Danny Espinosa to a mlb deal.
If you want to trade for a player, you trade for Nolan Arenado. Then you go after Machado in the offseason. That’s the left side of your infield. Let Harper go to the Yankees. I would try to sign both if the Nats are the front runner to retain him.
Big Game Hunting only for those that plan to reply.
Harper is having a horrible season, don’t be shocked if he takes a 1 year deal to regain his value.
Fantastic idea angelsfan…….
Harper is 25 yrs old for the entire 2018 season. He turns 26 on Oct 16th.
He could actually take a 2-yr or 3-yr deal and still hit FA at 27/28…..and sign a 10/400 deal…if he performs well, and doesn’t get hurt..
Something like 3/110 would actually work for more teams than 10/400….opening up his opportunities….including the Nats.
He won’t……because he wants to… “Sign The Largest Contract Ever”………..
……but he could.
He isn’t a pitcher….can’t imagine Boras would let him near a one year deal…unless it’s an opt-out.
Why would the Nats trade for Arenado (and give up a massive return) and then try to sign Machado when a) Rendon would cost way less and b) you have Turner at SS?
If Bryce leaves, you have Victor Robles or MAT to fight it out in CF. More importantly, you have around $300 million you can use to spend over the next 10 years. Why not allocate that money to a couple of different players instead of just one? For example, if the Nats really wanted to get nasty, maybe offer Kershaw a 3 yr/$100 million deal and turn the rotation into a three-headed monster (which keeps them competitive through the duration of Scherzer and Strasburg’s deals). You can never have enough pitching.
Soto’s development has arguably made Bryce entirely expendable. If I’m the Lerners, I have a set price. And if he commands more then that, let him walk and spend and spread out that money elsewhere to help out multiple areas of need (SP, C, 1B).
If you think Clayton Kershaw is opting out of 2 years and 65 million with the Dodgers so he can sign a 3 year 100 million contract with the Nationals, then you don’t understand how baseball works.
Guess I should have said Phillies.
Preller will sign him
Im down for trading Franco but first I need to see Crawford and Kingery improve. Both have high ceilings but are very young. Im not ready to trust either of them with the reigns yet.
Im not into a machado trade, but any lesser infield rental (Lowrie, Valencia, Iglesias (stretch) etc) who can fortify the right side of the infield while giving the kids some time to make adjustments, while providing veteran leadership and not costing an arm and a leg is what I would do.
Also, dont worry about the pen yet. Neshek is on rehab and should be ready soon and I love our young arms.
Also, another option for 3B- Damek Tomscha- look him up. He’s very underrated and could be a good major leaguer.
Your boy tomscha the nearly 27 year old who’s batting under the Mendoza line in AAA? I can’t imagine why he’s “underrated.”
Give him more than 16 games. I never said an all-star, but a passable and possibly solid stop gap until Kingery and Crawford are both ready to go, I’d be ok with it.
If you truly have a team expressing interest, the Phils need to make the deal. The “waiting for” Or “but first” is what cost the Phils ANY return on a guy who hit 40 plus homers over 2 seasons (TJ) and a serviceable catcher in Rupp. Neither loss will haunt the Phils, but any return would have been better than the nothing they got. Even if they aren’t in love with the return, you can use that at the deadline if you want.
The Tojo thing was based on the lack of a market for all bat first base/dh types and rupp is an all-power back up catcher who started for Philly due to a lack of options. While I was a bit surprised they lost both for nothing, it wasn’t like they were going to get much of value for either. At least with Joseph they got a $20k waiver claim fee lol.
If they move Franco then I think they are the favorite to sign Machado next season.
NO….Sixto if he gets dealt would be in 2019 after they sign a few FA and can compete for a title…this year they are improved but not ready to compete for a title
I agree with whoever else said it that the Phillies would be best served waiting until the offseason and signing Machado for nothing but money.
Been saying it for over a year lol.
Would be good for the Phillies to trade him. The numbers he is putting up are not that impressive, so they should jump on the chance to move him.
Franco is a good player for a relieving padre ask to much for hand please just have a good year
I would giving Franco hell no
Kid is hurt.