The trade deadline is looming just four days away, and teams have until Monday at 6 p.m. ET to submit a deal to the league office.
The extra few days added this season compared to the usual July 31 deadline date certainly have created more uncertainty, with 18 teams either holding a wild card spot or within six games of the third and final spot in the playoffs.
With the Phillies' recent 3-9 swoon out of the All-Star break and their disastrous sweep in Miami, they have plenty of needs.
As Bryce Harper simply put it, “I think we need some help.”
ESPN’s Jeff Passan recently mentioned that the Phillies have had talks with the Los Angeles Angels regarding shortstop Zach Neto.
The two teams have had a connection when it comes to making trades, with Dave Dombrowski making four swaps with the AL West team.
The point of intrigue regarding Neto is his age and years of control. The 13th overall pick in 2022 is just 25 years old and is arbitration eligible for the next three seasons while not becoming a free agent until 2029, his age 28 season.
At his current age, Neto would be the second-youngest position player in the starting lineup, only older than rookie outfielder Justin Crawford (22), and could be a potential cornerstone to build around as the current core, including Turner, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, continues to creep into their mid-30s.
MORE: Good outing from Nola squandered as Marlins shut out the Phillies
The right-handed infielder possesses an interesting combination of speed and power since becoming a big leaguer in 2023. In 473 career games, he has 77 home runs, 219 RBIs an above-league-average .439 slugging percentage to go along with 75 stolen bases.
This season, he is hitting .232 with a .757 OPS, 19 home runs, 46 RBIs and 14 stolen bases and is on pace for another 20-20 season for a third straight campaign. His .201 ISO is also well above league average.
Not to mention, his 2.8 bWAR is the most of any Phillies position player this season, and his current .324 on-base percentage would rank third amongst qualified hitters on the Phillies.
This season, he owns a .311 BABIP, but his xBA is .204 per Baseball Savant.
However, there is swing and miss in Neto’s profile. His current 31.3% K% is a career-high, but he also is posting a career-best 10.3% walk percentage. So far in his career, Neto has a 26.5% strikeout rate.
Of course, the Phillies have Trea Turner locked up for the next seven seasons, but with his defensive struggles leading the league with 19 errors, perhaps he will be moving off of the position in the future to second base or even the outfield, as Passan referenced.
Neto is tied for third with 15 errors this season, and his +1 DRS is significantly lower than the +13 and +11 he posted in each of the last two seasons. When it comes to outs above replacement, however, he is -8 this year. Despite that, he still would be an upgrade defensively over Turner, who is -13 in DRS and -8 in outs above average.
The Phillies could make the move as early as this season, having Turner fill an outfield spot with Alec Bohm at third, Neto at shortstop, and Bryson Stott at second base, although an immediate change seems unlikely.
Bohm is a free agent at the end of the season, while Stott, who has played third base in his career, is not a free agent until 2028. He also does not profile well offensively for an everyday starting third baseman.
So the fit on the defensive side is a bit complicated.
If the Phillies were to secure Neto, it would take a haul to land him. More than likely, Gage Wood and/or Ramon Marquez, the system’s two best pitching prospects, would be the starting point. The Phillies more than likely want to hold on to 17-year-old phenom Francisco Renteria, who is tearing the cover off the ball in the Dominican Summer League, so they would need to add another mid-tier prospect or two.
It certainly would be a hefty price to pay, forcing some tough decisions to be made in terms of parting ways with arguably the best prospects the organization has in a weaker farm system, but Neto could be a difference maker in this Phillies lineup.
