By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Recently, Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Famer John Kruk mentioned on a telecast that the team nearly traded for future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson at the 1993 non-waiver trade deadline, prior to their run to the National League pennant that year. But Johnson wasn't the only elite LHP that the Phillies nearly acquired in the 1990s.
According to a 2013 article by Anthony McCarron of The New York Daily News, the Yankees shopped Pettitte during the 1999 season, and talks with the Phillies gained so much traction that we appear to have the parameters of a potential deal:
At the July 31 trading deadline in 1999, Pettitte was a two-time world champion in a rut, and George Steinbrenner and some of his lieutenants noticed. TheYankees explored trading Pettitte and got close to dealing him to the Phillies for a passel of prospects, among them pitcher Adam Eaton and outfielder Reggie Taylor, two former first-round draft picks.
Buster Olney, then with The New York Times, said at the time that Anthony Shumaker's name was also floated in discussions. More on the names the Phillies discussed in a moment.
Ultimately, McCarron says that a combination of deep thinking and disagreement on whether to move Pettitte led to the Yankees holding onto him:
But after much 11th-hour deliberation – and impassioned pleas by then-manager Joe Torre, then-pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and GM Brian Cashman – Steinbrenner kept Pettitte. However, he issued his standard warning, Cashman recalled, telling those in the organization who lobbied to keep Pettitte: "You better be right."
In three of the next four years, Pettitte would throw over 200 innings. The Yankees won the World Series in 1999. They won the World Series in 2000. They won the American League pennant in 2001, and came one inning away from winning the World Series that year. It's hard to picture playoff baseball during that era without thinking of October close-ups on Pettitte. You get the point. Pettitte's career had ups and downs, but the Phillies would have benefitted greatly from trading for him in 1999.
The Yankees, on the other hand, would have been swindled if they agreed to this trade with then-Phillies general manager Ed Wade.
Taylor, who was a 1995 first-round pick, played a total of 14 career games with the Phillies. He only played 260 games in his career, and never panned out in the major leagues.
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Eaton was also a first-round pick, and eventually was traded the next offseason to the San Diego Padres as part of a package that allowed the club to acquire Andy Ashby. Of course, Eaton returned to the Phillies in 2007, signing a three-year/$24 million free-agent contract. (At the time, a three-year/$24 million deal was quite a large deal.) This came after Eaton posted a 5.12 ERA with the Texas Rangers the season before. He would go on to post a 6.29 ERA in 30 games with the team in 2007, before posting a 5.80 ERA in 2008. Pat Gillick was masterful in three seasons as Phillies general manager, but Eaton wasn't one of his better moves. The team ended up cutting their losses and releasing Eaton after the 2008 season.
Shumaker literally never appeared in a major league game after 1999, and was extremely ineffective in his eight major league games.
Pettitte left the Yankees after 2003, heading to the Houston Astros with Roger Clemens. He helped the team reach the World Series for the first time in their history in 2005, which was perhaps the finest individual season of his career.
Following a three-year stint in Houston, Pettitte returned to the Yankees for the final six seasons of his career. Ironically, he met up with the Phillies in the 2009 World Series, and was the winning pitcher in Game 3 (a game in which he also had an RBI) and Game 6 (the clinching game). It's funny how baseball always has a way of coming full-circle.
