The Phillies are 27 days away from the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline and have yet to make a trade of any of their assets. Some reports have said the Phillies hope not to wait until the deadline, preferring to make deals incrementally. As one report says, the Phillies thought they had a deal, only to see it fall through.
In a July 4 column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes:
Trevor Gott, RHP, Angels — A few weeks ago the Phillies thought they had a deal with the Angels that would have sent Ben Revere west for Gott, who was then in Double A. The Angels pulled out of the deal at the last minute and tried to redirect the Phillies toward a starting pitching prospect, but that fizzled as well.
That means the deal fell through even before the Angels lost their General Manager.
Speaking of Ben Revere, Revere has been out of the lineup now three days in a row, almost inexplicably. Facing Braves starter Travis Wood, Revere would seem to be the perfect candidate to be in the starting lineup. Revere has six hits lifetime against Wood in 12 at bats. So where is he?
One reason could be that Revere is a strong candidate to be traded; perhaps the Phillies are close to a deal. Should the Phillies be close to a deal, leaving Revere on the bench would keep Revere from getting hurt before a deal would be consummated. However, if trading Revere is not imminent but remains a goal of the Phillies, Revere would have to play to demonstrate he has continued value.
That makes me wonder if Revere is hurt. Revere occasionally shows signs of limping (as he did last year when he had a screw in his foot). But Revere always runs hard and does not seem to have diminished play as the result. One might think that Revere is not hurt, since Revere pinch-hit in each of the two games since his last start. In each pinch-hit at bat, Revere singled, bringing his batting average to .291.
Could a trade be in the works still? Who knows. But "who knows?" is an appropriate reaction to what Ben Revere's status is on the Phillies right now.
