A Phillies-White Sox trade for the cheap right-handed OF they need

The Philadelphia Phillies are one of baseball's best teams in 2024. They set records by sending five pitchers and three position players to the All-Star Game this week. Now, with All-Star festivities over with, the Phillies players can turn their attention back to their main focus: winning the World Series.

And the Philadelphia front office can focus on putting the best possible roster on the field. One spot that Philly has been rumored to be looking to upgrade is in the outfield, specifically looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder.

While Taylor Ward, Brent Rooker and Luis Robert are all names that have been rumored in connection with the Phillies, they're also drawing recent connections with the White Sox veteran outfielder, Tommy Pham.

Pham would be much cheaper than the options listed before him. He would likely be brought on as almost exclusively a platoon option to hit against left-handed pitching.

A Phillies-White Sox trade for the outfielder that Philadelphia needs

Tommy Pham, specifically in 2024, has been pretty even against lefties and righties, batting average wise. But as you look deeper, it's clear that Pham mashes off lefties much better based on his .200 OPS jump against southpaws compared to right-handed pitching. Pham is a must play option against left-handed pitching and a serviceable option against right handed pitching.

Let's take a look at the three Philadelphia outfielders, Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas and Nick Castellanos. Castellanos has virtually identical platoon splits, besides slugging much higher against lefties, so we will leave him out of this discussion. He should play everyday.

Marsh is the obvious one. He's slashing .294/.379/.508 against righties and .143/.214/.163 against lefties. Johan Rojas has reverse splits, where he hits well against righties (.249/.287/.333), but struggles against lefties (.183/.210/.200).

Tommy Pham is the additional outfield option that they need in order to compete every day in October.

In this trade, the Phillies would be sending their 22nd-ranked prospect, Hendry Mendez, to the Windy City for the next few months of Tommy Pham.

Mendez, 20, is knocking on the door of a call up to Double-A. He's slashing .267/.383/.340 in High-A this season. The power numbers aren't there, but he's shown incredible plate discipline, drawing more walks than strikeouts so far. The 6-3 lefty projects as an average starting outfielder.

The Phillies can lose out on this young prospect if it means they get a serviceable addition to their big league team this year.

Many in Philadelphia worry about the chemistry being ruined by adding on additional players, especially one with Pham's history. This is a completely reasonable idea to have, but without being close to Pham or the situation, it's impossible to judge his character and think that he could ruin their team chemistry. I'm sure the Phillies front office will dot their I's and cross their T's before they make any trade this season.