MLB trade rumors: Phillies interested in Christian Yelich

The Phillies have now reached out to the Marlins about the possibility of acquiring young outfielder Christian Yelich, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.

The Phillies join the Cardinals, Braves, Padres and Diamondbacks as teams that are reportedly interested in the 26-year-old Yelich, Spencer says. However, Spencer believes Philadelphia has “a wealth of intriguing prospects that could interest” the Marlins enough to trade Yelich, who is not only young, but talented and controllable.

Yelich, a left-hand hitting outfielder, hit 18 home runs with 81 RBI while slashing .282/.369/..439 in 156 games. In addition, he has four years, $46.5 million left on his contract and has a $15 million club option for 2022. Yelich also has a buyout of $1.25 million if a team does not pick up his option.

If the Phillies pursue Yelich in order to accelerate their rebuild, they may have to part ways with one or more of their six MLBPipeline.com Top 100 prospects — outfielder Mickey Moniak (No. 29), pitcher Sixto Sanchez (No. 47), second baseman Scott Kingery (No. 50), shortstop J.P. Crawford (No. 54), catcher Jorge Alfaro (No. 62), and outfielder Adam Haseley (No. 88). After all, the Marlins’ asking price for Yelich is high.

The Phillies will more than likely not deal Moniak, Kingery and Crawford because Moniak was a No. 1 overall pick in 2016, while Kingery — the No. 1 second base prospect in baseball — and Crawford may be in majors as soon as this year. But, the other three could be expendable if it means acquiring an All-Star caliber outfielder and having him for the next four to five years.