Alec Bohm was one of the biggest reasons the Philadelphia Phillies raced out to their insurmountable lead in the NL East.
When they were 58-30 and 10 games clear of Atlanta at the end of play on July 5, Bohm had just been named the NL’s starting third baseman in the All-Star Game, sitting at a .300 batting average with a slugging percentage just a shade below .500.
After the All-Star Break was quite the different story, though, with Bohm becoming somewhat of a scapegoat for the team’s sudden mediocrity.
He slugged .382 over his final 49 games of the regular season, including missing the first half of September with a hand injury.
Going 1-for-13 with one single (getting thrown at second trying to stretch it into a double, no less), no runs scored or driven in and 10 runners left on base in the NLDS loss to the Mets was quite the final straw.
Bohm has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, but the trade rumors have quickly blossomed into questions of ‘where’ he’ll ultimately be dealt, rather than questions of ‘if’ the Phillies are looking to trade him—fueled in some small part by recent talk that they might be in play for Alex Bregman.
As far as that ‘where’ is concerned, plenty of surely interested parties in the American League. The Yankees, Astros, Tigers and Mariners all won at least 85 games this past season, with Houston the only one that didn’t do so in spite of a sizable question mark at the hot corner—but now does have one, unless/until it manages to re-sign Bregman.
The Blue Jays and Royals would also be very much in the mix. So would perhaps the entire NL Central. Joey Ortiz was great at 3B for the Brewers, but he probably slides to shortstop to replace Willy Adames. And while the Cardinals do have Nolan Arenado at 3B, Bohm can play 1B, where the Red Birds now have a major vacancy with Paul Goldschmidt out of the picture. (Though, St. Louis might be in “calculated tanking” mode, as we’ll get to shortly.)
