The Rays have gotten outfielder Brett Phillips of the Royals in exchange for minor league association Lucius Fox, announced the teams. Both players are on the 40-man grid, so matching 40-man moves are not necessary.
It is an exchange of two once announced young talents whose respective shares have disappeared in recent years. Phillips, 26, went next to the Astros to the Brewers Josh Hader in the famous Mike Fiers/Carlos Gomez agreement. At the time, he was a top-50 prospect who was considered a potential superstar for five tools, but in the years that followed, his contact problems continued to limit his value. Phillips went to KC in the original Milwaukee Mike Moustakas trade, and he has since been put on as an absolute missile-armed, plus defensive fielder with power but big problems with swing-and-miss on the plate.
It’s fun to think about what an outdoor field of Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot and Phillips could do from a defensive standpoint, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that Phillips is a .205 / .282 / .344 hitter in 358 MLB record appearances with an enormous 35.2% strikeout rate. His penchant for “did-he-did-just-that-thing”, highlight-reel assists from one of the three outfield spots make him one of the game’s more entertaining defenders, but the Rays have some work to do if they want to survive anything from Phillips from an offensive standpoint. Phillips is controllable through 2024, but he already has no small league opportunities, so the Rays should keep him on the big league list.
The 23-year-old Fox, meanwhile, is a changing Bahamian shortstop who signed a hefty $ 6MM bonus with the Giants back in 2015. That deal came close to the peak of aggressive spending on international amateurs who pre-empted the hard-capped bonus pools which are now in place under the 2016-21 CBA. He was seen at the time as an athletic, mid-range midfielder as a midfielder with speed and the potential to grow to a little more power than he had, but Fox did not develop him on the plate as hoped.
He only lasted one season with the Giants before being traded to the Rays as part of their return for Matt Moore, and there was some controversy when it was discovered post-trade that Fox was playing due to a foot injury that was not disclosed to the Rays. Fox ended up as a mediocre prospect in a deep Rays system, but his share continued to plummet as he posted numbers for pedestrian minors. He spent most of the 2019 season in Double-A, where he hit .230 / .340 / .342 with three homers and 37 steals. Speed is certainly a very appealing characteristic for a Royals club that tends to pick up threatening set-base threats, but Fox’s overall offensive game has yet to come together.
