Phillies are Reportedly Interested in Christian Yelich

The Phillies have made no secret that they are thinking big in adding talent to the ball club.   The Phillies were linked in the past to Giancarlo Stanton, but another Marlins outfielder might be of interest to the club.  A report on Thursday says that the Phillies are particularly interested in Christian Yelich.

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Phillies might be willing to use their financial strength to add Yelich, through taking on bad contracts:

The Phillies, according to one source, have been “vocal” about their desire to land Yelich, even expressing an interest to assume “bad money” — say, reliever Junichi Tazawa’s $7 million in 2018, for starters — as part of the deal.

Rosenthal is writing content on his own Facebook page, as Fox Sports dropped written content.

Yelich is in the third deal of a seven-year, $49.5 million contract he signed with the Marlins just before the start of the 2015 season.   The annual value of the deal is relatively low, and Yelich could be in the prime years of his career as the Phillies are ready to contend again.

Yelich is a left-handed bat with some power who can play all three outfield positions.   He is usually a good bet to bat .280, hit 20 home runs, and steal 20 bases.  Yelich is a consistent all-around player who would be a tremendous asset to the Phillies.

The Marlins, prepping for a potential sale, are looking to unload payroll.  The Phillies, who have very few payroll commitments, could swallow any bad contract, even if they were to cut the player.  As the Phillies did by taking the injured Matt Harrison's contract off of the Rangers' hands, the Phillies could get better players in return.

The young Phillies will continue to earn the minimum or close to it for another few years, so any dead money would not be holding the Phillies back.

The Phillies may not end up with Yelich at the end of the day.  However, as we are hearing of pursuits such as this one, it is a sign the Phillies are thinking out of the box and trying to capitalize on having payroll room available.  If not Yelich, maybe another talent can fall into the Phillies' lap.