Could The Phillies Be Buyers At The Trade Deadline?

Could the Phillies be buyers at the trade deadline?

It's not as ridiculous a question as it might have seemed two months ago.

The season is officially a fourth of the way through, and the Phillies stand at 24-17, one of the best records in baseball. They trail the Nationals by only one game for the division lead. And if the postseason were to start Friday , they would host the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park in the one game Wild Card playoff.

The Phillies unexpected success has all of baseball talking. Despite repeated prognostications that they would come back down to Earth, they have kept winning, and winning.

And it's finally led some to ask general manager Matt Klentak the question that's floated around the back of many a fan's mind over the last few months: if this keeps up, what will the Phillies do at the trade deadline? Last year before the trade deadline, the Phillies shipped away Chase Utley, Jonathan Papelbon, and most importantly, Cole Hamels, earning a massive influx of prospects in return.

Klentak said this week that if the Phillies continue their run, he would consider buying, according to Comcast Sports Net:

There will be nobody happier than me if we are still in playoff contention in July, and if that happens we’re going to do everything we can to help this team improve and get better and make a run at it. The job of a general manager is to balance both the short and the long term.

Several high profile hitters might be available come July that Phillies fans can only dream about. Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Jay Bruce of the Reds, and Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies have all been tied to trade talks over the last few months. And the Phillies have the money to take on their contracts.

However, they would likely be unwilling to part with significant prospects in return. There is a very strong and prevailing argument to continue to focus on 2017 and beyond.

Ultimately, the Phillies might not even need to buy a bat to improve their 2016 offense. Phillies shortstop J.P. Crawford was just promoted to AAA Lehigh Valley on Friday, and many believe he will be in the majors by the middle of the summer. Although Crawford was only hitting .265 at AA Reading,he is widely considered one of the best prospects in all of baseball. He currently ranks third, according to MLB.com.

In addition, Nick Williams, the 60th best prospect in baseball according to the same list, has been tearing up AAA pitching as of late and could be called up as early as the week after Memorial Day.

Other potential impactful minor league call ups the Phillies could make over the next few weeks and months include:

• Andrew Knapp, C
• Roman Quinn, CF
• Zach Eflin, SP
• Mark Appel, SP
• Ben Lively, SP (AA)
• Jake Thompson, SP