Chase Utley wants to join a contender on the West Coast and preferably in his native Southern California, two executives involved in the discussions told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Â The second baseman holds full no-trade rights, so he’ll have say over where he goes or whether he leaves Philly at all.
The Angels and Giants are said to have interest, but Rosenthal writes that the right fit might never arise for the Phillies and the 36-year-old.  Utley has never asked the Phillies for a trade and would only leave the organization reluctantly, sources tell the FOX Sports scribe.  Also, while teams are interested, they are reluctant to give up much for a seven-week rental who is owed $6MM+, including a $2MM buyout on his 2016 option.
On the flipside, Utley could have incentive to green light a trade since going to a contender could enhance his value this winter.  The Phillies could also sweeten the pot with some cash to get a suitable return and make a deal happen.
The Cubs are still in the mix for the veteran, but given his California preference, they are not his first choice.  The Cubs also might not want to disrupt a team that has won 15 of its last 16 games heading into today’s contest against the White Sox, Rosenthal writes.  The Yankees could offer more playing time than any other suitor, but they’re on the wrong coast for the veteran.  The Dodgers, in theory, fit the bill as a Cali contender with a need at second base, but Howie Kendrick could return in two weeks and Kiké Hernandez has been doing well in that spot so far.
Can’t wait for this to finally get resolved.. It seems to be dragging on way too long.. I thought the Giants and Angels had already made an offer for him.. Watch Preller see that Utley has a preference for a Southern California team and offer the Phillies the moon for him.. He hasn’t been in the headlines for a couple of weeks and I am sure that he still has delusions of the Padres making the playoffs..
So many things need to be resolved in order for a deal to get done.
–> Utley has to agree
–> Money
–> Prospect return
–> Playing time issue
–> Next years option
With that said, would a Nori Aoki for Utley + 6M intrigue Giants fans at all?
Aoki plays LF next year for the Phillies and becomes a trade chip if he plays well.
Do you really think the Giants would consider trading their starting LF and leadoff hitter for a utility player, which is what Utley will be when Panik is back in a couple weeks?
Put Utley at 1B, move Belt to LF and let Panik play 2B.
Utley can hit leadoff.
From what I was told, the Giants and their fans haven’t been thrilled with Aoki, so I threw the idea out there.
Aoki is hitting close to .300. He has been on the DL twice so his option for next year is a club option only for like 5 million. He gets on base and plays average D in left. The scenario you’re proposing would make belt, who is an excellent defender at first, move to left field, where he sucks (really, sucks), replacing him with Utley, who I can’t imagine is anything better than average defensively, below average on the bases and slightly higher than average behind the dish. You also add to the Belt/Posey logjam at first.
His best role would be a supporting one, filling in for Panik for a few weeks, then starting a couple games a week until Panik is fully healthy. Worst case scenario, Panik gets shut down for the year and Utley is your second basemen through September and if they make it into October. They would not trade Aoki for him, it would come from the farm system and they would have to be getting serious cash in return if the prospect is any good.
Where the hell did you read that? They even sang a fight song for him for a bit before he got injured. Pagan is the one fans are getting upset with.
The Giants and their fans haven’t been thrilled with Aoki? Where are you getting your info? Maybe you are confusing Aoki and Pagan. Outside of his injuries lately, Aoki is exceeding everyone’s expectations. Bottom line, a trade of Aoki for Utley makes no sense.
1) Why would a rebuilding team like the Phillies trade for a player on the wrong side of 30?
2) Even if the Phils were interested in Aoki, he’d have to pass through waivers, which would never happen in a pennant race.
1. Because they can trade Aoki for a potential valuable trade piece later.
2. No he doesn’t. Phillies are last place in the NL, hence they have first dibs on all NL waivers.
That’s the craziest proposal I’ve seen. The Phillies would trade for a player who is useless to them in hopes they could trade him later. Why not just trade for a player they want?
yeah that’s not happening, just take the 15-30 prospect from a team they will get and the random a ball lottery ticket that throws high 90’s.
Enough already, Aoki is just about as brittle as Utley and would have incredibly little trade value.
He also can’t be traded while on the DL bc you can’t put a DL player on waivers
Aoki is not brittle
I guess Utley wants to retire a Philly, which is his prerogative. I would be stunned if they pick up his option at the end of the season, and there aren’t many openings for 2B or 1B on Southern California rosters. The Phils could buy out the contract and re-sign him, I suppose.
Unless they dump Howard and put Utley at 1B, they aren’t bringing him back, which is sad in a way, but its much needed.
Franco is going to play 3B
Galvis will play SS until Crawford is up
Hernandez will play 2B.
If Utley finishes the season strong say .290/.360/.580/.850 they will bring Utley back. Utleys OPS is an obscene 1.308 since his return.
Cesar Hernandez is a decent player but has zero power and is not of the ilk to supplant a player like Utley.
Utleys contract is club friendly, they can buy Chase out for $2 M(doubtful it comes to that) or Phils/acquiring club have option to re-sign.Min $5 M-Max $11 M based on time spent on IR(2015)..
The only way Utleys option isnt picked up by the Phillies is if he goes back into his tailspin. Not expecting that at all.
it’s not even about stats from the phils standpoint- he’d only be holding back a good utility man and not a real everyday player in cesar hernandez, and Chase helps with tickets sales and television viewership while the team stinks
Correct about Cesar hernandez but the point about Utley being a draw remains to be seen. If its the first half Utley the only thing he would be drawing is flys, now if the August Utley shows up next year? You have a point.
Dodgers might have a 2B opening next season if he wants to wait
Peraza/Seager and Turner could be their 2B/SS/3B combo for next year.
Starting 2 rookies up the middle (3 young players w/ Joc) on a win now team is dangerous. The Red Sox did this last year and it was a disaster.
The Red Sox were awful last year because outside of Jon Lester, they didn’t have a reliable pitcher.
And starting 3 rookies wasn’t the issue, it was who the rooks were.
JBJ, WMB and Vazquez didn’t hit because they just can’t hit.
Bogaerts got better and Betts was always good.
From what I have heard, Seager should adjust well.
Peraza is mostly glove anyways, and Joc just needs to fix his approach.
Opps
The Red Sox also couldn’t hit, mainly in part because they got nothing from SS, CF, 3B and C positions – all spaces occupied by rookies for most of the year. Youth movements only look good when you’re as good as the Cubs this season. Even with the Cubs, half of their rookie core have been merely okay. Even the Royals rookies (Cain, Moustakas, Duffy, Escobar, etc.) intentionally struggled when they called most of them up in 2010/2011.
The Red Sox handed Bogaerts SS in March fresh off of a World Series and he was awful. Seager is a great prospect and should be a very good in the majors, but there will be growing pains. I’m in favor of him starting at SS, but they will definitely need a veteran beside him at 2B w/ Peraza still developing in AAA. The Dodgers are already pushing it by having a rookie CF on a World Series contender. Only rookie CF in the last 30 years that started in CF was Andruw Jones.
zobrist is a free agent and would be a likely fit if they really wanted someone at second, however they have guerrero and hernandez both capable at second with peraza then moving to utility. i think they handle this internally unless they target zobrist.
Yeah, Zobrist or Utley would be ideal
Inkstain, Why not just honor Utleys current contract which will call for a payday between $5M-$11 M. .
i dont see a buyout/restructuring of Utleys contract.
i dont think the Phils expect or care about getting much in return, its just about accomdating whatever Chase wants; and i dont think there is a team out there that can meet all of Chase’s requirements- so at this point, im concluding that he’s not getting to get traded, and its time to move on.
Chase Utley doesnt want to be traded he wants to stay in Philly, its the Phillies who are pushing for a trade. They definitely view Utley as someone who can get them a good prospect and help their rebuilding effort, backed up by the 6 or 7 teams that are interested in Utley.
In the end, Utley may be far more valuable as a Phillie showing the young guys coming up in the next couple of years how to be a major leaguer than the mid range prospect they would get if Utley even agreed to leave
The Hell they don’t they want to get the Most they can of of his Trade , or they would have just released him !
OK, thought that would rear its ugly head finally: he’s a SoCal boy and part of him want to return back there for his final days (or perhaps audition). And who can blame him, he grew up down in SoCal.
And LAD has been giving big money all around. Some might not remember, but he was actually drafted by LAD in high school, but he decided to go to school instead and ended up with Phillies.
I was hoping SF could pick him up, but knew it was a long shot, even though the report was that his wife is from up here and he lived him up as well.
Though Panik is still having issues with his back apparently, as he had to see another doctor for a checkup, the importance of that seems to be downplayed, but I don’t see how needing to see another doctor is a good thing. And it went from 15 days to start of September, and now it could be even longer. However, the offense seems to be doing just fine without him right now, so perhaps the FO is not that interested in Utley anymore.