Former Phillies infielder Freddy Galvis is among the free-agent options the team is “eyeing” at shortstop, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Galvis was a Phillie from 2012-17, during which he blended below-average offense with defense that typically received solid grades at both short and second base. The switch-hitting Galvis closed his Phillies tenure as a .245/.287/.372 batter in 2,440 plate appearances, though that production has gotten better since they dealt him to the Padres for right-hander Enyel De Los Santos prior to the 2018 season.
Since the Phillies parted with him, Galvis has combined for a more powerful .250/.299/.408 line among the Pads, Blue Jays and Reds over 1,404 PA. In 2020, despite an abnormally low .231 batting average on balls in play, the 31-year-old managed a career-best walk percentage (8.2), ISO (.184) and wRC+ (91) with the Reds.
While Galvis would be a reasonably priced and passable shortstop option for the Phillies or any other team, he’s hardly the most exciting shortstop available in free agency. Didi Gregorius, who spent last season with the Phillies and performed well, is at or near the top of the class. The Phillies haven’t closed the door on a reunion with Gregorius, who’s joined by Marcus Semien (whom the club is also interested in) and Andrelton Simmons. Galvis can’t match those players’ track records, but if the Phillies lose out on the bigger fish at the position, he may be their best choice.
The question is why? Must not be planning to contend if they want Galvis at short.
high standards, eh?
Yea. I like Galvis, but big downgrade for Philly. All signs have been pointing to them not spending. This is another sign.
Galvis is a fine player if they use him in a utility role.
If they spend the money elsewhere its fine.
@Padres agreed, but all signs point to them not doing that. It’s the slow offseason combined with Middleton’s own comments.
that aged poorly
It did! Lol. Thankfully. Still dubious, but a little more relieved now (pun intended).
Phillies busy today!
They had like the 8th best OPS+ last season. I think money should be allocated to the pen greatly if they’re going to spend anything this year. Which looks like they just did.
Even the Reds don’t want him at SS….that should tell u something
Bah, thought we were done with the Sandberg era
Have the Padres extended him yet?
You’re still stuck on the Galvis trade. Preller actually won that trade. We traded a reliever who has a career 5.7 ERA to the Phillies. Galvis wasn’t great with us, but he is still better than that reliever.
How did Preller “win” that trade? The Padres lost 96 games WITH Galvis on the roster. Best case scenario that trade is a wash.
And people said that Galvis would help with the development of the Padres’ younger players or sign an extension to stay in SD. How did that work out?
As for “that reliever,” he could have been traded for something else.
Pitcherwins –
You need to get over wins as a metric to measure trades. I guarantee you that we would have lost 96 or more games had we not traded for Freddy Galvis. You have to compare the players involved in the trade.
Galvis left us after 2018. We signed Hosmer, Machado, and Kinsler and called up Tatis, Urias and France to play infield in 2019. We did not have a need to extend him.
That reliever was a nobody. We weren’t going to get a good player for him even if we wanted to. Getting a player like Galvis who provides good defense and is a good clubhouse guy is much better.
“You need to get over wins as a metric to measure trades. I guarantee you that we would have lost 96 or more games had we not traded for Freddy Galvis. You have to compare the players involved in the trade.”
That’s exactly it. If the Padres are going to lose more than 90 games, what does it matter if they do it with or without Galvis?
“Galvis left us after 2018. We signed Hosmer, Machado, and Kinsler and called up Tatis, Urias and France to play infield in 2019. We did not have a need to extend him.”
If the Padres didn’t have a need to extend him why trade for him in the first place?
“That reliever was a nobody. We weren’t going to get a good player for him even if we wanted to.”
He was a top 15 prospect in the game’s best farm system at the time. That has value. Could have been packaged for a controllable starter.
“Getting a player like Galvis who provides good defense and is a good clubhouse guy is much better.”
No because it was only for one year when the Padres weren’t going to contend anyway. Having Galvis on the team in 2018 did not help with the rebuild. It detracted from it.
Based on the evidence, I believe we won that trade. Galvis contributed 2 WAR for the Padres, whereas the reliever has had -0.1 WAR so far in his major league career. Yes, Galvis wasn’t great or anything, but he did play solid defense and at the time, he had his best offensive season with the Padres. Also, he played in all 162 games for us, so he was able to contribute in every single game.
Worst case scenario, that trade is a wash, but you can’t deny that the Padres ended up with better production than the Phillies.
Great. So without Galvis the Padres lose 98 games in 2018 instead of just 96. Hell, maybe without Galvis they draft a spot or two higher in 2019 which means they have a bigger bonus pool to work with.
And you didn’t know that “that reliever” would bust when he was traded. He was a higher rated prospect than Corey Kluber was when he was traded.
Last I checked, teams/players play to win, not just improve stats. Think Mike Trout is content?
This obsession w statistics misses the point of baseball: win. I understand the metrics and how they contribute…to the ultimate goal of winning. What’s the old statement? Statistics are for losers.
@Sideline Redwine yeah because the Padres won a bunch of games the year they had Freddy Galvis. Oh wait.
Galvis is a fine short stop. Have actually been hoping the Orioles would sign him and sure up the position for this year at least.
Orioles should be in on Galvis or Jonathan Villar. But as i said in another post on the Orioles either one may end up costing more than Iglesias
I don’t really think the money was a factor in trading Iglesias. It was more of the interest he generated.
The Orioles are my team and I don’t see them signing Villar, Galvis, or Simmons. They have several players that can play SS on the team already. I think they will sign Chris Owings or Semien. Both players can be moved at the trade deadline.
I don’t think there is a chance they sign Semien lol sorry man. I also don’t see all of these options at short stop. They need a cheap stop gap like Villar was until he wasn’t and like Iglesias was. Weirder things have happened though so we will see.
I know this is not probably going to happen but Valaika can play the position or Urias. In Urias case plenty of glove but no bat. I got beat up when the Orioles signed Valaika last year but I thought it was a good pickup. He does have a lot of pop in his bat but his range is suspect.
Yea Valaika just can’t play short stop lol
Define fine…
Phils should sign Andrelton. They could use some defensive prowess. Not saying Didi is not good defensively but if Phil’s brining back JTR, they may not have the budget to sign Didi too.
Andrelton is ways hurt at this point.
Galvis is a far drop off from Gregorious/Simmons/Semien. That said, his price tag is also a far drop from that trio, add in organizational familiarity and you likely have Galvis’ next landing spot
Had the pleasure of watching Simmons night in and night out these last few years and his glovework is nothing short of amazing. When he has his base under him, his bat is decent too.
He’d be a great fit here.
This organization is so dysfunctional, first its they want to spend “stupid” money, than they state how they don’t have money, than they decide to hire Dombrowski when they have no prospects and stated they are going to be cheap. The great Freddy “290 OBP” Galvis. JOKE
@McNamee08 the lack of direction is frustrating. Tons of mixed messages. The DD signing gave me hope for 2021, but then you hear things like this, and I realize how rough this season is going to be. Call it a retooling if you want, but they’re afraid to spend. They have reason to be because they’ve spent poorly the last few years. Ironically the contract everyone complains about (Harper) may be the only one that works out. Arrieta, Robertson…those have been the disasters.
Yea, and they have “retooled” for over 8-9 years now and it looks like were going to have to wait that long again. It boggles my mind how they lack talent evaluation. You have teams like Atlanta that only needed 2-3 years to rebuild now you look at them. Acuna, Olbies, Anderson, Fried, Soroka, Swanson and they still have a deep farm system. Never going to be able to compete and contend until they build within and it doesn’t look optimistic unfortunately.
Did they say they want to spend “stupid” money or spend money “stupidly”? I don’t remember…
Galvis might also be an option for the A’s, if they don’t re-sign Semien. I’d actually say Freddy is more likely to wear green and gold in 2021 than Markus.
Galvis would be a white flag on this year. Better to just use Segura at short.
@Rsk3228 Agreed if they really sign Galvis, I see them trading Segura to dump salary.
If the Phillies are shopping the bottom of the SS market, that says they’re either allocating more money to bring Realmuto back, or they really plan on spending next to nothing this winter and hope nobody notices.
Bats can be found at many positions. The SS doesn’t have to bat cleanup. What a SS has to have is a glove and Galvis is solid in that area. He’s not ARod but having him on your team does not disqualify you from the playoffs.
@stymeedone definitely true. and if the phillies have any intention of making other moves, i’d be okay with this. i think phillies fans are just sick of their owner crying poor. the offseason has been slow for anyone not a fan of the braves, padres, or mets. phillies have a decent amount of holes, and freddy galvis won’t make anyone feel any better.
I though dombrowski was brought in to spend some money…
No need to “eye” him or use old-fashioned methods of player evaluation. We have sabermetrics, algorithms, and advanced statistics now, so no eye test is needed.
Weird.
I don’t really see a match here. It does give them some pop and defense in the middle infield, but not much else. He might fit better on a team like Oakland.
No more Galvis in Philly.
He burned me out watching his weak bat a few years ago.I want Didi back. Come on Middleton
do you want to compete with the Braves Nats and Mets, oh and Marlins or be in Last place this year
Phillies have a 5 year 100+ offer on the table to JT. So everything I said in this thread is wrong. Phils are willing to spend and compete.
No, no, noooooo (Michael Scott voice)