On Friday afternoon, the Phillies pulled the trigger on a trio of trades that will hopefully make them a better team for the rest of this season and potentially beyond. I don't know enough about the prospects dealt or most of the players received to compose an in-depth analysis, so this post will focus on the baseball cards of the players leaving the organization and the new players who we'll get to know better in the coming months.
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Phillies acquire Braeden Ogle (lhp) from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Abrahan Gutierrez (c)
This doesn't help the team immediately, but Braeden Ogle is a highly-rated pitching prospect who had yet to appear in the majors with the Pirates. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, Ogle had a 3.13 ERA over 31 2/3 innings pitched this season with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. To date he's appeared on some pre-rookie cards with Leaf and a few Pirates' minor league team sets.
Abrahan Gutierrez was supposed to head to the Pirates in the aborted Tyler Anderson deal. He was batting .288 with the Low-A Clearwater Threshers, and I have two of his baseball cards in my collection, both from 2019 Lakewood BlueClaws team sets.
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Phillies acquire Kyle Gibson (rhp), Ian Kennedy (rhp), Hans Crouse (rhp) and cash for Spencer Howard (rhp), Kevin Gowdy (rhp) and Josh Gessner (rhp).
Kyle Gibson was an All-Star this year with the Rangers and in 19 starts he's 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA. He came up with the Twins in 2013, where he spent the first seven seasons of his career. Gibson has appeared in six Topps flagship sets beginning in 2013, and then between 2015 and 2020. He's in the 2021 Topps Heritage set, and I imagine he'll receive an All-Star card in the 2021 Topps Update set.
Veteran Kennedy is in his 15th big league season and in 32 games with the Rangers this year he has a 2.51 ERA with 16 saves. Kennedy was a 21-game winner with the Diamondbacks in 2011, and he converted to a closer in 2019, saving 30 games for the Royals. He's appeared in Topps flagship sets most years dating back to 2010, and he appears with the Royals in this year's flagship set. He could assume the closer role with Ranger Suarez potentially returning to the starting rotation.
Crouse is interesting here, as he's apparently one of the Rangers' top pitching prospects. His most readily available cards can be found in the 2020 Bowman set.
I'm genuinely sad to see Spencer Howard go, and it's tough to accept he went from the team's top pitching prospect to a complete question mark in such a short span of time. I have 36 of his cards in my Phillies collection to date, and I'll continue to root for him even if he's wearing a Rangers uniform. Kevin Gowdy was the Phillies' second round pick (after Mickey Moniak) back in 2016 and Josh Gessner was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Australia. Gowdy has appeared on a few Bowman and minor league team set cards, and Gessner doesn't have any baseball card appearances yet.
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Trade #3 - The Reunion
Phillies acquired Freddy Galvis (ss) and cash from the Baltimore Orioles for Tyler Burch (rhp)
The popular Freddy Galvis returns to his original team, where he was the everyday shortstop for three seasons between 2015 and 2017. Galvis is expected to provide a defensive upgrade to the team's poorly fielding infield. He's in the 2021 Topps flagships set as well as this year's Topps Heritage set, with the Reds. I currently have 49 Galvis cards in my Phillies collection and I'm looking forward to adding a few more. Tyler Burch is a 23-year-old reliever who has played in the Phillies system since 2019. I have one card of his in my collection from the 2019 Williamsport Crosscutters team set.