Phillies Rumors: Club ‘not shopping’ Herrera, Franco

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

With just hours until the MLB's non-waiver trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies don't appear likely to make a shocking trade. 

According to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, general manager Matt Klentak isn't shopping center fielder Odubel Herrera or third baseman Maikel Franco

Despite the fact that some have been frustrated with Herrera's approach, it makes sense that the Phillies aren't actively trying to trade him. He's been a Gold Glove caliber center fielder in 2017 and entered the day hitting .366 in July, a month after he hit .321. On the year, he's raised his average to .278, which is rather incredible when you consider that he was hitting .218 after a dreadful month of May. 

With Nick Williams and Aaron Altherr thriving at the major league level, along with the team spending consecutive first-round picks on center fielders Mickey Moniak and Adam Haseley, Herrera may eventually become a trade candidate. His team-friendly contract could make him attractive to teams in the future, but in the midst of what has been a fairly turbulent season, now probably isn't the time to cash in on Herrera. 

Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this past offseason that the Phillies did 'float' Herrera on the trade market last summer, which may not have been all that different from what they did with Franco earlier this summer. In June, Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe reported that Franco was 'more than available.' However, earlier this month Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia reported that the price to land Franco was 'high.'

Teams aren't inclined to meet a high asking-price for Franco, who entered the day slashing .225/.285/.395. Over the past two seasons, Franco has occasionally flashed the high potential that got fans so excited about him in 2015, but has largely been disappointing. It's become clear that while his ceiling is high, his floor is low. He's still cheap and the Phillies don't have a third base prospect pushing Franco, so they are motivated to continue playing Franco and hope he becomes less pull-happy and doesn't struggle as much against off-speed pitches as he has to this point in his career. 

This doesn't mean that if a team called the Phillies in the next few hours and overwhelmed them for either player that they wouldn't listen. That doesn't seem likely to happen, however. 

The league's non-waiver trade deadline is this afternoon at 4 p.m. ET. 

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