Is Freddy Galvis' tenure with the Phillies winding down? (Frank Klose/SportsTalkPhilly)
By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
In the latest edition of "Phillies Nuggets," I suggested that it made sense for the Philadelphia Phillies to call J.P. Crawford up to the major league level, rather than having him play in the International League playoffs. While it wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world for Crawford to play in the playoffs, he got the chance to do so a year ago, and the Phillies don't have a ton of time to figure out their long-term plans at the shortstop position.
It appears that the Phillies decision-makers were sympathetic to that argument.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic says that while the Phillies would have liked Crawford to stay with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs for their playoff run, they wanted to get as extended of a look at him this September, as they attempt to determine their lineup for 2018:
The Phillies, according to sources, wanted Crawford to finish his Triple A season, but they also want to determine where he might fit in the majors for 2018. The outcome of Crawford’s 25-game trial will influence the team’s decision on whether to trade shortstop Freddy Galvis, who is a free agent after next season.
Crawford needed to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to be protected from the Rule-5 Draft anyway, so he's likely to spend a bulk (if not all) of his 2018 season at the major league level. Rosenthal says that if Crawford is impressive this month, he's likely to be the starting shortstop to open the 2018 season and Galvis is likely to be playing for another team:
A strong showing by Crawford likely would lead to a trade of Galvis this winter; a weaker performance might persuade the club to keep Galvis through at least the start of ‘18.
Earlier this week, I suggested that while I believed that Crawford would be the starting shortstop to open the 2018 season, Galvis was still likely to be with the team. Not only would this provide the Phillies with a solution moving forward if Crawford wasn't to pan out, but it would give them an option to play second base or third base, if need be.
Galvis is under team control for another season, is an elite fielder and has become a team leader. He is a below-average offensive player, but his pop, combined with the flexibility that he has in the field, would make him valuable as a super-utility type. There's certainly a case to be made for keeping Galvis, even if you understand that he's probably not going to be the team's starting shortstop the next time they are competing for the playoffs.
It, of course, isn't a guarantee that Crawford will play well enough for the Phillies to trade Galvis this offseason. He had an extremely disappointing first half of the season at Triple-A, and has just one hit in his first 11 major league at-bats. With that said, Crawford slashed .287/.385/.513 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs after the All-Star Break. So it's certainly possible that he will play well enough for the team to seriously consider moving Galvis.
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Should the Phillies move Galvis, it will be interesting to see the domino-effect said trade would have. If a trade of Galvis is made, perhaps the Phillies will hold onto Cesar Hernandez. Hernandez could potentially start the season at second base, -while the Phillies keep Scott Kingery at Triple-A to avoid him gaining a full year of service time in 2018 – and then become a super-utility type once Kingery is promoted.
It's also possible that the Phillies trade both Galvis and Hernandez this offseason, and then pursue a veteran infielder like Neil Walker or Asdrubal Cabrera to supplement what will be a young infield.
What's clear is that despite the fact that the Phillies are 33 games out of first place, September is far from a meaningless month. It will go a long way in determining what the team's infield will look like to open the 2018 season, and perhaps beyond.
