The Athletics have traded outfielder Cristian Pache to the Phillies in exchange for minor league right-hander Billy Sullivan, per announcements from both teams. The Phillies opened a spot on the 40-man roster by placing first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the 60-day injured list.
Once one of the sport’s top-ranked overall prospects, the now 24-year-old Pache is an elite defender whose bat has yet to develop at the game’s top levels. He’s also out of minor league options and has been leapfrogged on Oakland’s depth chart by offseason trade acquisition Esteury Ruiz, which led manager Mark Kotsay to announce earlier in the week that Pache wouldn’t make the roster and that the front office was exploring potential trades.
They’ve found a match to their liking in Philadelphia, who’ll presumably use Pache as a reserve outfielder and perhaps a righty-swinging complement to left-handed-hitting center fielder Brandon Marsh. Pache is a particularly logical fit for the Phils, given that he can provide a late-game defensive upgrade over either Kyle Schwarber or Nick Castellanos (either by playing a corner himself or by stepping into center and pushing Marsh to a corner).
Pache has always been rated as an excellent defender going back to his early prospect days with Atlanta and that’s held true during his time in the majors as well. He’s already earned +9 Outs Above Average and +4 Defensive Runs Saved in 824 2/3 innings, though Ultimate Zone Rating does have him slightly below average. The major issue has been on offense, where he has struggled mightily. In 332 career plate appearances thus far, he’s hit just .156/.205/.234 for a wRC+ of 26, indicating he’s been 74% worse than the league average hitter. If the Phillies do plan on platooning him with Marsh, that might be the best use of abilities. He’s produced a passable .214/.267/.337 line against lefties for a wRC+ of 73, compared to a dismal .129/.176/.186 showing against righties, wRC+ of 4. These are fairly small sample sizes but there’s perhaps some glimmer of hope there.
For the A’s, they originally acquired Pache from Atlanta just over a year ago as part of the Matt Olson trade. They still have Shea Langeliers, Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes from that deal, but they surely hoped to get more from Pache in 2022 than they eventually did. He struggled enough that they had to send him to the minors for a few months, exhausting his final option year. When they acquired Ruiz and squeezed Pache out of regular action, they decided to pivot and move on.
In exchange for Pache, the A’s will get Sullivan, a right-handed pitcher who turns 24 next month. He’s spent the past two years getting work as a reliever, spending all of last year at Double-A. He tossed 51 innings over 44 appearances at that level with a 4.59 ERA. His 15% walk rate is very concerning, but he also struck out 32.1% of batters faced and got ground balls at a solid 45.5% clip. He’ll head over to a new organization that will undoubtedly be looking to improve that control in order to get those earned runs down.
Transferring Hoskins to the 60-day IL was an inevitable formality after he recently tore his ACL and will require surgery. That will almost certainly result in him missing the entire 2023 season.
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