MLB Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies’ Julio Rodriguez Trade Is the Type of Mistake To Avoid In the Future

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By @papreps

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Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Having failed at a prior business model, the Philadelphia Phillies are trying another one.

Gone are the days of signing aging players to long-term contracts and the new approach is to sign up-and-coming younger players with an upside. What the Phillies did in March of 2013 by trading young pitcher Julio Rodriguez to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Ronnie Welty was the kind of mistake they should avoid going forward.

Rodriguez is now in the Chicago Cubs’ system, while the Phillies released Welty a couple of months later. Welty is now out of professional baseball, while Rodriguez could be part of the Cubs’ rotation in a few years. The lesson learned here is a hard one but valuable. Rodriguez represents the kind of arm the Phillies should not be quick to give up on because he went 16-7 for high Class-A Clearwater in 2012. In seven seasons of Minor League baseball, Rodriguez is 34-27 with a 3.75 ERA.

He did not do spectacularly in the Cubs’ system last year, but he still has plenty of time to excel. He is only 24 years old but has the kind of frame (6-foot-4, 195 pounds) that pitchers historically take time to grow into and then develop.

Welty, on the other hand, is gone. If the Phillies are to be successful in their rebuild, they are going to have to make solid decisions on their minor-league transactions as well as their major-league ones. A main focus of that is being patient with young pitchers.

Mike Gibson is a Phillies writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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