A Phillies-Athletics trade for Brent Rooker after a dominant performance on Sunday

Oakland Athletics shortstop Brent Rooker is one of the most likely players to be traded before the 2024 MLB trade deadline. There are a lot of different teams suiting up for the right-handed hitting fielder.

Among those teams, the Philadelphia Phillies continue to be linked to him more than others. There’s a good reason for that, too. Philadelphia isn’t just scrambling and looking to buy, they’re actively pursuing a right-handed outfielder who hits with incredible urgency.

Rooker, under contract through 2025, is a perfect fit. He’s slashing .291/.369/.573 with 21 homers and 18 doubles before the All-Star break. He continued to mash, hitting well over .450 in the month of July.

With Philadelphia unlikely to meet the high asking price for a bat like Luis Robert Jr., they could land Rooker, who would be quite a bit less expensive but still cost a pretty penny.

Philadelphia has the capital to possibly go out and acquire him quite comfortably as well.

In the last month, Rooker has increased his ride value quite a bit. 2024 no longer looks like a hot time to start the year, but more like a breakout season that should be followed by more years like this.

However, its price is slightly lower than the value reported by Robert Jr..

A month ago, no one would have imagined Rooker could find two top 10 prospects in a farm system like the Phillies. But after his hot stretch and Silver Slugger-type first inning, teams that shop might have no choice but to pay that price for him.

Saltiban, 19, is the Phillies’ No. 6 prospect and a fringe top-100 prospect in baseball. He’s an incredibly talented five-tool prospect. But, he’s stuck in a farm system loaded with young middling talent. Obviously, the Phillies can never have too much talent, but in a few years, they can only play one player at shortstop, and that will likely be Aidan Miller. Saltiban is slashing .227/.347.409 in his age-19 season at the Low-A level.

Rincones, 23, is slashing .275/.393/.507 in a limited sample size in 2024. The left-handed swinger projects as a bat-first outfielder with a good amount of pop. He would be quite the offensive addition to the A’s farm system with the potential to break into the big leagues late next season.

Rooker to Philly is a dream scenario for the Phillies. A trade for Robert would likely include one or two of the top five prospects, while a trade for Rooker should not require anyone in the top five. And frankly, Rooker is having a much better season in 2024 than Robert is.