Matt Klentak, GM for Phillies, said it was an organizational imperative “to preserve young talent” and avoid the need “to tackle another rebuild at some point.”
With confidence, I can say the D-back farm system is better than the Phillies farm system. Therefore, trading away young talent would have gutted their farm system. This season, the Phillies are contending for a wild card berth, and it may be years in the future before the Phillies are again contending. What did they do?
In the last two weeks of July, the Phillies acquired 7 players while trading away only 2 minor players.