The Phillies’ inactive offseason slogged to another milepost Friday when they offered contracts to their five arbitration-eligible players, although it is likely some of them will not be Phillies in 2018.
Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco, Cameron Rupp, and Luis Garcia will all receive sizable raises for next season. But both Galvis and Hernandez could be traded as the Phillies attempt to piece together their future infield that might include emerging talents J.P. Crawford and Scott Kingery.
The task, now, is to reach a middle ground with Galvis and Hernandez on their contracts. Teams typically do not want to trade for an arbitration-eligible player before his situation is rectified; front offices spend a considerable amount of time on arbitration preparation and would not welcome an unknown.