Carlos Beltran is apparently off the market and the Astros reportedly backed out of a near-deal for Hunter Pence, so the Phillies have turned their attention to ... Carlos Quentin.
According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, at least. He says the Phillies “have done background work on Quentin” as they look for a right-handed-hitting outfielder.
Quentin is terrible defensively and has a modest .254 career batting average, but he’s also averaged 32 homers per 150 games during the past four seasons while producing a strong .864 OPS. By comparison, Jayson Werth had an .885 OPS in his four seasons with the Phillies.
Obviously the White Sox are open for business on the trade front and rumors about them shopping Quentin have been around since last season, so if the Phillies feel the price tags for Beltran and Pence are too high he certainly makes for an interesting fallback option. Quentin is under team control through next season via arbitration, so he wouldn’t be a two-month rental.
