Talking myself into a Chase Utley trade

I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but I think I might have talked myself into a Chase Utley trade for the Angels. Normally such a deal would go against every single shred of my moral fiber, but sometime in the last few weeks, I unwittingly came around to the idea. I don’t know if it is my desperation from the Angels’ prolonged skid making me think this is a good idea or if I’m still suffering side effects from the concussion I received in a car accident last month or maybe I’ve just been watching too many It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia re-runs. Whatever the case may be, I’m all in.

Don’t get me wrong, I am fully cognizant of the myriad reasons that I should be against a Chase Utley trade. For starters, he is the classic case of a a team wanting to trade for a former All-Star simply because of his big name. Under normal circumstances I would be vehemently against such a thing. It is one of the dumbest reasons in the world to make a trade. It is also one of the biggest reasons most fans want said trade to be made. I’ll let you do the math on how those sentences relate to each other.

Then again, Utley remains a big name for a reason. He’s had a 3.3 fWAR or better in each of his full seasons in the majors, including last season when he was a 4.5 win player. He’s consistently been an above average to excellent offensive producer and always been a very good defender.

I’m also keenly aware that Utley has been a disaster this year in large part because of an ankle injury that turned him into a terrible defender and hitter this year. Given that he’s 36 years old, it would be foolish to just assume he’s magically going to regain his health, maintain it and start producing at a 4+ win clip again.

Then again, I’ve also read this post by Jeff Sullivan about 107 times. In said article it details that Utley has been hitting the ball with more authority and might have addressed some issues in his swing that were originally caused by his ankle problems. Since he’s still walking and striking out at his normal clip and since his batted ball profile hasn’t really changed much outside of the weaker contact that has allegedly been addressed, Sullivan’s article appears to have a lot of credence, my own confirmation bias notwithstanding.

It isn’t lost on me though that Utley’s struggles were not isolated to the first half of this season. He had a nice overall line in 2014, but that was because he was a powerhouse in the first half (.345 wOBA) before falling off a cliff in the second half (.294 wOBA). I don’t know if this might be when his ankle issues started (falling off a cliff can be hard on the ankles) or if there were other health problems involved, but that poor second half surely looks a lot like a guy suddenly realizing where he should be on the aging curve.

Then again… actually, I don’t have a good retort to that one. Utley is old and old players tend to decline and often do so in a great big hurry. The only thing that I’m hanging my hat on here is that Utley may not have actually hit that decline just yet or that he is able to fake like he’s not in decline for six weeks or so.

I mean, that’s totally reasonable, right? Utley is kicking butt in 26 plate appearances since coming off the DL, so he’s hot right now and the Angels would just need to keep riding the hot streak. It might not last more than another day or two, but it might also last a few more weeks. At least they know that he is still capable of getting that hot and for the short amount of time they would actually need him for, that counts for a lot.

If they get Utley and he immediately goes cold, so what? With the plan being for him to split time between second base and DH, all he’s really doing is taking at-bats from David DeJesus who is ice cold unto himself right now and Johnny Giavotella, who is hitting well right now, but even his version of hitting well is really just hitting at league average levels. At worst, Utley platoons with Giavotella and improves defense at second base when he does. If that means taking a hit offensively, it shouldn’t be much of one since Giavotella has a .290 wOBA against righties anyway.

There really is no downside to acquiring Utley. He wouldn’t even create a roster crunch problem, at least not at this point. If the Angels traded for him now, he’d bump Conor Gillaspie or Ryan Jackson off the roster which is not a great loss on either side. Sure, the Angels might be without a legit back-up shortstop for a little bit, but that is a risk they can take for the short period of time before rosters expand on September 1st. The limited possible time that Utley could spend with the Angels should help suppress his price as well. So, basically, he’d be a pretty cheap acquisition that might suck, but if he does, he’d just be displacing other guys that already suck but Utley would actually have the upside of being pretty good. Sorry, but I fail to see the downside.

With that in mind, I surprisingly am now fully in favor of the Angels making a Chase Utley trade. Pull the trigger, Stoneman! Do it now! Right n-

GM Ruben Amaro this morning @SportsRadioWIP "Chase Utley likely to be w #Phillies rest of year." Definition, Utley will not approve trade.

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) August 18, 2015

Dammit.