CINCINNATI _ The Phillies stayed in their division to upgrade their lineup as they traded with the Mets for infielder Asdrubal Cabrera.
The trade, which was first reported by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, has the Phillies sending right-handed pitching prospect Franklyn Kilome to the Mets. The 32-year-old Cabrera has hit 18 homers with a .817 OPS in 375 at-bats with the Mets.
It will be interesting to see how the Phillies use Cabrera, who was once an elite defender but now appears to have limited range. The Mets used the former shortstop this season as strictly a second baseman. He played shortstop, second base, and third base last season. Cabrera is a free agent after the season.
The Phillies could use Cabrera as a bench player or try him at shortstop and move Scott Kingery back to the role he played earlier in the season, when he bounced around the diamond. Either way, the team's depth was greatly increased Friday with the promotion of Roman Quinn and the acquisition of Cabrera.
Kilome opened the season as the organization's 10th-best prospect by Baseball America. But the publication left Kilome off its midseason top 10 earlier this month. Kilome, 23, had walked 51 batters in 102 innings this season at Double-A Reading with a 4.24 ERA in 19 starts. He has a power arm but has been wild.
