The Phillies made a minor league trade with the Brewers on Tuesday afternoon, acquiring outfielder Hendry Mendez and infielder Robert Moore in exchange for infielder Oliver Dunn.
The move was announced five hours before the Phillies had to add Dunn to their 40-man roster to protect him from December’s Rule 5 draft. Eligible players not added to the 40-man roster by Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline may be drafted by other teams on Dec. 6, when winter meetings conclude.
Dunn had an aggressive summer at Double-A Reading, batting .271/.396/.506 with 21 home runs and was named the Arizona Fall League Breakout Player of the Year.
The Phillies had other options for the utility man and chose to keep the flexibility of their 40-man roster while rewarding Dunn. Mendez (19) and Moore (21) are much younger and far from the majors. They spent most of 2023 in High-A of the Brewers system. Moore was selected by Milwaukee as a second-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Arkansas.
The Phils currently have 38 players on their 40-man roster, but it doesn’t seem like there will be too many difficult protection decisions to make before Tuesday’s deadline. One might be Carlos de la Cruz, a 6-foot-8 first baseman and outfielder. He appeared briefly in training last spring, hitting .259/.344/.454 with 25 doubles, 24 home runs, 54 walks and 160 strikeouts as a 23-year-old. Double A-years-old.