A couple of years ago, Alec Bohm was one of the more intriguing names available on the trade market. The Philadelphia Phillies had a decision to make regarding their longtime third baseman, and there appeared to be a legitimate opportunity to move him for a meaningful return.
Instead, Philadelphia held onto him.
At the time, the decision was understandable. Bohm had just put together one of the better seasons of his career, posting a .280/.332/.448 slash line with 15 home runs and 97 RBI in 2024. He also earned his first All-Star selection, giving the Phillies another reason to believe his trade value was still relatively high.
There were certainly warning signs, though.
Bohm had never completely lived up to the expectations that came with being selected third overall by Philadelphia in the 2018 MLB Draft. His offensive production had been respectable, but it had never consistently matched the enormous expectations attached to such a high draft selection. His defense was another obvious concern, particularly at third base.
Still, Philadelphia believed there was enough value there to justify keeping him rather than accepting what the organization considered a disappointing trade package.
Two years later, that decision is looking increasingly difficult to defend.
Bohm’s situation has deteriorated significantly in 2026. His offensive production has fallen sharply, with his OPS sitting at just .653. His defensive numbers have been even more troubling. At third base, he has accumulated minus-8 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-6 Outs Above Average.
Moving him across the diamond to first base hasn’t solved the problem either.
Instead of finding a position where he can provide reliable defensive value, the Phillies have continued searching for ways to keep his bat in the lineup despite his overall production. His current Baseball-Reference WAR sits at minus-0.2, meaning he has performed below replacement level.
And yet, Philadelphia continues to play him on a near-daily basis.
That has understandably become a source of frustration for the fanbase.
Phillies supporters have watched the team repeatedly stick with Bohm despite declining production, questionable defense and diminishing overall value. What once looked like an understandable attempt to maximize a player’s trade value now looks increasingly like an organization refusing to admit that the value is gone.
Matt Gelb of The Athletic recently addressed the Phillies’ continued commitment to Bohm in a mailbag, and his explanation offered a revealing look into the organization’s thinking.
According to Gelb, Philadelphia had multiple opportunities to move on from Bohm over the past few years. The front office, however, never believed the offers were sufficient.
The Phillies apparently didn’t think they were receiving enough value in return, nor did they believe the potential replacements available to them would represent an upgrade.
That logic might have made sense at the time.
The problem is that baseball decisions are rarely made in a vacuum. A team doesn’t simply have to decide whether a trade package is good enough today. It also has to consider what happens if it refuses the offer and the player’s value declines.
That is precisely what appears to have happened with Bohm.
Philadelphia waited for a better opportunity that never materialized. Instead of maximizing his value while he was coming off an All-Star season, the organization allowed his trade value to continue sliding.
Now the Phillies appear to be facing the worst possible outcome.
Bohm could finish the season as a below-replacement-level player before reaching free agency, meaning Philadelphia could lose him without receiving anything meaningful in return.
Gelb’s assessment was particularly blunt. The Phillies, he explained, have a tendency to hold onto certain players until their trade value has been completely exhausted. Bohm, at this point, looks like perhaps the clearest example of that philosophy.
That is what makes the situation so frustrating.
The issue isn’t simply that Bohm has struggled. Players struggle all the time. A bad season alone doesn’t necessarily indicate an organizational failure.
The bigger problem is that Philadelphia had an opportunity to make a difficult decision when Bohm still had legitimate market value.
Instead, the Phillies prioritized extracting maximum value from the situation and ultimately wound up with almost none.
It is an especially painful realization because Bohm’s 2024 season gave Philadelphia a perfect window to make a move.
A .280 batting average, nearly 100 RBI and an All-Star appearance would have given opposing teams plenty of reasons to believe they could unlock even more from the former No. 3 overall pick. His age also made him an attractive potential trade target.
Philadelphia didn’t necessarily have to give him away.
The Phillies simply needed to recognize that his value might never become significantly higher.
That is an important distinction.
Teams don’t always have to trade a player when his value peaks. Sometimes keeping a player is absolutely the correct move. If the organization believes the player is part of its championship core, there is little reason to move him simply because other teams are interested.
But Philadelphia’s handling of Bohm becomes difficult to understand because the organization itself apparently had doubts about his long-term fit.
If the Phillies weren’t convinced Bohm was going to become the star many expected when he was drafted, then holding onto him simply because the offers weren’t perfect created considerable risk.
That risk has now become reality.
Bohm’s decline has also exposed another organizational weakness: Philadelphia’s inability to consistently develop enough internal talent to give itself flexibility.
The Phillies’ farm system ranks among the weaker systems in baseball, and the organization doesn’t appear to have an abundance of high-impact prospects ready to step into major-league roles heading into 2027.
That makes every trade decision more important.
When a team has a deep farm system, it can afford to move on from an underperforming veteran because there are multiple internal options waiting for an opportunity.
Philadelphia doesn’t have that luxury.
The Phillies have instead found themselves caught between two uncomfortable choices: continue playing a struggling veteran or turn to a prospect pool that may not contain an obvious replacement.
That lack of depth helps explain why the organization has remained so committed to Bohm.
It doesn’t necessarily make the decision correct.
In fact, it may make the situation even more concerning.
The Phillies’ reluctance to trade Bohm when his value was higher is part of a broader philosophy that places significant emphasis on getting what the organization considers fair value in every transaction.
On the surface, that sounds reasonable.
No general manager wants to trade away a valuable player for pennies on the dollar. The problem is that refusing every offer that falls short of an ideal return can eventually result in receiving nothing at all.
Baseball history is filled with examples of teams holding onto players too long because they were waiting for the perfect offer.
The perfect offer rarely comes.
Sometimes the best move is accepting a package that isn’t spectacular because the alternative is allowing the player’s value to deteriorate further.
That appears to be the lesson Philadelphia is learning with Bohm.
Would the Phillies have received a massive haul for him two offseasons ago?
Probably not.
Bohm’s flaws were already well documented. Teams knew about his defensive limitations, and his offensive ceiling wasn’t necessarily that of a franchise superstar.
But there was still enough value there to get something useful.
A decent prospect, a controllable major-league player or another piece that could have helped strengthen the roster might have ultimately been more valuable than holding onto Bohm until his trade value disappeared.
Instead, Philadelphia now appears to be heading toward the possibility of losing him for nothing.
That’s a brutal return on an asset that once generated legitimate trade interest.
The irony is that Bohm’s situation isn’t entirely his fault.
He didn’t choose to be selected third overall. He didn’t set the expectations surrounding his career. And he certainly isn’t responsible for the Phillies’ decision-making regarding his future.
Bohm has simply struggled to consistently produce at the level Philadelphia hoped when it drafted him.
His 2024 season showed that he was capable of being a productive major-league hitter. The problem is that the Phillies seem to have mistaken that production for a reason to hold onto him indefinitely rather than an opportunity to maximize his value.
Now, the organization has to live with the consequences.
The biggest question isn’t necessarily whether Bohm should remain with the Phillies for the rest of 2026. At this stage, the fanbase’s frustration is understandable, and the club should be exploring every possible alternative.
The more important question is why Philadelphia waited so long to reach this point.
The Phillies are trying to contend. Every roster spot matters. Every at-bat matters. Every defensive inning matters.
If Bohm is providing below-replacement-level production, the organization has to determine whether keeping him in the lineup is actually helping its chances of winning.
Loyalty cannot become more important than performance.
Nor can the fear of admitting a mistake.
The Phillies invested heavily in Bohm because of where they selected him in the draft and because of what they believed he could become. But draft position shouldn’t dictate how long a team sticks with a player once the evidence changes.
At some point, organizations have to separate the player they hoped Bohm would become from the player he actually is.
Philadelphia appears to have struggled with that distinction.
Now, the consequences are becoming impossible to ignore.
Bohm’s declining production, defensive struggles and impending free agency have combined to create a situation where the Phillies could walk away from this entire saga without receiving anything in return.
That is the real failure.
The organization didn’t necessarily need to win a Bohm trade. It simply needed to avoid losing the opportunity to get something useful for him.
Two years ago, that opportunity existed.
Today, it may be gone.
Philadelphia’s handling of Alec Bohm should therefore serve as a warning about the dangers of holding onto players too long. Maximizing value is important, but refusing to make a difficult decision can be far more costly than accepting an imperfect deal.
The Phillies may never know exactly what they could have received for Bohm.
What they do know is that they had chances.
They chose not to take them.
And now, with Bohm struggling at the plate, continuing to hurt the team defensively and potentially heading into free agency at the end of the season, Philadelphia may be left with nothing to show for an asset that once had legitimate value.
For a team trying to compete for championships, that’s a mistake that could prove far more significant than the numbers on Bohm’s stat sheet suggest.
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