Angels stealing surging All-Star candidate from Phillies gets funnier every day

Once again, the Philadelphia Phillies are one of the best teams in baseball and the Los Angeles Angels are one of the most incompetent. The Phillies are once again being lauded heavily by the media this season thanks to their 37-25 record, and are perpetually viewed as a World Series candidate. Meanwhile, the Angels are 28-33 and just cannot get out of their own way. However, the Brandon Marsh for Logan O'Hoppe trade is looking more and more one-sided since it was made back in 2022.

Marsh has been both an integral yet headache-inducing player for Philadelphia since he joined the team. He's provided fans with some clutch moments in the playoffs and is a great guy to have in the clubhouse, but he certainly has some glaring warts in game -- namely that he has a 30.8% K% as a member of the Phillies, which is the worst mark of any Phillies player who has played at least 100 games for them since 2022. This season, Marsh has a paltry .215/.320/.318/.638 slash line.

Marsh is a fine player, no more and no less. Even though he is still 27-years-old, there does not seem to be a world in which he pops any more than he already has. Marsh has been the same exact type of player for the past few years, a streaky hitter who is unplayable against left-handed pitchers and strikes out way too much. Trust us, Phillies fans, we did not think Marsh would keep striking out so much either!

O'Hoppe on the other hand, is a really good player who should keep getting better.

Angels stealing surging All-Star candidate from Phillies gets funnier every day

As ESPN's Jeff Passan recently put it: "Between Zach Neto and Logan O'Hoppe, the Angels have a pair of good, young players to build around." The 25-year-old catcher is a cornerstone of this franchise, and is viewed as the leader in the clubhouse by his teammates. He clearly needs to mitigate his strikeouts and draw more walks, but he is gaining invaluable MLB experience and has made a lot of strides in a short amount of time.

O'Hoppe is tracking towards being selected as a first-time All-Star this season. Here are O'Hoppe's ranks amongst qualified catchers in the American League: 4th in batting average (.251), 2nd in SLG (.487), 2nd in OPS (.771), 2nd in wOBA (.329), 2nd in home runs (14), 3rd in RBIs (31) and 2nd in total bases (91). Keep in mind that the catchers the Phillies have pencilled in this season have been solidly below-average -- they are slashing .214/.296/.339/.635 with a .282 wOBA, 6 home runs and 26 RBIs. Let's just say that Phillies fans would flip JT Realmuto for O'Hoppe in a heartbeat.

The Marsh-for-O'Hoppe trade was supposed to help the Phillies in 2022 and continue to help them afterwards. However, Marsh has hit a wall, their catchers have been underwhelming and O'Hoppe is ascending as a member of the Angels' core group of players moving forward. It's pretty funny to see Phillies fans keep experiencing the same frustration over-and-over again with Marsh, while it's been all gravy during the O'Hoppe experience in Anaheim.

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