Philadelphia Phillies Acquire Hunter Pence, for Who?

According to multiple sources the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros have agreed to a deal that sends two time all-star Hunter Pence to the Phillies for four players. 

ESPN reports that the two main pieces of the four players headed to the Astros include 21 year old Single A pitching prospect Jarred Cosart and their top hitting prospect, also from Single A,  19 year old Jonathan Singleton.  The third piece is Josh Zeid, a 25 year old right handed pitcher, who with the Phillies Double A affiliate, Reading Phillies, has a 5.65 ERA at this point in the season.  The deal also includes a player to be named later. 

This deal favors the Phils.  It's really not even close.  The Astros have given up a proven commodity.  Pence's 162 game average season which includes a .290 batting average and 25 home runs, is solid in any lineup.  I would look for those numbers to improve, while playing half of his games in the band box that is Citizens Bank Park.  Not to mention that Pence is an outstanding defensive outfielder with one of the best arms in the majors.  By the way, Pence is only 28 years old. 

The Astros get two, very young prospects.  Granted the upside on both Cosart and Singleton is huge.  However, given their age and with only A ball to quantify their skills, it is a risk.  A very large risk. 

Zeid really is nothing more than a throw-in on this deal.  A pot sweetener.  The Astros didn't make this deal based on his inclusion.  This deal is based on those top two prospects. 

The player to be named later, as of this story publishing remains anonymous, however it defies logic, based solely on the fact that he's anonymous at this point, that whomever he is, he is not Domonic Brown, Vance Worley or John Mayberry Jr. 

In short, the Phillies have obtained the services of an All-Star left fielder without the loss of a single major league ready player.  

At this point, none of the departing Phillies will be major league ready even next year.  In fact, they are probably a couple of years away in the best case scenario. 

There will be plenty of talk about how the Phillies over the course of the last few years have obtained both Brad Lidge, for Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary and Roy Oswalt, for J.A. Happ among a couple of other prospects, from the Houston Astros.  There will also be talk about how Astros General Manager Ed Wade, is also the former GM of the Philadelphia Phillies. 

I'm sure that Wade has a plan for the Astros, however I can't deny the fact that I am extremely curious as to what that plan might be and how his seeming to keep the Astros stocked with players ripe for the picking by the Phillies is helping him to accomplish that goal. 

To sum up, the Phillies have made yet another stellar move.  Former Phillies GM and recent Hall of Fame Inductee, Pat Gillick, I'm sure is quite proud of this move and the work that current GM and Gillick protege Ruben Amaro Jr has done.  

In a week that saw the Giants acquire Carlos Beltran, an absolute rental player for the remaining 2 months while parting with their top pitching prospect, the Phillies once again have stolen the show and proved why, for the last few years, they have been the standard for National League organizations.