Phillies

15 Years Ago: A Trade Deadline Featuring Carlos Beltran, Dom Brown, Hunter Pence, and Zack Wheeler

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jul 22nd, 2026 · 10:55 AM EDT

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I was looking through the Crossing Broad archives to see what happened 5, 10, and 15 years ago this week. It’s usually a slow sports period, late July, but MLB trade deadline rumors were cooking, and it happens to be the 15th anniversary of a curious turn of events.

The Phillies were in the middle of a 102-win season, their best since 1993, and they were linked to Carlos Beltran in the summer of 2011. Beltran was playing for the Mets, a few years removed from his string of All-Star Game appearances, but he was slashing .289/.391/.513, good for a .904 OPS at the time. New York was bang average and still a few years away from their 2015 World Series run.

Wrote Jon Heyman at the time:

“There has been buzz over the past few days about Beltran and the Phillies, who do have a decent prospect stash. While most of Philly’s better prospects are pitchers, two people with knowledge of the talks said the Mets’ first target with Philly would be top outfield prospect Domonic Brown. That may seem at first blush like a big asking price, but the Phillies are probably the World Series favorite and are clearly going for it this year, they need to get more righthanded (Beltran is a switch hitter while Brown is a lefty), Beltran is the best hitter on the market and they can fit him onto their team without paying a cent.”

It’s hard to say how much of the reporting was truly accurate, but there was quite a bit of buzz about the Phils looking to upgrade, and Beltran’s name kept popping up. They were mowing down teams with a rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and Vance Worley. Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick started 23 games that season as well.

But they were looking for a right-handed bat, which, it feels like they always are. They’re looking for a righty at this current trade deadline, so go figure. Beltran was getting older and the Mets were trying to get something of value before his contract expired. However, a Phillies deal never materialized, and instead they traded Beltran to the Giants for a pitching prospect named Zack Wheeler. The Phils pivoted and traded four minor leaguers to the Astros for Hunter Pence, who went on to hit .324 over 54 regular season Phillies games, while slashing .211/.286/.496 in the NLDS. They didn’t have any business losing to that St. Louis team, but mustered just three runs in Games 4 and 5 and blew a 2-1 series lead. It was so brutal to watch, like getting kicked right in the gut.

Who knows if Beltran would have been the difference maker, or someone other than Pence, but it’s interesting to look back in hindsight. Pence was traded to the Giants one year later for Nate Schierholtz, Tommy Joseph, and Seth Rosin. Wheeler found his way into the big leagues and later became a Phillies ace. Beltran played 44 games for San Francisco, then signed with the Cards. And Domonic Brown went on to have that crazy run in 2013 (the Mythical May) before his career petered out by the age of 27.

The Phillies went 81-81 the next season and the rest, as they say, is history. Maybe it would have been different if they had moved Dom Brown, but there’s no re-do here, not unless you have a time machine.