The Philadelphia Phillies clearly see Alec Bohm as expendable.

Yet, they apparently also view him as invaluable—or are at least trying to convince potential trade partners that they do.

Bohm has been one of the most talked about players on the trade market during the 2024 MLB offseason, indicating Philly's desire to do a deal. There's a reason nothing has to come together yet, though, and that reason is the Phillies' reported asking price.

The Athletics recently inquired about Bohm, but then "ended the conversation" when the Phillies asked for All-Star reliever Mason Miller, per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. Miller, for those unfamiliar, just completed his first full MLB season with a 2.49 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP and a whopping 104 strikeouts in 65 innings.

Miller's star is shining about as bright as any relief pitcher's. That the Phillies think they could get him for Bohm shows an overinflated sense of the latter's worth.

And it's not the first time Philly has torpedoed trade talks with an outlandish request.

Earlier this month, the third base-needy Seattle Mariners came calling about Bohm. Philadelphia effectively chased them off when it "asked for one of the Mariners' top pitchers—Logan Gilbert or George Kirby," per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times.

Gilbert, for context, just finished sixth in Cy Young voting after leading the Majors in innings pitched (208.2) and WHIP (0.89) while posting the second-best ERA of his career (3.23). Kirby, who finished eighth in 2023 Cy Young voting, has a 3.44 ERA with 8.36 strikeouts per walk over the past two seasons.

These two figure to anchor Seattle's rotation for the foreseeable future. Philadelphia had to know Bohm wouldn't be enough to get either one.

Bohm technically broke out this past season and secured his first All-Star trip. However, all of the heavy lifting behind that breakout occurred during the campaign's first half. In the second half, he was a .251 hitter with four homers and 27 RBI in 49 games. He sank even further in the playoffs, going 1-for-13 and getting benched for Game 2 of the NLDS.

Perhaps if this was the 2024 trade deadline and Bohm's value was peaking, these requests wouldn't feel so insulting. But the second half happened. The playoff failures played out in front of the entire baseball world. Presumably, those are the reasons why the Phillies seem so eager to find a trade.

What they stubbornly refuse to accept, though, is that this decline also caused a decline in his trade value. He isn't some blue-chip option clubs are willing to work over premium assets to require. He's a change-of-scenery candidate, the kind of player a front office hopes would be motivated by and more clear-headed after a trade.

Teams don't pay top dollar to hope for a bounce-back. They want the struggles baked into the price, so if a player does shake out of the slump and get back on track, then they'll walk away with positive value from the exchange.

Bohm is (or at least can be) a good player, but he's not a great one. The Phillies won't find a deal until they start treating him as such.

That doesn't mean they have to slap a clearance sticker on him and rush out to find the first available trade. Potential suitors could get more desperate as other options at third base (like free agent Alex Bregman or trade candidate Nolan Arenado) or first base (Pete Alonso, Christian Walker and Paul Goldschmidt are all unsigned) start coming off the board.

Patience could be a good thing for Philadelphia, though no amount of waiting will suddenly make Bohm worth what the franchise has been requesting. If the Phillies are serious about finding a trade—and it might be hard to get the toothpaste back in the tube at this point—then they need to get serious about what they're asking for in return.