The Phillies entered in trade talks with the Twins for Denard Span once B.J. Upton came off the board and signed with the Braves.

Instead, Minnesota dealt Span to Washington for a young pitching prospect.

"We just felt like what we would have to give up for him was more than we were willing," Ruben Amaro said.

The Phillies were surprised soon after when they learned that Ben Revere was available.

"We figured Ben would not be available," Amaro said. "We had some inquiries about some other players with Minnesota, and when they mentioned Ben we were immediately interested."

Revere, 24, will not even be eligible for salary arbitration until after the 2014 season, so he'll likely be making less than $1 million the next two seasons.