July 31, 2024
Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
Carlos Estévez should reinforce the Phillies' bullpen.
The Phillies made a run of smaller-scale moves at the trade deadline to reinforce their bullpen and upgrade their roster at the margins.
Austin Hays was brought in as the extra outfielder, Carlos Estévez as the back-end relief option, lefty Tanner Banks as one more bullpen arm, plus a couple of pitching prospects for down the line in Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace – all at the cost of Cristian Pache, Seranthony Domínguez, prospects George Klassen, Samuel Aldegheri, and William Bergolla, and then Gregory Soto.
Definitely not blockbusters by any means, but club president Dave Dombrowski is banking on these moves being the final tweaks that will help the Phillies get all the way to the finish line.
"I like our ball club," he said after the deadline passed Tuesday night.
What's the perception of the Phillies' deadline moves elsewhere around baseball? Here's a look...
Compared to some of the more headline-drawing deals, like the Mariners' trade for Randy Arozarena, the Phillies made out pretty well and might've had one of the better deadline hauls across the majors, even if it wasn't as high-profile.
Wrote Will Leitch, who ranked the Phillies' deadline as the sixth-best out of the top seven in the majors:
What do you want from a team with the best record in the National League, one stacked with veterans and clearly geared up to win the whole thing this year? You want them to attack their specific holes aggressively and not really sweat the price. So that’s what the Phillies did. Sure, the Phillies had to give up a lot for Carlos Estévez, but he was arguably the best reliever on the market and they did what they had to do to get him. Tanner Banks is a handy reliever as well, and Austin Hays helps them more than he would have helped the Orioles. Are any of these moves earth shattering? No. But the Phillies don’t need earth shattering. They need players who will help them in the postseason. [MLB.com]
Former baseball exec Jim Bowden shared similar sentiments over at the Athletic, giving the Phillies an A- grade for their deadline work.
They didn't need flashy. They just needed to fill those last remaining gaps.
Future Hall of Fame executive Dave Dombrowski crushed yet another trade deadline, acquiring exactly what his team needed: a high-leverage right-handed reliever in Carlos Estévez for the back of their bullpen and a right-handed-hitting outfielder in Austin Hays, who rakes against left-handed pitching and averages 16 home runs a year when playing on a regular basis. They might not be the sexiest names, but they are what the Phillies needed. Dombrowski also added an interesting pitching prospect, Seth Johnson, in a deal with Baltimore, after parting with two good ones in the Estévez trade. [The Athletic]
Specific to the trade with the Angels for Estévez, David Schoenfield over at ESPN gave the Phillies a B for the move.
Their bullpen is that much deeper now between Estévez, Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering, and José Alvarado, which should pad out their path back to October, but when it comes to who is the clear-cut closer, that question might not necessarily be answered yet.
The Phillies have had a bit of an unsettled closer situation as Jose Alvarado has been inconsistent, so Hoffman has shared the role at times. It's possible Estevez becomes the closer, with Hoffman, Strahm, Alvarado and Orion Kerkering the high-leverage setup guys come October. It's worth pointing all this out because of what happened last October when the Phillies decided to live and die with the shaky Craig Kimbrel (it didn't work out). I'm also not convinced Estevez is this good -- eight of his past 10 appearances have been against Seattle, Oakland and Detroit -- three bad offensive teams -- but I guess Rob Thomson has two months to come up with a more defined bullpen order if he so desires. [ESPN]
Zachary Rymer over at Bleacher Report was also pretty high on the Phillies' deadline moves across the board, and highlighted the more future-minded move that brought in Johnson and Chace from Baltimore for Soto.
Even if his club control runs through 2025, Soto isn't much more than a run-of-the-mill lefty reliever at this stage. Yet the Phillies turned him into two real prospects anyway.
Now fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, Johnson is a righty with a plus fastball and above average slider. Whether his command will allow for a career as a starter is a question, but he has a future as a dominant relief pitcher if it doesn't.
Chace also has an iffy profile as a starter, but he's another guy with a plus fastball who's struck out 34 percent of the batters he's faced this season. [B/R]
The Phillies are very much in win now mode, but just as much to their credit as well: they didn't lose any of their absolute top prospects (Aidan Miller, Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and so on) while bringing in two more low-risk dice rolls.
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