Phillies Lose Out on Starter Anderson to Mariners After Medical Snag

When a trusted baseball reporters such as Jon Heyman calls a deal "close", it usually means one thing: the deal is pending medical review.  The Phillies were reportedly close to a trade for Pittsburgh Pirates starter Tyler Anderson, as Heyman and MLB.com's Todd Zolecki and others reported.  But at the last minute, the trade hit a snag.  And now, Anderson is elsewhere.

ESPN's Jeff Passan was among those to report that after a medical issue, Anderson was close to being traded elsewhere:

The Seattle Mariners are finalizing a deal to acquire left-hander Tyler Anderson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, sources tell ESPN.

The Pirates thought they had a deal today for Anderson with Philadelphia, but it fell through on medical review. Seattle went and got him instead.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 28, 2021

The trade has been finalized.

The issue was with Phillies prospect Cristian Hernandez, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia:

The Phillies, 6-4 losers to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night, thought they had struck a deal with Pittsburgh for lefty Tyler Anderson earlier in the day, but the deal stalled when the Pirates didn’t like what they saw on the medical report of minor-league pitcher Cristian Hernandez, one of two players that the Phillies had agreed to part with.

The Pirates instead received two players from the Seattle Mariners instead.

So it appeared the Phillies had their first deal ahead of the July 30 trade deadline, but it's back to the drawing board for the Phillies.  After losing to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night, the Phillies returned to the .500 mark.   The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves 12-5, so the Phillies lost no ground.  They remain 3.5 games out of first place.