2023 MLB Trade Deadline: Standing Pat At Trade Deadline May Be Wisest Move For Phillies

You cannot have watched that mess in Pittsburgh and somehow convince yourself that the Phillies making a trade will benefit the team.

The Phillies, just last weekend, lost a series to a lowly Pirates squad.

Aaron Nola gave up around 10 hits to a AA lineup in under five innings. Trea Turner can’t hit or catch pop flys. Castellanos is back in 2022 form. Schwarber still goes a week at a time with the inability to hit a ball. The bullpen is made up of guys who will have no control whatsoever and still somehow find their way into the came – really, can the pitchers and coaches out there not tell when the guy is warming up that they have no control?

The things above are what sank the Phillies in this game and, frankly, does in most of their games.

So what would a trade do for the Phillies?

Who Would A Trade Replace?

The first issue with a trade is that it would require the Phillies to replace someone on their roster.

But those that have been issues for the team at times (See: Nola, Suarez, Marte, Soto) are not guys who would be replaced. Neither are the hitter who have been consistent issues (Turner, Schwarber, Realmuto, recent Castellanos).

A trade for a starter would likely replace Cristopher Sánchez, who has nine starts and a 2.66 ERA. Among qualified starters, only Blake Snell and Gerrit Cole have been better. The best case there is that Sanchez gets moved to a long relief or piggyback role to keep him ready but still contributing. It might lose him his regular innings and throw him off, however.

For relief pitchers, the only clear replacement would be Dylan Covey or maybe Andrew Vasquez – neither of whom have been particularly bad for the Phillies. It’s been largely the names like Soto or Marte that have come into close games and blown them. But those guys don’t seem likely to be replaced.

Finally, the batters that have hurt the team most are guys like Turner and Schwarber. Evidently, they could stand backwards at the plate and in the field to ensure they contribute negatively each game and they won’t get benched. Instead, the “upgrades” would come from replacing a player like Edmundo Sosa, Josh Harrison or maybe Johan Rojas.

Who Is Already With The Team?

The Phillies, despite their flaws, actually have decent depth.

It is the bottom of their lineup that has been carrying them to many of their wins. Among the batters, only Josh Harrison is a question mark. He’s as bad as Trea Turner except not on a mega millions contract. Frankly, if they wanted to replace him, they have seen a quarter of a season with Kody Clemens, who was a solid player for the squad. The team could simply call him up at any time to replace Harrison. Darick Hall is the power option, but it’s tough to deal with he and Schwarber in the same lineup since they both basically do the same thing at the major league level.

If you believe it, Rhys Hoskins could also be an option for the team should they make the playoffs.

For the rotation, the team has five solid starters, something most teams can’t say they have. They may need their top-of-the-rotation guys to pick it up. If they need more back-end starters, Nick Nelson is already on the 40-man and has been a solid option for that. Baily Falter has also found his groove in July, posting a 1.96 ERA in AAA over the past month.

In the bullpen, the 40-man roster includes Jose Alvarado, who is already expected to return to the team from injury. In the minors, they have Luis Ortiz, who has been effective in his brief stints with the squad, along with previously effective MLB relievers Andrew Bellatti and Connor Brogdon. Those four guys as internal options put up quite the bar for the quality of relief pitchers the team would consider.

A Look At Last Year

If we look at the Phillies 2022 deadline as an example. we’d find four trades. Brandon Marsh, Noah Syndergaard, David Robertson and Edmundo Sosa joined the squad at the deadline.

A trade for a Brandon Marsh starting-caliber player is all but out of the question unless the team were to trade away a player like Alec Bohm, who is one of their most productive hitters, or they willingly get rid of or bench a player like Turner or Schwarber (extremely unlikely).

A trade for a lottery ticket like Noah Syndergaard is also unlikely – why trade away prospects for someone not as good as your fifth starter and possibly not as good as multiple options you have in AAA?

The only two feasible trades would be for someone like Sosa or Robertson. Sosa was a solid defender and a decent bat the Phillies thought they could unlock a bit off the bench. They could do that this year, but would need to push either Harrison (who they evidently refuse to get rid of no matter how unproductive he is) or the previously acquired Sosa to do so. Can they find a Sosa-esque player that they like more than Sosa?

What’s Feasible

The David Robertson trade is the only example from last year that might make sense. The team could look to acquire a reliever who has been on fire this year. The question remains, though – is that person better than Alverado when he returns? Is that person better than simply bringing Andrew Bellatti or Connor Brogdon back to the majors?

The only other reasonable trade is acquiring a left fielder. Unless the team is willing to bench Kyle Schwarber, however, this would require that Bryce Harper becomes the every day first basemen for the rest of the season. Otherwise, the team is benching Harper. The team could use the defensive upgrade over Schwarber but they already have that in Pache, Marsh or Rojas with one of the others in center.

Further, that move would require benching Rojas (or later Pache) in favor of this new batter. Again, unless the decision is made to bench Schwarber instead, the team would be pulling one of their center fielders.

Take a look at the batting statistics for this team. It may be in fewer at bats due to differing circumstances, but Marsh has been a top-three batter for the Phillies all season long. Pache has been among the most electric hitters for the team since he got comfortable and told reporters he’s never felt more accepted than with this team. Rojas has not show power, but his speed and contact have been impressive since his sudden call up from AA.

Would the team be better served removing one of the four best batters in their lineup each day for a trade target and leaving the dead weight to bat every day?

If you are really into match-ups, a right-handed bat could help even the team out a bit. This team already has issues with benching their top batters for pitching matchups, however.

What Should Happen

Fans will not want to hear it. This team was built to succeed.

Even the pitching depth, which was once questioned earlier in the season, is fairly solid.

This team has depth at every position already. The minor moves they’ve made over the course of the last season have largely paid off (sans Josh Harrison).

There’s no reason for the team to trade away potential future impact players at this point. The simple reality is that the guys who are “superstars” and paid as such need to pull their weight.

No matter who is added to this team, the squad will not be any better unless players like Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and JT Realmuto pull their craniums out of their scrotums. They will not be benched. They rarely, if ever, sit. That won’t change with a trade. They need to play the way they have their entire careers before 2023.

On the pitching staff, some health for the bullpen will do. Nola, Wheeler and Suarez are not getting bumped from the rotation. They need to pitch at the level everyone has already seen they are capable of.

This franchise could make a move to help if they run into more injuries, but it’s unwise to mortgage the future on a team that simply can’t get out of their own way. They’ve had well over half a season to prove themselves. They haven’t done so, so the Phillies shouldn’t risk going all in for a team of players that aren’t all in themselves.