On Tuesday, Major League Baseball’s trade deadline came and went, and once again this year, the Phillies and Dave Dombrowski were active.
They knew they needed a right-handed hitting outfielder who could hit left-handed pitching well, and they got one by acquiring Austin Hays from Baltimore for struggling reliever Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Christian Pache. They landed outstanding Angels closer Carlos Estevez for two highly regarded pitching prospects, although the price tag to acquire him was far less than other teams paid who were seeking high-impact, late-inning relievers.
On Tuesday, they traded for left-handed specialist relief pitcher Tanner Banks from the White Sox for an infield prospect, and they traded away lefty reliever Gregory Soto for a starting pitching prospect named Seth Johnson, who will start for AA Reading.
Brent Rooker and Luis Robert, Jr. did not come to Philadelphia. Fans were surely disappointed they didn’t land a power bat, but on its face, the additions they did make shore up some areas of weakness for the Phillies, and Dombrowski didn’t have to give up his best prospects to get them. So, kudos there. And while Estevez is probably the biggest true difference-maker in an October playoff series, the Phils did not get a superstar at the trade deadline. There really wasn’t one available.
The additions come as the Phils are playing their worst baseball of the season, and everyone is grouchy about it.
For the first three months of the 2024 Phillies season, they were the undisputed best team in baseball, both in terms of record, run differential, offensive production and pitching. They were benefitting from a relatively easy schedule early on, and wiped the floor with all comers in the process.
After sweeping a three-game series against the loaded Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park July 9-11, the Phils were a season-high 29 games over .500, 61-32, with a 9½-game lead in the National League East. They had just dominated a Dodgers team that most analysts believed was the World Series favorite coming into the season. The vibes were pristine.
Stumbling through July
Since then, the struggles have been real.
They lost two of three to an Oakland A’s team that had one of the worst records in baseball, culminating in a humiliating 18-3 loss in the final game before the All Star break. They returned from that break losing two out of three in Pittsburgh and two out of three in Minnesota, followed by a home series loss to Cleveland and, this week, a series loss to the Yankees.
That’s five straight series losses since their sweep of the Dodgers, and a 4-10 record in their last 14 games through Tuesday. Going back to the London series against the Mets, the Phillies are 20-22, and the first two games of their series against the Yankees serves as a microcosm for how things have gone the last two weeks.
On Monday, ace starter Zack Wheeler got absolutely destroyed by New York’s bats, with Aaron Judge and newly acquired infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisolm (a player the Phils could have pursued to be their centerfielder but chose not to), each hitting two dingers in a 14-4 bludgeoning.
On Tuesday, Matt Strahm uncharacteristically could not protect a 4-2 lead in the seventh as Chisolm once again went deep twice, his seventh-inning, three-run blast giving New York a 5-4 lead. The Phils fought back to tie it in the ninth and the 11th, but once again couldn’t find that one big hit to break though and lost, 7-6, in 12 water-torture innings.
The offense has gone dead cold. On Tuesday night, the top five hitters in the lineup — Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh — went 2-for-26 (an .077 average). Coming into Tuesday’s game, J.T. Realmuto was 3-for-21 since returning from the injured list, Harper was 4-for-his-last-49 (.184), Turner was 11-for-53 (.208), Bryson Stott was 8-for-34 (.235) and Schwarber, despite a two-homer game on Sunday, was 10-for-44 (.227).
It doesn’t matter what additions were made at the deadline if the star players who are already here are going to hit like this, and it doesn’t matter who they added if the relievers the team has counted on for the last two years suddenly start blowing multi-run leads.
The Phillies are playing poor fundamental baseball. They are undisciplined at the plate. They are flailing at pitches out of the strike zone. When they get a good pitch to hit, they’re fouling it off. They all seem to be swinging for the fences at all times, unable to move runners over or get them in from third base with less than two outs.
It is, in short, infuriating to watch this baseball team right now, and you are right to be concerned.
However, it is not time to panic. Not yet.
The Phillies have done this before. In 2022 and ‘23, the team had extended slumps just like this and pulled out of it in due course. And after all, it’s not how you’re playing at the end of July that matters. It’s how you’re playing once September rolls around.
Despite their struggles, the Phils still own the largest divisional lead in baseball, 7½ games over the Braves and 8 over the Mets. They’ve earned this breathing room thanks to their success in April and May. And no, they are probably not going to get back to that level again the rest of the way, but they probably will go back to being a winning team again at some point soon.
West Coast redemption?
As Tom Petty said, “The waiting is the hardest part,” and we may have to wait a tad longer. After this homestand is over, the Phils hit the road for a 10-game West Coast road trip, with three games against the AL West-leading Mariners, three games against the Dodgers in LA, and then a four-game series against the Diamondbacks in Arizona, who are 57-51 and playing their best baseball of the season.
Philadelphia sports fans continue to feel the effects of last year’s Eagles collapse, a 10-1 start that felt to many like it was a house of cards in the moment, a feeling that ultimately proved to be true. There is real concern a similar fate awaits these Phillies; a fast start built on the back of a favorable schedule collapsing to the earth in a smoldering heap.
It’s too soon for that kind of doom-and-gloom thinking, but there are certainly reasons to be concerned.
Make sure to check out the latest Hittin’ Season podcast as we break down the moves the Phillies made at the trade deadline and how they will impact the team over the season’s final two months.
