The Grades Of The Phillies Closest Competition At The Deadline

Tuesday was one of the wildest trade deadlines in the history of Major League Baseball. There was a franchise-altering move, plenty of smart moves, some head-scratching moves, a few under-the-radar depth moves, and whatever the Colorado Rockies are doing.

 

 

Overall, the Phillies certainly got better yesterday. With the additions of Noah Syndergaard, David Robertson, and Brandon Marsh, they filled the holes on the team that needed to be filled. They also did the classic, “addition by subtraction” method by DFA’ing Jeurys Familia and Odubel Herrera, which makes yesterday a national holiday going forward.

 

Dave Dombrowski’s deadline performance was a lot like getting a Miller Lite at the bar (CC: Aidan Powers). Productive, but nothing Earth-shattering. Overall, the Phillies earned a respectable B+. It’s nothing I’d hang on the refrigerator and boast about to the relatives, but something that would earn a, “good job sport,” and a head noogie from your old man.

 

Something that’s important when analyzing the Phils moves is some context and perspective. This team as currently constructed probably isn’t winning a World Series, but that was never the goal. The goal is to get to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, and then once you get there, let it ride and just see what happens.

 

A big part in getting there is out of the control of the Phillies. Given the spot the Phillies are in at the moment, a lot of their playoff future will depend on how the teams around them perform down the stretch. Luckily for the Phils, not every team around them got better than they did.

The Clear Winners

 

San Diego Padres

If you followed the deadline yesterday and have an ounce of knowledge about the sport, it’s obvious that the San Diego Padres are in a class of their own in terms of the deadline. They shipped off nearly every single one of their prospects from their top ranked farm system and completely revamped their club.

 

 

The first line of that tweet is far more important than the list of prospects they gave up. Not only were the Padres able to get the closest thing to Ted Williams in the game today in Juan Soto, they also upgraded the sinkhole that was their first base position by adding Josh Bell too. If this was the only move San Diego made yesterday, they still would have won the deadline.

 

But that wasn’t all they did. In fact, the day prior, they shocked the baseball world by trading for one of the best closers in baseball in Josh Hader. It’s not often you see a team in first place like the Brewers trade away one of their best weapons mid-season. The Padres also added all-star snub Brandon Drury from the Reds for a relatively low cost. With Fernando Tatis on his back, i’m not sure where Drury fits in the infield. That, however, is a good problem to have.

 

Grade: A+

 

Atlanta Braves

The Braves are such a well-run machine. General manager Alex Anthopoulos has seemingly done everything right for the Braves since taking over in 2020. After making moves to completely revamp the roster at last season’s deadline, the Braves would go on to win the World Series.

 

This season, the Braves didn’t pull off any eye-popping trades, but they once again did nothing wrong. On Monday, the Braves flipped struggling reliever Will Smith to Houston for a starter in Jake Odorizzi, a clear win for Atlanta as they bolstered their already strong rotation.

 

Later that night, they made one of the most under-the-radar moves of the deadline in acquiring outfielder Robbie Grossman from Detroit. Grossman has struggled this year, but still has an OPS of over .900 against left-handed pitching. He’ll be a platoon in the outfield for Atlanta.

 

Then, the Braves pulled off a blatant robbery.

 

 

Mere MINUTES after the Phils plucked Syndergaard from the Halos, the Braves swooped in and took their closer for pennies on the dollar. Iglesias hasn’t been as dominant as his newly-inked fat contract (signed this past offseason) may suggest, but he’s still a legitimate bullpen piece. Considering what Atlanta gave up for him, this is another win for the Braves, as they get an upgrade over the aforementioned Will Smith. Luckily, Iglesias doesn’t have fond memories of facing the Phillies.

 

 

Grade: A

 

Uh, You Guys Awake?

 

St. Louis Cardinals

Despite having one of the best farm systems in baseball, the Cardinals followed the path of least resistance at the deadline. After being connected to the biggest names, such as Juan Soto, Frankie Montas, and Luis Castillo, they ended up with none of them. Instead, they made some minor moves to bolster their rotation.

 

First, they added left-hander Jose Quintana and reliever Chris Stratton from Pittsburgh. Quintana’s having a resurgent season, but Stratton has struggled this season. This move is fine, but they gave up some decent ammunition that doesn’t fit their return, at least in my opinion. They gave Pittsburgh RHP Johan Oviedo, who’s having the best year of his young career, as well as their 10th best prospect in infielder Malcolm Nuñez. I guess if you’re farm system is deep enough, you can afford to make a move like this.

 

 

This one’s a head-scratcher for both sides to me. The Yankees, who were aiming to add to their starting rotation, trade away a consistent piece in their rotation for a defensive outfielder. Uh, I guess? This is a solid move for the Cardinals, but you could still question whether giving up Bader was worth it. He’s had his struggles this season, but he’s coming off of a good season a year ago in which he won a gold glove. For a team that isn’t exactly deep in the outfield, time will tell if this deal was worth it for St. Louis.

 

There’s nothing explicitly wrong with either of these moves. It’s just that they don’t exactly make the Cardinals that much better. For a team that’s currently on the outside looking in if the playoffs began today, St. Louis needed moves that would take them above the Phillies in the wild card or Brewers in the NL Central. Neither of their moves on Tuesday did that.

 

Grade: C

 

New York Mets

I get that the Mets and their annoying fans will say Jacob deGrom is basically like getting a player back at the deadline. To that I say good luck keeping him healthy.

 

Outside of that “move” the Mets were surprisingly quiet during the deadline. After acquiring an all-time hoss in Daniel Vogelbach last week, the Mets got another left-handed bet from an NL Central team. They acquired Tyler Naquin and lefty reliever Phillip Diehl from Cincinnati for pennies on the dollar.

 

This trade feels fairly inconsequential to me, as it truly doesn’t make the Mets much better than they were. Naquin is a one trick pony and can only play against right-handed pitching. Diehl has an ERA over 11 in five games this season. I snooze.

 

Later on Tuesday, the Mets acquired reliever Mychal Givens from the Cubs. Givens has been solid this season, pitching to a 2.66 ERA in 40.2 innings. I’d consider this a better move if it wasn’t the Mets back-up plan to getting David Robertson from Chicago, who the Phillies poached from their grasp. That brings me great joy.

 

The Mets “big” trade they made on Tuesday was for former Phillies legend Darin Ruf. While Ruf is certainly a force against left-handed pitching, New York uhhh gave up a TON for a guy hitting .216 with 11 homers. The Mets gave the Giants of the baseball variety third baseman J.D.Davis, LHP Thomas Szapucki, LHP Nick Zwack, and RHP Nick Zwack.

 

The Mets gave up FOUR PLAYERS for DARIN RUF. Four players for a guy who’s likely only going to be a platoon DH is just plain idiotic. I thought the Mets were getting Soto? Or Willson Contreras? Or Trey Mancini? Or J.D. Martinez? They ended up with none, and truthfully they were never rumored to be heavily involved in getting them either. I snooze.

 

 

I need this team to have one of their patented collapses again. Inject it directly into my bloodstream.

 

Grade: D+

 

All-in-all, the Phillies didn’t have as good of a deadline as the Padres, but no one did. They certainly had a better deadline than the Cardinals and Mets, at least in my humble opinion. Truthfully, Dombrowski’s deadline performance wasn’t too far off from what Anthopoulos did with the Braves.

 

That, combined with the Phillies having one of the easiest schedules in baseball down the stretch AND the fact that they’re getting Jean Segura back Thursday and Bryce Harper back sooner rather than later, and folks, we may have October baseball again.

 

For all intents and purposes, all the Phillies have to do is stave off the Cardinals. I think they can do it.

By Matt Szczypiorski | August 3, 2022
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