The Philadelphia Phillies landed closer Carlos Estevez in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. The deal seemed to cement the Phillies as the most complete team in baseball. Despite this, Philadelphia isn’t done stockpiling bullpen arms, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The Phillies remain in the market for relief pitching as the MLB trade deadline draws near. And, as Rosenthal points out, Philadelphia’s president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski isn’t afraid to deal the team’s highly-coveted prospects for players that can help the Phillies win now.
It’s unclear exactly who Philadelphia will target after acquiring Estevez, especially considering that a number of relievers have already been dealt. Of the remaining bullpen arms on the market at the time of this writing, the Miami Marlins’ Tanner Scott tops the list. Of course, in addition to the Phillies, several other teams are competing for his services.
Other potential relief pitching trade candidates who are currently available include Paul Sewald of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pete Fairbanks of the Tampa Bay Rays, John Brebbia of the Chicago White Sox, Lucas Erceg of the Oakland A’s and Kyle Finnegan of the Washington Nationals.
The Phillies’ starting pitching has been exceptional this season. The group ranks top five in MLB in WHIP, batting average against and BB/9 and first overall in ERA, WPA and fWAR. However, the bullpen has been slightly less effective. Although Phillies’ relievers are top three in K/9, strikeout percentage and fWAR, the bullpen has been somewhat pedestrian when it comes to ERA (15th best in the majors), saves (14th), holds (16th), batting average against (19th) and WHIP (17th).
The Phillies look to add to the bullpen despite trade for Carlos Estevez
There’s no question that adding Estevez will have a significant impact on the group. The former Angels’ reliever has a 2.38 ERA, 0.735 WHIP, 1.3 BB/9, 8.5 K/9, an ERA+ of 180 and 20 saves in 34 innings so far this season.
All of those stats, with the exception of K/9, are a marked improvement over current Phillies’ closer Jose Alvarado’s 2024 numbers. Although Phillies’ manager Rob Thomson now has the ability to close out games strategically, using the right-handed Estevez or lefty Jose Alvarado as the situation dictates.
The Phillies also have Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm in the bullpen. Both relievers are having standout seasons. Hoffman in particular has been sensational with a 1.02 ERA, 0.909 WHIP, 12.3 K/9, nine saves and a ridiculous ERA+ of 399.
At 25 games over .500 entering play on Monday, the Phillies remain the best team in baseball. Although the team dropped to second place in our most recent MLB power rankings. Philadelphia easily sports the best run differential in the majors, which highlights the team’s elite ability to both score runs and prevent runs from being scored against them.
The Phillies sent an MLB-best eight players to the All-Star game this season. In addition to the three position players selected, five members of Philadelphia’s pitching staff were named to the Midsummer Classic including three starters and two relief pitchers.
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