Nick Piccone
Even though the Phillies aren’t contending this season, they’ve been a pleasant surprise to watch night in and night out. They started the season better than anyone could have expected them to, and heading out of the All-Star break last week, they were six games behind in the Wild Card.
Of course, they lost five of their last eight games. It might still be July, but in terms of the playoffs, the Phillies are likely looking to move some of their pieces to add for the future rather than acquiring someone who they think might help them during the stretch run.
With Jeremy Hellickson’s masterful performance against the Marlins on Wednesday, he’s the most likely to be traded. Peter Bourjos, who’s been hot as of late, is also a name that’s been thrown around. And Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez is getting some attention. With only three blown saves on the year, Gomez could absolutely bolster a team’s bullpen down the stretch.
Phillies general manager Matt Klentak spoke with reporters Thursday and said the team was “very active” and “open-minded” regarding ways to improve his club now and in the future. But he’s also not going to make a trade just to make a trade.
Sometimes when you feel compelled to make a trade, that’s when you make a bad trade,” Klentak said. “But I will say that it helps when we have players in the Minor Leagues who are putting themselves in position to be able to contribute and potentially back-fill an opening. That gives me more confidence as I enter the trade market … I can also envision a scenario where a lot of the guys are still here and the prospects are still in Triple-A. We’re open to it.”
Klentak’s first season has been about what we expected, and I like having a general manager that won’t make a trade just to make a trade. If the right deal isn’t out there for Hellickson, in Klentak’s eyes, then the Phillies shouldn’t move him. They’d probably try to re-sign him if that’s the case, which I’m sure most Phillies fans would be on board with currently.
Bourjos and Gomez? I wouldn’t be surprised if those two are traded just for the sake of being traded. General managers often speak out of both sides of their mouth, and there’s really no room for Bourjos in that outfield next year. The Phillies have a few guys in David Hernandez, Hector Neris and Edubray Ramos that could easily replace Gomez.
It’ll be interesting to see what Klentak does as the trade deadline approaches on August 1. If there’s one thing different about this year, it’s that I trust the Phillies’ general manager to make moves that will help this team sooner than later.