Phillies lose Guardians series but add new weapons

The Phillies lost two of three against the Guardians at Citizens Bank Park this weekend, dropping their fourth consecutive series. Local kid Tyler Phillips threw a complete game shutout on Saturday in between a pair of close losses.

Ultimately, however, this weekend will be remembered for a pair of trades that could help bring a parade to Broad St.

In: Austin Hays (Orioles OF). Out: RHP Seranthony Dominguez and OF Cristian Pache

Hays, 29, gives the Phillies the right-handed outfielder they’ve been looking for. Through Sunday, he’s hitting .248/.308/.382 (.690 OPS) for the season with three home runs in 65 games. The Phils believe that a lack of playing time was hurting Hays’ production with the Orioles. He was an All-Star for Baltimore in 2023, hitting .275/.325/.444 (.769 OPS).

Hays crushes left-handed pitching and currently sports an .881 OPS against lefties this season. He could make an excellent platoon partner for Brandon Marsh, who has dramatic splits this season (.844 OPS vs. RHP, .371 OPS vs. LHP). But the Phillies plan to give Hays some run as their everyday left fielder.

“I do not see him as a platoon, to tell you the truth,” said manager Rob Thomson about his new outfielder. “This guy was an All-Star last year. And for whatever reason, I don’t know Baltimore’s situation, but he wasn’t playing every single day. That maybe affected his numbers a little bit. I want to see what we have here.”

Hays will remain under club control with the Phillies through 2025.

It takes something to get something, of course. The Phillies shipped Dominguez and Pache to Baltimore in the deal, completing a rare swap of major-league players among World Series contenders. Dominguez had a 3.55 ERA in his Phillies career, but a 4.75 ERA in 2024. He had fallen in the bullpen depth chart, and probably wasn’t in line for much high-leverage work down the stretch or in the postseason.

Pache, meanwhile, is a speedy and talented defender but a career .179 hitter. That skill set was always a bit redundant on a Phillies roster featuring Johan Rojas.

Jamie’s instant reaction to the trade can be found in this emergency episode of the PHLY podcast.

In: Carlos Estevez (Angels closer). Out: minor league pitchers George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri

The Phillies were shopping in the relief pitcher market even before trading Dominguez, and Estevez is a nice fit. The 31-year-old righthander has been dominant for the Angels this season, posting a 2.38 ERA and 0.74 WHIP and collecting 20 saves in 23 opportunities. Four of the nine earned runs Estevez has allowed this season were scored by the Phillies back in April, and he’s currently riding an 18-inning scoreless streak.

Estevez has allowed just three hits and two walks during the streak. He’ll be a free agent after this season.

“To us he’s one of the best relievers in baseball this past year,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “Last month he was the relief pitcher of the month in the American League. He’s retired 53 of the last 58 hitters. He’s a guy that can pitch the ninth inning. He’s got 20 saves. How [Thomson] determines he’s going to use him, we’ll see, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a lot of ninth innings and slides people behind.”

Klassen and Aldegheri are enjoying terrific seasons in the low minor leagues. Klassen has a 1.97 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 59.1 innings with low-A Clearwater and high-A Jersey Shore. Aldegheri has a 3.23 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 78 innings, mostly with Jersey Shore.

It always stings to lose promising young pitching talent. But neither player is a top-100 prospect in Baseball America’s July 23 rankings and, regardless of whether they eventually make it to the major leagues, neither player was going to help the Phillies win a championship this season.

“It’s going to hurt at some point when you make a trade to try to win, and we are trying to win,” Dombrowski said. “We knew that we were going to have to give something up, because it’s definitely a seller’s market . . . It’s probably a little bit more than you like to give up for a rental, but who knows, maybe we’ll sign him once the year is over.”

Jamie and Tyler discuss the Estevez trade on the PHLY podcast here.

Are the Phillies finished dealing?

The trade deadline is 6:00 p.m. Tuesday. It’s unclear whether the Phillies are working to make additional moves. They certainly have the ammo to do so in the form of RHP Andrew Painter (ranked as the 20th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America), OF Justin Crawford (ranked 37th), SS/3B Aidan Miller (43rd), and SS Starlyn Caba (56th).

Because the Phillies were looking to acquire a reliever before losing Dominguez, it’s reasonable to think they may add another arm. After the Hays trade, Jim Bowden of The Athletic wrote that he still wonders if the Phillies will try to trade for an everyday center fielder. “Wouldn’t Luis Robert Jr. look phenomenal in this lineup?” asks Bowden.

He sure would, and at the right price I imagine the Phillies would pounce. But Dombrowski’s moves at least put the club in a position where they’re not desperate to acquire Robert Jr. (or any other top-shelf player, for that matter). They had the best record in baseball before the Hays and Estevez deals, and they’re a stronger team now than they were a few days ago.

It’s an enviable position to be in.

“We feel very comfortable where we are and we feel like now we have three people who can pitch at the back-end from the right-hand side with Estevez, [Orion] Kerkering and [Jeff] Hoffman,” said Dombrowski on Saturday. “And then from the left-hand side we feel comfortable too with [Jose] Alvarado, [Matt] Strahm and [Gregory] Soto . . . There’s a long way until Tuesday night at six o’clock but we feel really comfortable with where we are right now.”