The Phillies' top trade deadline need has varied throughout the first 96 games. At times it's looked like center field. At times it's been like a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder.
As strong as the rotation has been, there are even questions in that area right now as well with Zack Wheeler dealing with back spasms, Ranger Suarez scuffling in his last four starts, Taijuan Walker rehabbing a blister and Spencer Turnbull out until at least mid-August with a lat strain.
Still, the Phillies have fewer holes than any team in baseball. They haven't fluked their way to MLB's best record. But 2024 isn't about the regular season, obviously. The Phillies have come painfully close to winning it all two years in a row only to fall in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series and Game 7 of the 2023 NLCS. If they win 106 or 110 games, great, but all anyone will remember is what happens in October.
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As such, there's no better year for a front office to try to plug holes and strengthen its roster than this one. The Phillies have as good a chance as any team to win the World Series. If they make it that far and face a left-handed starting pitcher in Game 1, are they going to feel comfortable starting Cristian Pache or Weston Wilson in left field? There are certain things you can get away with during the regular season that you can't hide in the playoffs. Those three or four plate appearances per game will be magnified.
In the coming days, we'll sift through a list of potential Phillies trade targets leading into the July 30 deadline. Some will be center fielders, even though the outfielder they add doesn't need to be one. They could just as easily — and seem more likely to — acquire a corner outfielder and turn center field into a Brandon Marsh-Johan Rojas platoon.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski arrived with the reputation of being prone to trading top prospects in win-now moves. He'd done so frequently at his prior two stops, Boston and Detroit, with mostly a high level of success. But there hasn't been a series of blockbuster trades shipping out prospects since Dombrowski was hired by the Phils in December 2020. The most notable minor-leaguer he's traded has been catcher Logan O'Hoppe, who almost doesn't count because he brought back a young player in Marsh. Outside of that, it's probably been pitcher Ben Brown, who was traded to the Cubs for David Robertson, or second baseman Hao-Yu Lee, who was dealt for Michael Lorenzen.
That's not an indication one way or another whether this is the summer the Phillies will make a more aggressive trade, just that they've managed to consistently improve year over year while hanging on to nearly all of their best young assets. It allows for some flexibility and creativity this month if the right opportunity arises.
Philadelphia Phillies
Is Brent Rooker the right opportunity?
Rooker left a clear impression over the weekend in the Phillies' series loss to the Oakland Athletics. He went 7-for-12 with three homers, a double and seven RBI, homering 450 and 452 feet to center field on Sunday.
A powerful right-handed hitter, Rooker turns 30 on Nov. 1. He is under team control for three full seasons after 2024 and can't become a free agent until after 2027. He earns $750,000 this season before his first of three arbitration years, the point at which a player begins to get more expensive and when the A's usually trade him away.
The Rooker trade situation is complicated by a few factors. Most notably, he barely plays the field. He was Oakland's designated hitter all weekend despite it being somewhat of a showcase series. He hasn't played left field in 38 games dating back to May 30. The A's clearly don't think he can play the field even passably or else you'd figure they'd have trotted him out there at least one of the three games at Citizens Bank Park.
The defensive component matters because the Phillies have a steady DH in Kyle Schwarber. If they acquire Rooker, they'd have to use either Schwarber or Rooker in left field with a Marsh-Rojas platoon in center. That would negatively impact the defense, which took off last summer once Schwarber became the everyday DH.
In any Rooker evaluation, the Phillies would be weighing the defensive downgrade vs. the offensive upgrade. Can a contending team live with Nick Castellanos in one outfielder corner and Rooker or Schwarber in the other?
Castellanos is an important piece of this whole conversation. He's done damage in the NLDS against the Braves two years in a row but has slumped badly in the other playoff series and is a .196 hitter in the postseason as a Phillie. He is prone to ice-cold spells and the Phillies can't afford for him to have one in October for a third straight year. Rooker would be big-time protection against that because he could slot into the five- or six-spot and he'd likely be the Phillies' second most dangerous right-handed bat after Trea Turner.
Between Rooker's hot streak and 3½ years of control, the asking price will be high. But it will be hard for the Phillies or any other organization to part with one of its top couple prospects in a trade for a DH. If Oakland is willing to accept a package centered around a high-upside prospect who is farther away, or a couple of guys ranked in the No. 10-12 prospect range, a trade would be more realistic. You'd figure the Phillies would also part with one of their current outfielders in that scenario, though the A's are probably uninterested in Pache, who they essentially gave away to the Phillies late last March.
A larger trade could potentially be discussed involving A's closer Mason Miller, but that would almost certainly involve top prospects because Miller has been the most overpowering reliever in baseball this season and has less than a year of service time. His big-league career has just begun and he's three or four years away from making anything close to his worth.