What ultimately came across after all the Phillies trade rumors
After months of Phillies trade rumors, we finally have two official deals made at the trade deadline by Phillies general manager Matt Klentak.
Philadelphia improved both their bench and bullpen by acquiring two players from the American League East, catcher Wilson Ramos and reliever Aaron Loup.
Here are the breakdowns of the deals with Toronto and Tampa Bay at the trade deadline.
Loup fills in a lefty reliever role that Adam Morgan and Austin Davis have failed to fill. The Phillies don’t lose much with Jacob Waguespack, a career minor league pitcher in Triple-A.
He’s got good career numbers against lefties but this season his numbers have slipped. He’s set to be a free agent this year who shouldn’t command much if the organization wants to bring him back.
Ramos is on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, but projects to be back in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, he’ll help the Phillies young catchers with their defense before coming back and likely replacing Andrew Knapp as the backup catcher.
Both deals are low risk/high reward moves for Matt Klentak that could come out big for Philadelphia as they make a playoff run. If Ramos were healthy his deal would have been much bigger, but Klentak was smart to grab him now. He’s hitting .297 this year, better than all the Phillies catchers.
Deals can still be made in August, but players must clear waivers for a trade to go through.