Phillies trade rumors: Team “aggressive” in seeking pitching help

Despite their struggles, the Phillies are reportedly pursuing all leads as they look to bolster the pitching staff for a playoff push.

The Phillies have plenty of holes to fill at the trade deadline this year. They could conceivably acquire help at center field, third base, and both starting and relief pitcher. The club only has so much prospect talent they are willing to part with though, so they will pick and choose which needs the most attention.

That need appears to be pitching as former general manager, and current MLB insider Jim Bowden stated on CBS Sports HQ Tuesday that general manager Matt Klentak is “very aggressive” in his pursuit of pitching help.

Bowden said Klentak is in contact with “every team that has pitching available.” This coincides with what has been reported in recent weeks as the team has been linked to Baltimore’s Mychal Givens, Arizona’s Robbie Ray, Miami’s Caleb Smith, and Chicago’s Alex Colome.

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Further, the team is pursuing both starters and relievers, according to Bowden. He wrote for the Athletic [subscription required] about several combinations of starters and relievers who could be packaged together in a significant deal this month.

Bowden wrote that the Tigers’ duo of starter Matthew Boyd and closer Shane Greene would best fit in Philadelphia. Bowden isn’t the first to do so either; Jon Morosi of MLB.com mentioned the Phillies as a possibility to land the two a month ago.

Boyd would fit well behind ace Aaron Nola with the bonus of finally providing a consistent left-handed starter.

Boyd is in the midst of a breakout season with a 3.95 ERA, 3.47 fielding-independent pitching, 32.1% strikeout rate, 5.1% walk rate, 1.14 WHIP, and 3.0 Fangraphs wins above replacement in 19 starts. He will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason and won’t reach free agency until 2023.

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Greene is having the best season of his career with a 1.06 ERA, 3.65 fielding-independent pitching, 0.85 WHIP, 3.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.5 Baseball-Reference wins above replacement in 34 games. He isn’t as controllable as Boyd but isn’t a rental either as he will be a free agent after the 2020 season.

Acquiring both Boyd and Greene would come at a steep cost as pitching is in high demand at this year’s deadline.

At least one of Alec Bohm, Adonis Medina, or Adam Haseley would be included in the deal as well as multiple other young players.

Bowden says the team would be foolish not to be aggressive at the deadline after the moves they made during the offseason; this kind of trade certainly would be that.