8 Halloween-scary trades that still haunt Phillies fans
By Matt Rappa
These eight Halloween-scary trades still haunt the Phillies, years later.
Over the years, the Philadelphia Phillies have made their fair share of excellent trades; the most recent example is former general manager Matt Klentak acquiring slugger Jay Bruce from the Seattle Mariners seemingly for free.
On the other hand, there are many more examples of trades that simply did not work out. Even some, that still haunt the Phillies to this day. In the spirit of Halloween, we look back at eight such “scary” trades from 2005-2020.
8. Traded RHPs Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold to Boston for RHPs Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree.
August 21, 2020
Just more than two months ago, the Phillies traded Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold to the Boston Red Sox in an attempt to replenish their near all-time-worst MLB bullpen, acquiring veteran right-handed relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree.
As Phillies, Workman would go 1-4 with a 6.92 ERA in 14 appearances. Hembree, meanwhile, went 1-0 with a 12.54 ERA in 11 outings. Both former World Series champions are now no longer on the team’s roster, as they have entered free agency.
Because of this, the Phillies only set themselves up for failure in that both Pivetta and Seabold are bound to make some semblance of a positive impact in the coming seasons. Pivetta already showed this, going 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts in a Red Sox uniform.
The 24-year-old Seabold, meanwhile, has yet to pitch above the Double-A level, but he is being highly regarded as one of the more promising Red Sox pitching prospects of the future. To make matters worse, the current starting pitching-depleted Phillies could have given him a look in a few months at spring training as a possible complement to Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler in the rotation.