Phillies: Worst trade deadline moves in franchise history

It’s been a rough less-than-24 hours for fans of the team that wears red pinstripes, as the Philadelphia Phillies lost out on starting pitcher Tyler Anderson after the trade had already been confirmed by multiple sources.

Embarrassing? Yes. Frustrating? Very.

But you know what’s even worse? When your favorite team actually makes a trade that turns out to be terrible for them.

Want to feel better about Anderson going to the Seattle Mariners? Be mad about these Phillies trades instead…

Phillies trade Cole Hamels to the Rangers, 2015 Trade Deadline

Cole Hamels had just thrown a no-hitter when the Phillies sent him to Texas. On the one hand, that’s pretty much peak trade value point for a former first-round pick and World Series MVP. On the other hand, it’s insane to rebuild without him and not around him.

The Phillies have only been a .500 team once since trading Hamels, while he went on to play for three postseason teams: the 2015 and 2016 Rangers, and the 2018 Chicago Cubs.

Hamels had so much left in the tank when the Phillies traded him, while none of the six (!) prospects they received in return ever amounted to anything significant. He posted a 3.90 ERA over four years in Texas, and then had a bounce-back two-year stint with the Chicago Cubs in 2018-2019.

In retrospect, the trade is still terrible. The only redeeming factor in this mess is that one of the prospects was used in the trade that brought J.T. Realmuto to Philly in 2019.