Thanks to the advent of the third Wild Card spot and a ridiculously weak American League this year, the trade market is rife with buyers and lacking in sellers. Not only will that supply-demand imbalance skyrocket prices on the few win-now players who are available, but it also means that most teams won't hit all of their needs before the Aug. 3 deadline rolls around.
The Philadelphia Phillies are in an especially precious position. One of the few no-doubt sellers with lots to trade (the New York Mets) is a chief division rival who likely won't be doing business with Dave Dombrowski. In the same breath, the Phillies have multiple roster holes to address -- a right-handed hitter, an outfielder, a starting pitcher, and a set-up man -- and not a ton of prospect depth from which to trade from.
In other words, they're going to have to hope some teams on the periphery of the Wild Card race start doing a whole lot of losing, lest they find themselves in a few bidding wars they can't win.
3 on-the-fence teams who would make Phillies' trade deadline goals a lot easier to fulfill by selling
San Diego Padres
In their desperate attempt to stay above .500 and within striking distance of the third NL Wild Card, the Padres' biggest flaws have been exposed. Their rotation is built on Michael King and a whole lot of blind faith, while their well-compensated superstars on offense continue to struggle compared to even league-average hitters.
A.J. Preller is the one executive in the league more aggressive than Dombrowski, so if the Friars decide to sell, expect them to go all-in on a retooling effort for 2027 beyond. Nothing will be off the table, including Fernando Taits Jr. and Mason Miller.
More reasonable targets for the Phillies would include King (3.34 ERA), reliever Adrian Morejon (2.46 FIP), or first baseman Ty France (142 wRC+).
Minnesota Twins
These two teams have a lot of recent history, and even though Derek Falvey is no longer steering the ship in Minnesota, the Twins would make for an excellent trade partner if they opt to sell instead of trying to hang on in the AL Central.
Byron Buxton is obviously the dream target, but the odds are low that he gets moved this summer. Trevor Larnach (a left-handed hitter) is having an excellent season in left field (138 wRC+) and would be a fine consolation prize; alternatively, the Phillies would surely find a way to make room for Ryan Jeffers' scorching-hot (.950 OPS) right-handed bat.
On the pitching side of things, the Phillies could reengage in trade talks for Joe Ryan, though a trade of that magnitude would likely empty out what remains at the top of the farm system. Bailey Ober (4.32 ERA) would bring a sturdy floor to the back of the rotation and cost far less, if Dombrowski wants to save his best assets for a hitter.
Houston Astros
Putting the Astros and "sellers" in the same sentence feels wrong after their last decade of success, but what made the 2022 champions so great has slowly withered away. Now, they're barely clinging onto life amongst a mediocre field of contenders in the AL Wild Card race.
I won't even bother touching on Yordan Alvarez, because he's cost so much it'd make your eyes water. Instead, the Astros have a pair of right-handed bats in Isaac Paredes (121 wRC+) and Jeremy Pena (.452 slugging percentage) that could fix the biggest issue in the Phillies' lineup.
There aren't many pitchers who would be realistically available that are worth mentioning, though bringing in Steven Okert (2.17 ERA) or Josh Hader (39.7% strikeout rate) could completely alter the tune around the bullpen.
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