The Philadelphia Phillies have had quite a lot of success developing starting pitchers in recent years. Homegrown hurlers Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez have become top-of-the-rotation arms, while the club took a talented but erratic Zack Wheeler and turned him into one of the best pitchers in the game.
The current team’s top-heavy rotation could benefit from another dynamite young starter. Unfortunately, they traded away just that in the Chicago Cubs’ Ben Brown.
The 2022 Phillies were a team on a mission, as the core of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Zack Wheeler looked to break a decade-long playoff drought. The club’s biggest trouble spot was a bullpen that was held together with bubble gum and duct tape after president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s offseason solution of signing has-beens Brad Hand, Corey Knebel and Jeurys Familia predictably fell apart.
Conveniently, Dombrowski was able to patch that hole at the trade deadline by reeling in old friend David Robertson in a deal with the Chicago Cubs for minor league pitcher Ben Brown. Robertson went on to shore up the back end of the Phils’ pen, working to a 2.70 ERA in 22 games for the eventual pennant-winning squad.
Robertson walked that year in free agency, making him a true one-year rental for a Phillies club with World Series aspirations. There’s no arguing the effectiveness of the deal, as a short-term veteran filled exactly the role he was asked to for a team that exceeded expectations in October.
And yet, the ramifications of that trade are still on display four years later. Brown made his major league debut in 2024, and acquitted himself well with a 3.58 ERA in 15 appearances for the Cubs. Last year didn’t go as smoothly, as the New Yorker posted an ugly 5.92 mark in 106 ⅓ frames.
The lanky 26-year-old came into this season penciled in as a swingman, having been boxed out of the rotation by marquee names like Shota Imanaga, Edward Cabrera and Matthew Boyd. However, The Cubbies have been hit hard by injuries, especially in the starting pitching ranks. Cade Horton, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Boyd are all currently on the shelf, leading the club to cobble together a mix of Colin Rea, Javier Assad and Brown behind Imanaga and Cabrera.
While Cubs fans may not have expected too much out of Brown coming into this year, he’s broken out over the season’s first two months. Across 62 innings the right-hander has put up a magnificent 1.74 ERA, punching out 61 batters and surrendering just a single home run. That production has made Brown a godsend for his squad, seeing as everyone else in the rotation aside from Assad (3.99) has an ERA over 4.00.
Ben Brown would be a perfect fit in the Phillies' rotation
Meanwhile, the Phillies could use some help with their starting staff. The one-two punch of Wheeler and Sánchez has been the best in baseball, and Jesús Luzardo has been his usual Jekyll and Hyde self. Unfortunately, veteran Aaron Nola and rookie Andrew Painter have been borderline unplayable, and Dombrowski may need to once again go shopping on the trade market to address the problem.
If the Phillies had hung on to Brown he would have fit in perfectly with their rotation, and would have eliminated the need to spend more prospect capital this summer to patch that hole. Moreover, he’s under team control for four more seasons, giving his club lots of cheap production during their competitive window.
Alas, that was not meant to be, as his Phillies tenure ended before it ever got off the ground. Still, fans should take solace in the fact that it wasn’t a dud of a deal. The 2022 Phillies snuck into the playoffs by the hair of their chinny chin chin, and they needed every win they could get. David Robertson did yeoman’s work locking down close games down the stretch, and without his presence there’s a good chance the Phillies never would have made the postseason at all, let alone go on a magical run to the World Series.
Sometimes the cost of doing business is parting with a prospect you really like. The Cubs wanted Brown because of his talent, and he’s delivered on that promise in spades. The Phillies got what they needed in a season where it really mattered, and the bill is coming due a few years later. Don’t be sad about what the Phillies missed out on; be happy about what they had.
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