The Philadelphia Phillies will need to acquire multiple players before Monday’s 6:00 PM EST trade deadline hits, and they could kill two birds with one stone by swinging a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting pitcher Dustin May and outfielder Lars Nootbaar would be greatly beneficial to the Phils, who had a scout in the stands for May’s most recent start and have reportedly "asked" about Nootbaar, as have several other clubs. The Yankees were the only other one named by Cardinals insider Derrick Goold.
The Phillies have quite a few holes to fill in a very short timeframe, as they could use an innings-eating starter, a high-leverage relief arm and a quality outfield bat, among other things. Conveniently, the Cardinals could offer up solutions to at least two of those problems.
The Phils have a three-headed monster at the top of their rotation in Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo, but the corpse of Aaron Nola followed by a pupu platter of disappointing rookie Andrew Painter and spare parts have led to two out of every five games being scheduled losses. Dustin May is far removed from his borderline-ace high water mark with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he’s still a perfectly viable back-end rotation option.
The Cardinals signed the 28-year-old May to a one-year, $12.5 million pact this past offseason, and he’s rewarded them with 109 innings of 4.38 ERA ball, punching out 106 batters while walking only 35. That kind of production, while far from excellent, would be a massive improvement over the kind of dreck the Phillies are currently running out there.
Dustin May and Lars Nootbaar aren't elite talents, but they'd fit the Phillies like a glove
Lars Nootbaar is a similarly not elite, but perfectly serviceable option that would help to plug a gaping hole in the Phillies’ roster. The former Team Japan star missed the first two months of the season due to injury, but has fared decently well in 47 games since returning. The 28-year-old has posted a decent .235/.337/.353 line across 178 plate appearances, while providing his usual excellent outfield defense. Not only that, but he can be retained via arbitration for 2027, making him a nice add to next year's squad.
Nootbaar may not be the sexiest acquisition the Phillies could make, but he would certainly help patch up a tragic outfield mix. Brandon Marsh’s breakout year has hit the skids coming out of the All-Star break, while rookie Justin Crawford has yet to deliver on his first-round promise and right field has been a graveyard all year long. Nootbaar might not hit for a high average or a ton of power, but he draws plenty of walks and would add a terrific glove to a collection of outfielders far too used to chasing their own tails.
The Phillies don’t have the prospect capital to swing a massive deal for an elite outfielder while also addressing their other needs. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would be best served spreading around his (self-inflicted) limited resources to a handful of less headline-grabbing trades that could shore up multiple weak spots.
Long story short, a Dustin May here and a Lars Nootbaar there don’t make the Phillies shoo-ins for a World Series parade. However, upgrades around the margins can make a big difference in the postseason, and the Phillies could use all the upgrades they can get.
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