Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski woke up everyone on Monday with the massive splash of acquiring second baseman Luis Arraez. The Phillies got the bat they needed, but the front office's expected follow-up deal for another back-end rotation arm never came to fruition before the 6 PM deadline. It made sense to acquire another starter, but the Phillies stayed put and let arm after arm fall off the board. The Phillies will regret not bringing someone else in. One name who would've fit perfectly was new Chicago Cubs starter Clay Holmes.
Like lefty reliever Brooks Raley, Holmes would have been another piece to steal away from the rival New York Mets. He would have been a perfect addition to this Phillies starting rotation, one that is top-heavy but also lacks a reliable arm that can be transplanted to the bullpen in a playoff series. Holmes could have eased Phillies fans' pain every fifth day and utilized his plethora of experience in a bullpen role come October. The Phillies needed some kind of contingency plan in case anything happened to their top three guys, but it's anyone's guess who that could be from now on.
Cubs steal perfect deadline piece Clay Holmes, ruin Phillies' October succession plan
The Phillies are not only thinking about August or even September. They are focused on the postseason with less than a third of the regular season ahead. The trade deadline is a last-ditch effort to put the final pieces in place before the postseason commences in October. The Cubs made the most of the deadline while leaving Phillies fans wishing more was done.
In nine starts before a freak injury, Holmes had a cool 2.39 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and 45 strikeouts across 52 2/3 innings. He missed the last few months after suffering a fractured fibula on a comebacker in May but is now reportedly set to return this week. He also had a 3.53 ERA across 31 starts in 2025, so the consistency has been there since converting from the 'pen. His 95th percentile ground ball rate shows that he can be a steady arm to get big outs with a sturdy defense behind him (Stott/Arraez up the middle might've helped that cause). Before moving to the rotation in Queens, Holmes accrued 74 saves as a member of the New York Yankees from 2022 to 2024. He was as big of a plug-and-play guy as the Phillies could have hoped was on the trade market.
The Phillies have tried to juggle the back-end solution for months. Aaron Nola has been regressing but has shown some real upside in his last few starts. They just recalled former top pitching prospect Andrew Painter on Friday with some signs of growth. Without another big arm to count on, the club that has come up short in the postseason year after year will have to find that solution internally.
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