Jordan Montgomery would be a fantastic trade target for Philly
While Rodriguez may not be the best option for the Phillies at the deadline, the idea of leaning into the Phillies' pitching strength has a ton of validity. Philadelphia has the best pitching staff in all of baseball in 2023 by fWAR at 15.7 and it isn't particularly close. If the right bat cannot be acquired, Philadelphia could do a lot worse than snagging the Cardinals' Jordan Montgomery and we have at least one recent report that has the Phillies as a fit.
First and foremost, Montgomery has been pitching well in 2023. While Montgomery has always been a strikethrower without overpowering stuff, he is working on the best season of his career in 2023 and has been one of the league's most consistent starters the last three seasons. The guy just puts up good starts each night and keeps his team in games which is incredibly valuable even if he isn't racking up a ton of strikeouts.
Another benefit here is that Montgomery is a pending free agent, so the cost to acquire him shouldn't be too prohibitive. He also is only making $10 million in 2023 so he won't screw up the Phillies' accounting too much, either. For a team like the Phillies that ideally would like to make multiple impact moves at the deadline, Montgomery wouldn't require too many resources to acquire which frees up prospects to make other moves.
One last note here: Goldschmidt was mentioned above as a dream target and he, too, plays for the Cardinals. It would be a peak Dave Dombrowski move to try and get both Montgomery and Goldy in the same deal. Pulling that off could really put a strain on the Phillies' farm system, but they probably have enough to get such a trade done assuming St. Louis is being anywhere close to reasonable.