3 Biggest Swings and Misses The Phillies Made at the Deadline
Let's look at the Phillies' 3 biggest swings and misses at the 2023 trade deadline.
At the August 1st Major League Baseball trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies made one significant trade and one smaller trade to round out the roster before beginning the final two month stretch of the 2023 regular season.
Philadelphia traded infield prospect, Hao-Yu Lee to the Detroit Tigers for starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen. Lorenzen will be used as a back end starter and could be used out of the bullpen in the postseason.
The team also traded left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter to the Pittsburgh Pirates for infielder Rodolfo Castro. While both trades will help the Phillies make a push towards October, there were still more players the team could have acquired to improve the roster. Here are three players that were traded that the Phillies will regret missing out on.
Let's look at the Phillies' 3 biggest swings and misses at the 2023 trade deadline.
1. Jeimer Candelario
Candelario has had a fantastic season in 2023 for the Washington Nationals. He has been valuable offensively and defensively. On the offensive side, he has an OPS over .847. This impressive stat line has been pushed heavily by his high slugging which is just under .500. Candelario has 16 home runs and 54 RBIs so far this season, which puts him on pace to easily pass his previous career highs. Candelario is on a one year $5 million contract that expires at the end of this season, making his production extremely valuable for his price.
Defensively, Candelario is one of the best in the sport and possibly the best to be moved at this years deadline. His outs above average are in the 91st percentile and his DWAR is 0.3.
In total, Candelario's WAR sits at 3.5, which ranks 25th in MLB in 2023. Candelario will be a big boost to the Cubs down the stretch as Chicago pushes for a Wild Card spot. Philadelphia could have used a player just like Candelario. His switch hitting with his ability to play great defense in the corner infield spots made him one of the best infielders available. Instead they went a cheaper route, acquiring Castro who has a similar archetype to Candelario with way less production.
2. Randal Grichuk
Grichuk was dealt from the Colorado Rockies to the Los Angeles Angels in a package that included CJ Cron and Grichuk for two of the Angels top 30 prospects, Jake Madden and Mason Albright
2023 has been a surprisingly good season for Grichuk. Despite being a career .251 hitter, Grichuk is hitting .305 with and OPS of 851 this season. Grichuk's contract expires at the end of the 2023 season and he would have been a rental for Philadelphia.
He has nine home runs and 28 RBIs so far this season. Grichuk's name of the game in 2023 has been hitting the ball hard. He is above average in Max Exit Velo, hard hit %, and XBA. His max exit velo ranks in the 71st percentile, his hard hit % is in the 62nd percentile and his XBA is in the 75th percentile.
Against left handed pitchers, Grichuk is hitting an outstanding .364 and has a 1.066 OPS.
The Phillies could have used another outfield option like Grichuk for the final two months of the season. An outfielder who can hit left handed pitching has been a need for Philadelphia the entire season. Brandon Marsh has been impressive overall, but still does not fill the void against lefties. Christian Pache was good, but has had injury issues. Johan Rojas has defended well since enetering the Majors, but still has not showed much offense. Not adding an outfield bat was questionable by the Phillies front office at the deadline. Randal Grichuk would have been a perfect fit.
3. Jordan Hicks
Relief Pitcher Jordan Hicks was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline for prospects Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein.
Hicks has been extremely productive in 2023 and is on an expiring contract that owes him just $1.84 million. In 43 appearances this season, Hicks has a 3.80 ERA and 1.489 WHIP. Hicks is known for his high velocity pitches. He's thrown the most pitches over 100 MPH this season out of anyone in the league.
Advanced stats favor Hicks and have him ranked as a top reliever in baseball in 2023. His fastball velocity is in the 100th percentile, barrel % is in the 95th percentile, and xSLG is in the 98th percentile.
Philadelphia could have used Hicks in the back end of the bullpen to make one of the best bullpens even better. By acquiring Lorenzen at the deadline, the Phillies will move to a six man starting rotation which takes one man out of the bullpen. As a result, Andrew Vazquez was designated for assignment.
Rather than sticking with the five man rotation and bolstering the bullpen with the acquisition of a player of Hicks' caliber, the Phillies actually made their bullpen weaker. Philadelphia does have a top ten bullpen in MLB based on ERA. However, if the 2022 World Series run proved anything, it showed that most of the time, the team with the best bullpen will win the series. Additionally, we learned that you truly can never have enough bullpen arms once a team enters October.
Hicks would have been an amazing addition to what the Phillies have already built in the bullpen.
Overall, the Phillies did improve slightly at the trade deadline. While they could have made more moves to improve the roster, the team is in a good position with two months of the regular season to play.