3. Phillies traded Nick Pivetta to the Boston Red Sox
Putting the horrific production the Phillies got out of relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree aside following the August 2020 trade, having one of the arms they dealt to the Boston Red Sox — Nick Pivetta — would have been nice to have now.
Pivetta has been in almost an identical situation as Irvin — not producing eye-catching numbers, but still being available and ready when called upon with little to no injury concerns.
Over the past two seasons for the Red Sox, Pivetta has gone 19-20 with a 4.54 ERA, 1.345 WHIP, and 350-138 strikeouts-to-walks ratio spanning 64 appearances, 63 of which were starts. Recording 350 strikeouts in 334 2/3 innings is not something to glance over.
Most strikeouts with runners in scoring position, 2022:
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) February 14, 2023
Carlos Rodón, 56
Kevin Gausman, 51
Nick Pivetta, 49
Dylan Cease, 45
Martín Pérez, 44
Robbie Ray, 43
Germán Márquez, 43
Max Fried, 42
Corbin Burnes, 42
Gerrit Cole, 42 pic.twitter.com/hotBQhYHA3
The Phillies also included one of their highly coveted prospects Connor Seabold as part of this trade, however, the right-hander has not gotten off to a strong start to his big-league career. Making five starts last season with the Red Sox, Seabold went 0-4 with an 11.29 ERA and 2.345 WHIP spanning 18 1/3 innings. He struck out 19 batters but walked eight. Seabold has since been traded to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
The Phillies find themselves in a precarious situation with just days until the season begins. Surely, Dave Dombrowski is a veteran executive who likely already had backup plans on his whiteboard even before the recent slew of injuries occurred at spring training.
Having any combination of Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, Cole Irvin, and Nick Pivetta in the mix likely would have helped Dombrowski fill some of the voids, even on a short-term basis. These trades the Phillies made will begin to hurt this season.