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3 Phillies trades that will hurt this season after Rhys Hoskins, pitching injuries

By Matt Rappa |
Nick Maton and Matt Vierling, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies
Nick Maton and Matt Vierling, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies / Kirk Irwin/GettyImages
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Just weeks ago, all seemed well for the Philadelphia Phillies heading into the 2023 season, but that does not seem to be the case entering the final weekend of 2023 Grapefruit League action.

With injuries across almost every facet of the roster, there are plenty of decisions for manager Rob Thomson and the Phillies front office to make as they finalize the club's Opening Day roster for a matchup against the Texas Rangers on Thursday, March 30.

The reigning National League champions parted ways with some key players in recent seasons who would have been valuable for them to have now as depth options. Here are three such trades that will begin to hurt this season.

1. Phillies traded Matt Vierling and Nick Maton to the Detroit Tigers

Thursday's news that star first baseman Rhys Hoskins requires ACL surgery and will likely miss the entire 2023 season came at an inopportune time — less than a week for the Phillies front office to come up with short and long-term solutions to replace the veteran slugger.

We recently explored the top three options on how the Phillies can fill the first base void, but perhaps President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski would like a do-over as it relates to an early January trade he made with one of his former organizations — the Detroit Tigers.

One of the top moves the Phillies made this offseason was dealing outfielder Matt Vierling, infielder Nick Maton, and catcher Donny Sands to the American League Central club in exchange for left-handed reliever Gregory Soto and infielder Kody Clemens.

Now without Hoskins, the Phillies could have used the right-handed-hitting Vierling at first base opposite left-handed pitchers — platooning him with Darick Hall. Vierling fielded a combined 57 innings at first base for the Phillies between the 2021 and 2022 seasons and committed no errors spanning 48 chances. He also helped turn a combined six double plays.

The Phillies could have also gotten creative and explored using Maton at first base. Having become a fan favorite among players on the team and fans with his "Wolfie" nickname, Maton had some big moments across his 86 games with the Phillies in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. In 34 games and 85 plate appearances for the eventual National League champions in 2022, Maton slugged five home runs and 17 RBI.

2. Phillies traded Cole Irvin to the Oakland A's

Just as the Phillies are dealing with finding a replacement for Rhys Hoskins at first base, they similarly will need solutions to fill gaps in their starting rotation early in the season.

Behind Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Taijuan Walker, there are no definite answers for the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. There was a point this spring when the Phillies may have considered using six starters to help keep everyone healthy, but that is not even a likely option at this point.

Nick Nelson (hamstring), Andrew Painter (elbow), Cristopher Sánchez (triceps), and Ranger Suárez (elbow) are all going through their respective injuries — and it is not exactly known when any will be fully healthy and ready to compete.

Bailey Falter seems to be a lock for one of the current rotation openings. Beyond him, it is anyone's guess with just days until the season begins. One name the Phillies might like to have back in the mix is fellow left-hander Cole Irvin. Back in January 2021, the Phillies traded Irvin to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations.

The 29-year-old was a durable starter for the A's the past two seasons — recording 62 starts, albeit posting a 19-28 record, 4.11 ERA, and 1.244 WHIP ratio. The Phillies' former fifth-round draft selection was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason and is expected to be one of the American League East club's rotation mainstays in the coming campaign.

While Irvin's numbers are not appealing at first glance, just having him there to eat much-needed innings would have been a perfect commodity for the Phillies to have, especially given their current lack of starting pitching depth.

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.

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.

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