Phillies trade Bailey Falter to Pirates for middle infield depth

Yesterday was one of the most important and anticipated days on the MLB calendar. It was MLB Trade Deadline Day and given the landscape of the league, there are at least 15 teams within striking distance of a playoff spot. One of those teams is our beloved Philadelphia Phillies. Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies believed that the team needed to ensure themselves of some infield depth.

The insurance in the infield acquired is infielder Roldofo Castro from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The move is a straight-up one-for-one trade. The Phillies are sending left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter to Pittsburgh. 

Falter was an unsung hero of last year’s run to end the Phillies’ eleven-year playoff drought. Falter held up a shaky back end of the rotation last season by going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA last August and 3-1 with a 3.51 ERA last September. This year Falter couldn’t channel that same success as he’s 0-7 with a 5.13 ERA and hasn’t pitched since May 15th for the Phillies. 

Rodolfo Castro is a 24-year-old utility infielder who has played a decent-sized portion of games at either second base, shortstop, and third base. Castro is in his third year of his MLB career. The infielder doesn’t hit arbitration for a raise in his salary until the 2026 off-season. In his 2023 season, Castro, over 78 games this season, has accumulated a .226 batting average, a .317 on-base percentage, a .355 slugging percentage, 45 hits, 19 runs, six home runs, 22 RBI, 21 walks, and 62 strikeouts in 197 at-bats. 

Castro has played at second base the most this season with 41 appearances. Coming in second is his 31 shortstop appearances. The final spot he can play in the infield is third base and he has played in the ‘’hot corner’ in nine games this season. His versatility will be useful as the baseball games get tighter and situational baseball is more evident as the games matter more. This move is reminiscent of a move on the margins like acquiring Edmundo Sosa at last summer’s deadline.