With the trade deadline upon us right now, the Philadelphia Phillies have yet to make a move to improve their roster in preparation for the playoff run. The trade action is expected to come any time now, and in doing so, The Athletic (subscription required) has made a bold prediction for the Phillies.
They predict that the Phillies will get a right-handed outfielder who will hit a dozen home runs in the final two months. That’s kind of pretty specific, so it won’t be 10, it won’t be twenty-something, but exactly 12 home runs in August and September combined. Nevertheless, it means that they will be getting some power-hitting, righty bat that can play in the outfield for the stretch run.
With Rhys Hoskins out for the regular season, with hopes that he may be back the for postseason if the Phillies make it, the Phillies had been lacking a right-handed power bat in the heart of their order for the majority of the 2023 season. So some possible candidates that would fit the criteria include Seattle Mariners’ Teoscar Hernández, Washington Nationals’ Lane Thomas, Boston Red Sox’s Adam Duvall, and New York Mets’ Tommy Pham. For Pham, he might not be up to the level of power as some of the aforementioned big names, but since The Athletic’s prediction is a dozen home runs in two months, Pham could possibly produce that number, given he was on a hot streak prior to his recent injury.
With respect to the other three, they are definitely no doubt power sluggers, but if the Phillies would like at least some kind of respectable defence at play as well, Duvall would probably be the ideal choice as he won a Gold Glove back in 2021, followed by Thomas who possesses the speed to cover good ground in the outfield. The Athletic also believes that Citizens Bank Park is a friendly venue for right-handed hitters to smash homers off, so they could take full advantage of that by acquiring any of the above trade targets.
Overall, the Phillies’ rivals have made some moves already, so it’s about time they do something. Honestly, anything, just anything to help give the Phillies’ faithful something to root for and be confident about going into the stretch drive.