After less than a week on the active roster, the Phillies have already found a trade partner for veteran reliever Trevor Richards. The Phillies announced on Monday that Richards has been traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for cash considerations.
Richards had previously been selected to the major league roster last Thursday when Kyle Backhus was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. The right-hander only ended up appearing in two games for Philadelphia, tossing 4.1 innings to the tune of a 2.08 ERA and 2.91 FIP.
Despite the solid early results, Richards was squeezed off the roster by the impending return of closer Jhoan Duran. Duran has been out since mid-April with a left oblique strain, but will end up missing just a little over the minimum 15 days. While Richards was good, Duran’s five saves and 1.35 ERA blew the 32-year-old out of the water (and off the roster).
Though Richards didn’t do enough to hold on to his roster spot, Dave Dombrowski and Co. were at least able to recoup a bit of value in moving on. With Richards being out of options, the only other option would have been to try and pass him through waivers.
Richards arrived to the Phillies this past offseason as a minor league signee. At the time, the longtime Blue Jays bullpen arm was coming off of an up and down season after spending time on two different major league rosters. After starting the season with Kansas City and being tagged for four earned runs across three games and three innings of work, he finished the year strong with 2.2 innings of one-run work as a Diamondback.
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Chicago is partially trading on hopes that he can make good on what he has shown in the minors so far this season. Despite a middling major league track record that has left him as a middle innings depth arm, Richards worked to a 1.93 ERA in his first nine games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley to begin 2026 before being called up to the majors.
In 14 innings, Richards was averaging 16.7 strikeouts per nine innings. In 570 big league innings, Richards has struck out 9.8 batters per nine.
While the Phillies got to save money by avoiding Richards’ release, the White Sox get to take a flyer on a low-risk bullpen arm who could be flipped at the deadline if his minor league results translate and they fall out of contention in the muddled chaos that is the AL Central .
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