Phillies GM Matt Klentak has difficult mission as trade deadline approaches | Bob Brookover
Klentak needs to find starting-pitching help as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, and that's not the only area where the team has holes.
The most important trade deadline of Matt Klentak’s tenure as Phillies general manager is on the immediate horizon, and recent developments have amplified the degree of difficulty for a man who still believes his team can make the playoffs and even win the National League East.
He knows the Phillies are not the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, or New York Yankees. Those teams make deals at the deadline already sure they are going to be in the postseason.
Klentak will be trying to make deals that will get the Phillies into the postseason for the first time in eight years with the thought that his ballclub has good years ahead, too.
Klentak is not in go-for-broke mode, so a rising star prospect such as third baseman Alec Bohm is going to be off-limits. Klentak knows, however, he’d have a tremendously disappointed fan base if the Phillies do not make the playoffs this season, so he will be working the phones to upgrade the roster over the next 5½ weeks.
Klentak knows something else as well.
“I think what is most important is that the core members of the current 25-man club need to play well,” the general manager said during a telephone interview. “That is going to be the biggest driver of our 2019 success. We will do everything we can at the deadline to fill in some gaps, but the fate of our performance rests with the remainder of our roster.”
That’s a fair statement. Klentak was a busy man before the start of this season, adding, among others, Andrew McCutchen, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura, and David Robertson. Every single one of those players represented an upgrade from a season ago, but the Phillies, at 39-35, are two games worse after 74 games this season than they were a year ago.
The huge improvement expected from the offense has been merely a minor uptick. The team has 89 home runs and is averaging 4.8 runs this season. A year ago, the Phillies had 85 home runs and were averaging 4.4 runs through 74 games.
Harper has not performed as expected, the season-ending injury to McCutchen could have devastating consequences, and Segura, after a hot start, has been in one of the worst slumps of his career in June. Even Realmuto, despite his impressive work behind the plate, has been behind his pace of a year ago at the plate.
Rhys Hoskins is the only regular who has lived up to expectations, and Scott Kingery is the only player who has exceeded them, despite missing a month with a hamstring injury.
Klentak deserves a lot of credit for his first in-season trade because Jay Bruce has provided what little offense the Phillies have had this month. Since his arrival, he has six of the team’s 21 home runs and 15 of the team’s 60 RBIs over a 15-game period. He played in only 13 of those games.
In a perfect world, Bruce could have become the everyday left fielder and McCutchen would have moved to center field, allowing Kingery to become the regular third baseman. Now, the Phillies’ in-house options in center field are Kingery, oft-injured Roman Quinn, and rookie Adam Haseley, who should soon be starting a rehab assignment after landing on the injury list because of a groin injury two games into his big-league career.
The team is not basing any plans on Odubel Herrera’s return because it has no idea when he will be eligible to play again after his Memorial Day arrest in a domestic-abuse case in Atlantic City.
Klentak will look for help on the offensive side, and Kingery’s ability to play center field and third base gives the general manager some flexibility in his search.
In need of roster space, the Yankees might be willing to deal outfielder Cameron Maybin, who has been one of that team’s many super fill-ins while Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have been on the injured list. Detroit’s Nick Castellanos is the biggest potential outfield name on the trade market, but he is strictly a corner outfielder.
The Pirates are fielding offers for veteran Melky Cabrera, who can still hit but has not played center field since 2014. The Bucs’ Corey Dickerson is an option as an outfield bench upgrade.
San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval is available and having his best season in years if the Phillies want a switch-hitting third-base rental now that it’s obvious Maikel Franco has no present or future here. The Panda has even shown a willingness to pitch on those blowout days when the manager needs to save his bullpen.
Speaking of the bullpen, internal help is on the way with the expected activation of Adam Morgan from the injured list for the weekend series against Miami. Tommy Hunter is also near a return, and Klentak is hopeful that Robertson will be back at some point in July. The Phillies were also heartened to learn that Seranthony Dominguez did not need season-ending surgery, even though his return date remains uncertain.
Quality bullpen arms are always welcome, however, and some really good ones could be available, including former Phillies closer Ken Giles, who is now with Toronto, and San Francisco’s Will Smith, a lefty who has been dominating since returning from Tommy John surgery last season.
The Phillies’ greatest weakness, however, is obvious.
A year ago around this time, there was a strong sentiment for the team to add Cole Hamels in a trade with Texas, but the former Phillies lefty went to the Chicago Cubs instead, and he has a 2.63 ERA in 27 starts since then.
“I think with the way we played in the final six weeks of last season, I don’t know that any one player acquired at last year’s deadline could have changed that,” Klentak said. “We’ve been on the lookout for roughly over a year now for a lefty that could help create some balance in our rotation, and we will continue to be on the hunt.”
Klentak, of course, will take starting-pitching help of any kind right now, but the price figures to be high for the two early headliners in the group: San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner and Toronto’s Marcus Stroman. It’s possible the Phillies will pursue lesser-known arms such as Pittsburgh’s Jordan Lyles, Cincinnati’s Tanner Roark, or Detroit’s Matt Boyd.
Klentak is confident that he has what he needs to get deals done.
“I’m not worried about our ability to make trades,” he said. “We have the necessary resources in talent and finances to make moves.”
What the Phillies need most right now, though, is for their current core to start playing better baseball because, if that does not happen, there is nothing Klentak can do to salvage this season.