No trade would have been a bigger addition than these 55-game versions of the Phillies’ underachieving stars

Leave it to one of the least prominent players on the roster to remind everyone, albeit inadvertently, of the Phillies’ biggest need at the trade deadline and beyond.

“We’re playing around a bunch of superstars out here,” Jake Cave said last week after a two-hit game and a run-saving catch against the left-field wall. “Anything we can do to contribute to help these guys, we’re doing our job. Because any given day, you’re going to have [Trea] Turner, [Kyle Schwarber], [Bryce] Harper all going deep and having these huge games.”

Except that, most days this season, the Phillies’ best players haven’t been their best players.

» READ MORE: Phillies acquire pitcher Michael Lorenzen and infielder Rodolfo Castro at the trade deadline

Harper, Turner, and J.T. Realmuto make up 30% of a club-record $255 million luxury tax payroll, as calculated by Spotrac. But entering play Tuesday, they ranked 11th, 12th, and fourth, respectively, among Phillies players in wins above replacement.

Never mind, then, that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fortified the pitching depth by adding right-hander Michael Lorenzen from the Tigers for infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee. Or that the Phillies, tied for 14th in the majors in slugging and 21st in homers, calculated that none of the righty-hitting outfielders on the market — Adam Duvall and Teoscar Hernández, who weren’t dealt, or Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham, shipped off to the Angels and Diamondbacks — was an upgrade over rookie Johan Rojas’ elite defense, speed, and offensive upside.

There wasn’t a move the Phillies could have made by 6 p.m. Tuesday that would have greater impact than any combination of Harper, Turner, and Realmuto approximating the best two-month finishing kicks of their careers.

» READ MORE: Murphy: Phillies pay a high price but get a player in Michael Lorenzen who fills a big role

“I think our guys know that, too,” Dombrowski said. “We have a lot of stars on our club, and sometimes you just need complementary players to help them.”

It’s a 55-game sprint to the finish now. The Phillies are clustered with the Giants, Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Brewers for three wild-card spots, with the Cubs and Padres trying to climb back into the mix.

And the biggest trade-deadline addition the Phillies could get would be these 55-game versions of their underachieving stars:

Let’s toss out 2020, when Turner had a .996 on-base plus slugging in the final 55 games of the 60-game pandemic season. And 2016 was too long ago to expect a repeat of his .963 OPS.

But only two years ago, when Turner was actually acquired at the deadline by the Dodgers, he batted .344/.388/.560 with 17 doubles and 10 homers in the last 55 games, forging a fifth-place finish in the MVP race and propelling Los Angeles to 106 victories and Game 6 of the NL Championship Series.

The difference, of course, is that Turner had one of his best seasons, from start to finish, in 2021. He didn’t bat below .300 or have an OPS lower than .800 in any month.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner’s struggles in his first season with the Phillies extend to his defense

After going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Tuesday night, the $300 million shortstop is batting .240 with a .667 OPS.

“You can’t change the past, right?” Turner said last weekend. “My numbers are what they are. I don’t like them. I’ve definitely worked to improve them. It hasn’t gone how I wanted it to. But there’s a lot of baseball left. I think I can definitely change games and help the team win. That’s what I want to do. That’s why I’m here.”

Forget about 2021 or 2015, Harper’s otherworldly MVP seasons. His OPS over the last 55 games as a mere mortal in 2017, 2018, and 2019 were .963, .966, and .958, respectively.

The Phillies would take any of those finishes over his .793 mark so far this season.

Let’s look more closely at 2019. The Phillies missed the playoffs in Harper’s first season with the team, but it wasn’t his fault. He carried the offense for long stretches, blasting 18 homers in 198 at-bats down the stretch and never going more than six games without one. It’s a wonder that he was intentionally walked only four times.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper’s adjustment to first base ‘very impressive,’ but Phillies infield coach wants to see more

In volunteering to learn first base, Harper freed up the DH spot for Schwarber, which makes the Phillies better in left field even without adding a righty hitter to play there.

And if Harper is able to crank up his power stroke, it won’t matter that they didn’t.

Remember that night in San Diego last season, when Harper got hit by a pitch and broke his thumb? One inning later, Realmuto bashed a home run.

And he didn’t stop hitting.

Realmuto carried the offense for most of the second half. Over the final 55 games, in particular, he batted .303/.359/.587 with 13 homers and a .946 OPS. It hardly mattered that he played more games than any catcher in baseball. As the innings piled up, the iron man only got better, shoving his way into down-ballot MVP consideration.

The Phillies will always derive value from Realmuto’s work behind the plate. But he showed he can be a sustaining force at the plate, too. It just hasn’t clicked for him yet this year, with a .243/.308/.447 batting line and 12 homers.

» READ MORE: A year later, trading for Brandon Marsh is still paying off for the Phillies

There’s company in that club of Phillies stars.

“To me, when you looked at who was available at the price we would have to pay, we really kept coming down to the offensive improvement that we feel we’ll get from within will be good for us,” Dombrowski said. “It will help us more than from what we would’ve gotten from outside. We have some good offensive names, and we like their ability. Just now we have to go out and do it.

“And we have confidence in them that they’re going to do it.”