Philly Plain Dealer

There’s a clock ticking in South Philadelphia, it’s not just the pitch timer. It’s the kind of clock that echoes throughout the front offices and player lounges and the aching hamstrings of a roster built to win now—not in 2026, not in some shimmering utopian future where Andrew Painter is nigh-unhittable and the bullpen isn’t a hold-your-breath quagmire.

The Phillies hove toward the 2025 trade deadline with one of the best records in baseball, but with enough conspicuous holes to sink a postseason run if left unpatched. Their core—Harper, Realmuto, Wheeler, Schwarber—is aging but still formidable. The question isn’t if Dave Dombrowski will make a move. It’s how far he’s willing to go. How many prospects he’ll ship off. How much future he’ll gamble for a legitimate shot at October glory.

Let’s break down their needs.

1. Bullpen Help

The Phillies bullpen has been, in technical terms, a trainwreck— their 4.25 ERA ranks eighth-worst in baseball. How did we get here? Well, letting Carlos Estevez walk was clearly a mistake: he’s got 26 saves with the Royals this year, just one shy of the Phillies’ entire bullpen.

Jordan Romano—whose signing I hated from day one—has been a disaster. José Alvarado’s PED suspension was both disappointing and disastrous. Matt Strahm has been unlucky, sure, but mostly solid. Orion Kerkering’s been okay, but it’s clear the team hoped for a leap. He needs a another pitch—his sweeper is good, but he throws it over 50% of the time and hitters know it’s coming.

In the meantime, the Phillies are leaning way too hard on replacement-level arms like Joe Ross and Tanner Banks. Their only addition so far is (once again) David Robertson, 40 years old and back in red pinstripes. To be fair, Robertson had a 3.00 ERA over 71 innings in 2024, but he’s hardly the kind of lights-out stopper this team needs.

So what would make a difference?

• Jhoan Durán (Twins) is a 27-year-old flamethrower with team control and dominant stuff. He’d cost a fortune, at least Mick Abel (who stinks), Justin Crawford, and maybe Aiden Miller. Too expensive, in my opinion.
• Griffin Jax (also Twins) is a high-leverage setup guy who has the stuff to be a Bona fide closer. He’s underrated and could be had for less, maybe even without giving up Crawford.
• Emmanuel Clase (Guardians) is probably the best reliever on the market but would cost a mountain of prospects, similar to Jhoan Duran. 
  Edit: Clase was just placed on leave on the 28th as part of a gambling probe, so I doubt any team is going to trade for him right now. Sidenote: What is going on in Cleveland? Clase is the second Cleveland pitcher to be investigated for gambling on games this season.

My guess? Dombrowski doesn’t go whale hunting. They’ll probably pick up one or two second-tier arms and try to survive. I personally think it’s worth trading Abel and some other lesser prospects for Jax.

Outfield help:

The Phillies outfield is bad. Disappointingly, Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler both have sub-.670 OPS. Johan Rojas is completely unplayable and should never see a major league field again. That experiment is over.

So, what are the options?

Promote Justin Crawford: The 21-year-old top prospect (son of former big-leaguer Carl Crawford) is slashing .323 with a 12.9% BB rate in AAA. He’s insanely fast, his plate approach is awesome, and he can hit for contact. Just look at his prospect savant page (red=good).

It’s pretty unlikely that they rely on a 21-year-old during a deep playoff push, especially one with literally no big-league experience, but then again, they tried that last year with Johan Rojas, who is a worse player by literally every metric. In my humble opinion, it’s worth calling Crawford up now and seeing what he’s capable of before the post season.

Trade for help:

Jarren Duran (Red Sox) is a name that keeps coming up. At 28, he’s the elder statesman of Boston’s outfield logjam. He’s solid, but his 2025 has been a step back from last year’s MVP-vote-worthy campaign. Honestly, he’s kind of just another Brandon Marsh, but with more name recognition. He’d pull a haul, one that would almost certainly include Justin Crawford. 

Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox) has been very, very bad this season, but can you blame him? He plays for the White Sox. There was a time when he was the next big thing. Perhaps the change of scenery could reignite his latent talents. 

Cedric Mullins (Orioles) is also having a down year but might benefit from a change of scenery, and considering he’s on an expiring deal, Baltimore would likely be happy to move him.

Byron Buxton (Twins) has said he’s a “Twin for life,” so don’t hold your breath. 

Bottom line: the Phillies need one, maybe two competent outfielders. Whether that’s internal (Crawford) or external depends on how much risk they’re willing to take on either side.

The Phillies are a good team. Maybe even a great one. But they are incomplete. You can’t hope to make a deep postseason run when your bullpen is leaking runs, your outfield is full of black holes, and the bottom half of your lineup can’t be bothered to put up even average numbers.

Sure, they have some pieces that should be untouchable: Painter, Miller, and probably Crawford, depending on who you ask. But everyone else should be on the table. Dombrowski has shown he isn’t afraid to mortgage the future. The Phillies have already invested the money and the years. The stakes are set. You don’t climb halfway up a mountain and turn around because the air gets thin.