Philadelphia Phillies Trade Deadline: Why Should Philly Fix What Isn’t Broken?

The Philadelphia Phillies have had their rumor mill cranked into high gear over the last three weeks of the regular season. With alleged needs in the bullpen and in the batting order, general manager Ruben Amauro Jr. has been hard at work looking for the next big deal in what is becoming an annual spectacle at the trade deadline in the city of brotherly love. 

The Phillies have been linked to a plethora of players this summer, ranging from outfield bats Josh Willingham and Seth Smith to bullpen arms like Mike Adams, Heath Bell and Leo Nunez. Pundits across the baseball landscape have been calling for Amauro to make some deals, to trade away some talent to bring in a right-handed outfield bat and at least one arm in the bullpen. 

If you didn’t know better, you’d think the Phils were scrapping to survive in the playoff hunt. But a closer look at the team’s current standing reveals a club in much better shape than the pundits seem to think. 

Given the way we’ve been talking about all the holes in Philly’s roster this summer, you wouldn’t think they have the best record in baseball, but they do. Their 61-36 mark is the best in the sport, a full game and a half better than the Red Sox‘s 59-37. 

As for the offensive woes, it’s true that the Phillies aren’t exactly Murderer’s Row with the bats in their hands. They’re hitting just .242 as a team, and none of their big boppers have hit more than 18 home runs on the season. Shane Victorino leads the team with a .297 average and they’ve been as streaky as any team in the big leagues this season at the plate.

But, they’re not exactly the 2010 Mariners, either. They’ve scored 414 runs already this season and their run differential is the third-best in baseball behind only the massive offenses of the Yankees and Red Sox. 

We’re not in an era where big offenses are necessary to win ball games. You still need to score runs, sure, but preventing runs is of greater importance in this era of pitching dominance and the Phillies pitch better than any team in the big leagues.

Roy Oswalt is slowly getting healthy again, but Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay are the best troika of aces in baseball right now. They can throw complete games at any time and they don’t exactly need a ton of offense to get wins on the board. 

The much-maligned bullpen isn’t nearly as bad as people seem to think, either. Thanks to the emergence of Antonio Bastardo and Michael Stutes along with veteran reliever Ryan Madson, the Phils have three healthy arms in the bullpen right now who they can count on to keep scoring to a minimum, along with guys like Danys Baez and David Herndon, who can eat an inning or two if needed. 

Not convinced by that? How about the fact that the Phils’ bullpen is getting healthy? Incumbent closer Brad Lidge is getting healthy, and while he’s hardly the most reliable arm on Earth, he is a veteran reliever who they can throw out there for an inning or two late in a game. On top of Lidge, fellow veteran Jose Contreras is nearing a return to the bullpen, planning to be back by mid-August or so.

Suddenly, that’s five reliable arms in the bullpen with two others who can give you solid innings in a pinch.

Not so starved for pitching now, are they? 

I’m not saying one more relief arm or right-handed bat would hurt; the Phillies (and their fans) would probably sleep easier at night with another bullpen arm or a right-handed hitting outfielder in the fold. 

But let’s be realistic: The Phillies are hardly damaged goods. Their game has been working through the first 96 games of the regular season quite brilliantly, and it’s hard to say that the team with the best record in the big leagues needs fixing at the deadline.

Why mess with what’s worked so well for them all season long? They don’t need a bullpen arm; they don’t need a right-handed hitting outfielder, so doing a deal for one just to do a deal makes absolutely no sense. 

Clearly, the Phillies aren’t broken, so why do they suddenly need fixing?

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