With the Philadelphia Phillies playing a lot better than they were just a few weeks ago, the narrative went from who they're going to move on from to who they're going to add.
Dave Dombrowski is always looking to improve his roster, though his trade deadlines over the past few years have been a bit underwhelming.
I think if Dombrowski wants to win a World Series and keep this team together, the trade deadline this year has to be a lot different.
Unfortunately for the players on the Phillies roster, much of that will be determined by how they play over the next few weeks to months. If the Phillies are a good team and win a lot of games, Dombrowski will probably be rather aggressive. If the team struggles, he might have to move on from some guys.
In a recent trade proposal, the Phillies would go the moving-on-from-players route, with one writer proposing a deal to send Jhoan Duran to the New York Yankees.
“Granted, this is no sure thing. The Phillies have been playing a bit better of late, and you know that Dave Dombrowski will always look to buy if he has the faintest excuse. Still, how much of this recent run of form is simply a byproduct of a soft spot in the schedule? Philly still has a ton of questions to answer, especially offensively — if they remain stuck below .500 come July, Duran seems like an ideal candidate to get dealt…
“We know that the Yankees were interested in prying the righty from the Twins before Philly swooped in at last year's deadline, and they're very much in need of some more high-octane stuff at the back of their bullpen,” Chris Landers wrote.
Moving on from Duran would be a tough decision for the Phillies in the short term if they have a chance to make the postseason. Having one of the best closers in baseball toward the back end of the season is just as important as anything else.
However, if the Phillies don't seem to be in a position to make the playoffs, there's no reason to keep a guy who's a free agent at the end of the season unless Dombrowski extends him prior to the trade deadline.
There's a lot to consider here for the Phillies, but the good thing is they control their own path.
