Phillies Owner John Middleton Opens Up About Deadline Approach

The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to be aggressive at the July 31 deadline as they look to upgrade their bullpen and outfield offense for their playoff push. It’s the same issues they had at last year’s trade deadline and offseason.

Speaking to reporters, including The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes, ahead of Friday night’s game at Citizens Bank Park, owner John Middleton gave a peek into their trade deadline thinking.

“You can’t just trade everybody and say, ‘Well?'” said Middleton. “And, by the way, some players who you think we should be getting — they’re not going to be available. Other players you want us to get, they’re going to be available, and it’s going to be an arm and a leg. And we’re going to say no.

“I mean, we had that problem last year with [Garrett] Crochet at the trade deadline. We made a spectacularly good offer — so good that Dave [Dombrowski] looked at me at one point and said, ‘I don’t know that I should be doing this.'”

The offer reportedly included top Phillies prospects Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford going to the Chicago White Sox for Crochet, but the deal never happened as the All-Star southpaw was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

Middleton also pointed to the fact that the trades they made between 2009 and 2011 for players like Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence didn’t bring the Phillies another World Series championship.

“Every move [former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.] made, it was an A-plus move,” Middleton said. “Every player that he brought in performed at a very high level, and we still lost. Not only do we not win the World Series, but we exited every year one round earlier than the year before. So, if you kind of empty the cupboard, you can do everything right and you still don’t win.”

The Phillies are reportedly willing to move top prospects like Miller, Crawford, Mick Abel, Eduardo Tait and Aroon Escobar to bring in a high-leverage reliever and right-handed outfield bat. However, pitcher Andrew Painter remains off limits.

The Phillies’ rotation has been stellar this season and can carry them to a World Series, but their offense and bullpen have been average at best. If they want to bring a championship back to Philadelphia, they need to address those issues at the deadline.

However, Middleton mentioned two internal names who could become bullpen options in October.

“I could see Abel coming back up if he’s not up before that for some other reason,” Middleton explained. “I could see Abel in the bullpen, coming out at 97 mph with a really good curveball. Painter might be up here the same way. So, you never know.”

The Phillies enter the second half of the season in first place in the National League East by a half-game over the New York Mets.

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