If anything the recent surge by the Phillies asks the question, Will they be buyers for the trade deadline? The Braves took the first step and picked up Joc Pederson from the Cubs. That pickup isn’t earth-shattering, but it’s an improvement. But now that the Phils have picked up 5 games from where they were what will the Phillies do? The Phils now occupy 2nd place with their 44-44 record. A doubleheader is planned at CBP today starting at 4:05 PM.
The Phillies need bullpen stability in the worst way, that is the glaring need from this team right now. Maybe a quality starter as well. The Phils have a few trade worthy pieces, but can we get something back in return for them?
Despite the recent surge by the Phils, they still have a long way to go, they are 6.5 GB in the wild card race, and plenty of time to move up that ladder though. Currently, they sit 3.5 GB from the first-place Mets and face the NL Division foes, Marlins (39-50) at home this weekend.
The Covid-19 virus has once again crept back into the game, after being very much under control, minor breakouts have been happening here and there, but last night, the Yankees and Red Sox had to be postponed because of a number of positive tests from the Yankees.
If you skipped the All-Star Game like I did, you can watch the recap right here, the AL was victorious again, and I didn’t miss watching this game at all. Moving the game, and those hideous uniforms? Nah. Here’s the recap:
A quick look at other NL East foes for this weekend shows that the Braves will be taking on Tampa, the NY Mets will be playing the Pirates, and the Nationals will play the Padres in weekend series play.
Changes to the way baseball handles the deadline have been made, here’s a link to a guide covering all of that. Basically, the trade deadline is July 30th at 4 PM Eastern. This year it will be a true deadline, no player can move after this deadline this year, which I think is great. With exactly 2 weeks to go now as of today, the Phils and Dave Dombrowski have to put something together, this team even though it has shown a very ugly side, may be fixable.