- What you should know
- Ahead of the MLB trade deadline, the Phillies acquired three-time batting champ Luis Arraez in a deal with the Giants that also included reliever Caleb Kilian.
- In a separate trade, the Phillies acquired reliever Brooks Raley from the Mets.
- As for more bullpen help, the Phillies have been linked to Jeff Hoffman, who pitched in Philly two seasons.
- The Dodgers traded for reigning back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Columnist David Murphy described it as a humbling deal for the Phillies.
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Phillies acquire minor-league pitcher from Royals
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Phillies acquire infielder Luis Arraez from the Giants
Luis Arraez is neither a right-handed hitter nor an outfielder.
But he’s the Phillies’ solution to help the offense.
The Phillies beat the trade deadline Monday by acquiring Arraez and reliever Caleb Kilian from the Giants, according to a major-league source.
Philly will send breakout pitching prospect Ramon Marquez and minor league reliever Marty Gair to San Francisco, according to USA Today, although the teams haven’t announced the trade because players were still being informed.
Arraez, 29, has said he prefers to stay at second base, where he has improved defensively this season. In that case, the move for Arraez will force the Phillies to shuffle the defense. It’s unclear how they will do that.
But Arraez is a contact-hitting, on-base machine. He’s leading the National League with a .324 average and has more walks (25) than strikeouts (21). He has a .360 on-base percentage and figures to help set the table for Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
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Bryce Harper to right field, says Don Mattingly
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Deal reportedly finalized to send Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox
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MLB trade deadline: Latest deals, including a potential Phillies target
Here are the least deals around the league ahead of the trade deadline, according to multiple reports:
- Padres trade for former AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray: The Giants land prospects Miguel Mendez and Joniel Hernandezin the deal. Ray was reportedly on the Phillies’ radar.
- Dodgers acquire starter Kris Bubic: The Royals receive prospect Carlos Duran.
- Rays land catcher Liam Hicks: In exchange, the Marlins get prospects Brayden Taylor, Jacob Kisting, and Adrian Santana.
- Utility player Josh Smith, pitching prospect Josh Stephan headed to Blue Jays: The Rangers get reliever Adam Macko in the deal.
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Trade grades: Phillies get high marks for Luis Arraez deal
Jim Bowden, the former GM of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals who is currently a senior writer for The Athletic, gave the Phillies an “A” for the Luis Arraez deal.
His colleague, Andy McCullough, also gave the Phillies an “A” for the trade, which he wrote provides “diversity for their lineup.”
“His contact-based approach will aid a lineup built around sluggers hitting .250,” McCullough wrote. “The Phillies will also have to hope that his recent defensive improvement can continue without the daily tutelage of infield guru Ron Washington.”
Elsewhere, CBS Sports gave the Phillies a “B+” in part because the deal won’t move “the defensively deficient Trea Turner off of shortstop.” Sports Illustrated gave the Phillies an “A” despite giving up pitching prospect Ramon Marquez because “Arraez is a natural fit to boost an otherwise underperforming offense.”
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What it’s like dealing with Dave Dombrowski at the trade deadline
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Potential deal could send Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox
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Nolan Hoffman designated for assignment
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Potential Phillies target Taylor Ward headed to the Mariners
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Braves acquire reliever Brent Suter from the Angels
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Phillies trade for Arraez creates more questions than answers
Do the Phillies have something bigger in play?
You have to wonder because, right now, the decision to trade fast-rising pitching prospect Ramon Marquez for Giants infielder Luis Arraez creates far more questions than answers.
With Arraez reportedly insisting on remaining at second base, where he has graded out as a subpar defender for most of his career, the Phillies don’t have many palatable options to accommodate him within their current personnel structure.
Their best defensive alignment would be putting Arraez at first and moving Bryce Harper to the outfield. But, again, Arraez reportedly doesn’t want to play first. Yet it would be hard to justify moving Trea Turner to the outfield against his will to accommodate Arraez, rather than vice versa.
A report in the Athletic suggests the Phillies are considering putting Bryson Stott at third and Alec Bohm at first. But Stott has played 12 games of third base in his professional career, minor leagues included. That’s an awfully big unknown defensively.
All of these defensive questions might make sense if Arraez were a clear difference-maker. In reality, he’s a left-handed, contact-hitting bat whose batting average is nearly 70 points lower on the road this season, away from San Francisco’s massive outfield. He also has five extra base hits in 111 at-bats since the start of July, with an OPS below .700.
There is a scenario where Arraez could make a great deal of sense. A lot of people have focused on the potential of trading Bohm. But I wonder if Stott is a more likely candidate to move.
I’m having a hard time convincing myself the Phillies would consider such a thing, given how ingrained Stott is within the fabric of the current team. But he still has a year left on his contract after 2026, which means he would have more appeal to a selling team than somebody like Bohm, who will be a free agent after the season.
With an .820 OPS since mid-June, Stott might be a piece the Phillies could leverage for one that better fits their roster, whether in the form of a right-handed hitting outfielder or starting pitcher or both.
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Luis Arraez’s exceptional bat control
The Phillies are well-acquainted with Luis Arraez’s exceptional bat control.
It’s what’s helped the second baseman build a career .363 on-base percentage. And when he was on the other side — on the Padres in 2024 and 2025 and on the Giants this season — it made him a challenge for the Phillies to defend against.
“We started just moving around in the infield, because he’d look around and just find a hole and hit it there,” Alec Bohm said after the Phillies played San Francisco in April. “He’s just that talented.”
It’s the type of skill that has been missing from the Phillies’ lineup. Arraez doesn’t have much pop, with just four homers this year, but his contact ability helps manufacture offense.
According to Baseball Reference, when Arraez comes to the plate with less than two outs and a runner on third, that runner has scored 72.7% of the time. The league average for those situations is just 50.6%.
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Bryce Harper back to the outfield after Phillies land Luis Arraez?
A half-hour after the Phillies lost Friday night in Baltimore, Dave Dombrowski intercepted Bryce Harper in a hallway outside the clubhouse, draped an arm around him, and started talking.
It may have been the genesis of a creative deadline trade.
The move Monday for three-time batting champion Luis Arraez left people, even some within the Phillies organization, guessing about how the infield pieces will fit. The Phillies were trying to add a righty-hitting outfielder, a creature that was more scarce in this marketplace than a Mickey Mantle rookie card. And so, they widened their search over the weekend, according to major league sources, and landed on Arraez, a lefty-hitting contact machine who has made clear that he wants to stay at second base.
One issue: The Phillies’ infield has been set in stone, with Bryson Stott at second base, Trea Turner at shortstop, Alec Bohm at third base, and Harper at first.
The Phillies have been looking for a righty-hitting outfielder for years. Harper, who hasn’t played right field since 2022 and moved to first base midway through the 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery, repeatedly offered to move back to right field, on a short-term basis, even reportedly bringing his outfield glove on the Phillies’ road trip last week. Each time, Dombrowski declined.
“I’ve said it multiple years before — and this year, still: For the right player, I would do it,” Harper said in June. “I mean, that’s as real as it gets. I don’t want to do it long-term. But if the right player comes along and that’s what we need, or if that’s what we want, I’d be open to it at any point. I still feel like I can throw a baseball from right field, and I can catch a fly ball. It’s been a long time. But, yeah, I would do it in a heartbeat for us to win a World Series, without a doubt.”
Dombrowski’s response: “I know he’s always been very open-minded to trying to help the organization however he can, but we haven’t talked to him. And I really don’t contemplate it because I really like the way he goes about his business at first base. … I’m looking at him as being a first baseman.”
But market forces appear to have changed Dombrowski’s thinking.
Most of the available righty-hitting outfielders are platoon players. The Royals dealt one such option, Lane Thomas, to the Braves over the weekend. The Angels are holding Jo Adell, who has a .279 career on-base percentage and another year of club control. The Reds’ Spencer Steer may have been an option for the Phillies, but he sprained his wrist last week and may be out for the rest of the season. Mike Trout and Byron Buxton have indicated they won’t waive their no-trade clauses.
The Phillies turned to Arraez, who is unlike almost any hitter in baseball. He’s a .318 career hitter, including a National League-leading .324 mark this year, and has more walks (25) than strikeouts (21). He has 236 career strikeouts, fewer than the combined total of Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner … this year.
Arraez is having his best defensive season at second base, although Stott plays Gold Glove-caliber defense at second. In any case, Arraez is a pending free agent and isn’t likely to occupy second base beyond this season.
Moving Harper back to right field – plus, Stott to third base and Bohm to first — is probably the cleanest way for the Phillies to accommodate Arraez.
But there are other options. Turner, who leads the majors with 18 errors, briefly played center field with the Nationals in 2016. In that scenario, Stott would return to shortstop, where he played in 2022 when the Phillies went to the World Series.
Or the Phillies could attempt to trade Bohm for a starting pitcher — perhaps in a buyer-to-buyer swap – and move Stott to third base.
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Phillies trade for Mets relief pitcher Brooks Raley
In a move to reinforce the bullpen, the Phillies turned to … the Mets?
On the heels of a larger trade for second baseman Luis Arraez and reliever Caleb Kilian from the Giants, the Phillies acquired lefty reliever Brooks Raley from the Mets for minor league right-hander Luke Gabrysh and outfielder John Spikerman, a major-league source confirmed. The teams haven’t announced the deal because the players were being informed.
Raley, 38, has a 1.96 ERA in 41 1/3 innings for the Mets. A pending free agent, he figures to slot into the bullpen alongside fellow lefties Jose Alvarado and Tim Mayza and righties Orion Kerkering and Jonathan Bowlan as the primary pieces in the bridge to closer Jhoan Duran.
All along, the Mets appeared to be a source for the Phillies to find relief help. The Mets are among the few aggressive sellers in the marketplace and already moved relievers A.J. Minter (to the Twins) and Huascar Brazobán (to the White Sox). They also have gotten offers for Luke Weaver, who is under contract for 2027, and closer-turned-starter Clay Holmes.
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Blue Jays reportedly trade for Angels starter José Soriano
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Phillies scouted Mets pitcher Clay Holmes
Mets right-hander Clay Holmes made three minor league starts in his recovery from a right leg fracture.
The Phillies scouted all of them.
Holmes, who threw 73 pitches Sunday for high-A Brooklyn, was the Mets’ best starter until he got hit by a comebacker on May 15. The 33-year-old is uniquely suited to help the Phillies address their pitching needs on multiple levels.
Initially, Holmes could slot into the rotation behind Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesús Luzardo to help nudge the Phillies into the postseason. And then, once they get there, the former All-Star closer with the Yankees could slide into the bullpen to give interim manager Don Mattingly another late-inning option before closer Jhoan Duran.
But would the out-of-contention Mets trade with a division rival, especially the Phillies? The teams haven’t paired up on a trade since New York sent lefty Jason Vargas to the Phillies for a minor leaguer at the deadline in 2019.
Holmes is almost certain to decline his $12 million player option for 2027, which would make him a free agent. The Mets have only four games remaining against the Phillies this season. Holmes has a 2.39 ERA in 52⅔ innings in nine starts.
In addition to having a scout follow Holmes’ rehab starts, the Phillies have gotten looks at most other starting pitchers in the marketplace, including Giants lefty Robbie Ray, who has a 1.69 ERA in 64 innings over his last 11 starts. Although Ray doesn’t have as much experience or success out of the bullpen as Holmes, he has appeared in relief in the postseason, including twice for the Mariners in 2022.
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Could Bryan De La Cruz be a trade-day alternative?
Last year, on the eve of the deadline, the Phillies completed a massive trade for star closer Jhoan Duran during a rain delay.
They had two downpours Sunday to make another splash.
No such luck.
There’s still time. Club executives have until 6 p.m. Monday before they must put down their pencils and live with the rosters they’ve built, at least for the duration of the season. And so, Dave Dombrowski keeps working the phones.
In the meantime, Bryan De La Cruz is giving the Phillies something to think about.
A veteran outfielder who finally got called up two weeks ago after 3½ months in triple A, De La Cruz crushed a two-run homer in the third inning of a rain-interrupted (twice) 8-0 thumping of the Orioles that was shortened to six innings after a second midgame downpour.
Make it back-to-back victories for the Phillies after four consecutive losses. And make it nine hits and six RBIs in 20 at-bats for De La Cruz since his arrival.
Impressive? Sure. Enough to call off the Phillies’ search for a right-handed bat? Probably not. But it might alter it.
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Orioles slugger Taylor Ward fits the Phillies’ needs. But is he on the market?
Outfielders who are productive from the right side of the plate and potentially available in this trade market are almost as rare as a Mickey Mantle rookie card.
The Phillies just got an up-close look at one of them.
The Orioles’ Taylor Ward would be a fit for the Phillies, who were last in the majors with a .279 on-base mark and .639 OPS from their right-handed hitters.
One obstacle: The Orioles are on the buyer-seller fence.
“We’re not going to have a strong bias in either direction,” Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias said before Baltimore opened a three-game series against the Phillies. “We put ourselves in a position where we’re not declaring ourselves to be in one bucket or another in terms of buying or selling.”
After losing two of three to the Phillies this weekend, The Orioles are 54-58 and haven’t been over .500 since April 14 (9-8). But they were only 2½ games out of a wild-card spot in a mediocre, to put it kindly, American League.
Elias said the Orioles are closing in on getting catchers Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo, third baseman Blaze Alexander, starter Chris Bassitt, and closer Ryan Helsley back from the injured list.
And unlike National League bubble teams, who would have to contend in October with the superpower Dodgers and Brewers, the field is wide-open in the AL. Any team that makes the playoffs has a chance to make a deep run.
In that case, the Orioles may hold on to Ward, sixth in the AL in on-base percentage. Then again, he’s a pending free agent. And the righty-hitting outfield market got even thinner last week with injuries to the Reds’ Spencer Steer and Giants’ Casey Schmitt.
So, if the Orioles try to buy and sell simultaneously, maybe they can cash in Ward for a controllable asset.
Either way, Elias says he will be “open-minded.”
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Other right-hitting outfield options for the Phillies
Dave Dombrowski convened more than a dozen executives, analysts, and scouts in Baltimore for the weekend. They continue to pursue a right-handed bat, a late-inning reliever, and a starting pitcher, according to multiple league sources.
In addition to Orioles slugger Taylor Ward, the Phillies are exploring other righty-hitting outfield options.
Among them are Angels’ Jo Adell, the Dodgers’ Alex Call, and the Giants’ Heliot Ramos.
The Reds’ Spencer Steer and the Giants’ Casey Schmitt might have been options if they hadn’t gotten injured. The Phillies were interested in the Royals’ Lane Thomas before he got traded to the Braves late Saturday night.
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Phillies linked to a familiar face
The trade deadline is just hours away — 6 p.m. Monday — and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is trying to fill multiple needs.
Chief among them: late-inning relief, which was amplified by Friday night’s seventh-inning meltdown.
The Phillies have been linked to old friend Jeff Hoffman, who has a 4.02 ERA for the Blue Jays but also has given up two earned runs in 19⅔ innings since June 9.
They have expressed interest in Padres lefty Adrián Morejón, but San Diego was only game behind the Phillies for the last wild-card spot entering play Saturday.
Kerkering sounded like he expects that the Phillies will reinforce the bullpen.
“Everyone knows it at the end of the day,” he said. “But I don’t think anyone thinks about it, like when you’re out there or getting ready for the day.”
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Latest MLB trade deals includes the Braves adding a starter
Here are some notable MLB trades that have happened so far, according to team announcements and multiple reports:
- Braves land starter Tyler Mahle: The veteran right hander heads to his fifth team, while the Giants receive Anthony Molina.
- White Sox trade for Huascar Brazobán: In exchange, the selling Mets landed two prospects, per reports – starter Gabe Davis and reliever Zach Franklin.
- Cubs acquire veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman: The Cubs land a starter while sending the Blue Jays two prospects – infielder Ty Southisene and outfielder Brett Bateman
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Dodgers landing Tarik Skubal is humbling to the Phillies
Nobody wants to admit it, but the Dodgers deserve Tarik Skubal.
Los Angeles landed him the old fashioned way. They drafted, developed, traded, and signed their way to a circumstance where they could trade a highly valued outfield prospect for three months of service that will only pad their odds of completing a three-peat that they were favored to accomplish anyway.
That’s what you should focus on. The dignity of the deal. Not the Dodgers’ myriad of other competitive advantages. The endless payroll. The creative accounting. The market size, location, and glitz. None of them matter as much as the fundamentals. The Dodgers are simply better at identifying and nurturing talent than any other organization. To focus on anything else is to give your own organization a pass.
The Dodgers traded for Skubal because they could.
They had four outfielders ranked among the 40 best prospects in the game, for crying out loud. Three of them were at Double-A already. Their big league outfield already includes young breakout star Andy Pages in center field and Kyle Tucker in right. Not only do they have high-end prospects that other teams want, they can afford to trade some of them. In fact, they almost have to trade some of them.
From 2021 through 2026, the Dodgers had 22 players appear on at least one of the major national Top 100 lists. The Phillies had eight during the same time span. Only two teams in the majors had fewer than the Phillies. Only three teams in the majors had more than the Dodgers.
What time is the MLB trade deadline?
The MLB trade deadline is Monday at 6 p.m.
Historically, the trade deadline always fell on July 31, but commissioner Rob Manfred is able to set the deadline any day between July 28 and Aug. 3, so it avoids falling on a weekend and doesn’t conflict with any games.
After the trade deadline expires, players on 40-man rosters can no longer be traded from club to club. Players can still be placed and claimed on outright waivers.
Minor league players not on 40-man rosters can still be traded after the deadline.
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