Phillies Dive In, Acquire Phelps From Brewers
Before Monday’s 4PM ET trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired 28-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps to add to their bullpen and hopeful 2020 playoff run.
Oh…wait a minute… not that Phelps. The Phillies did acquire reliever David Phelps from the Milwaukee Brewers for two or three players to be named later, according to Ken Rosenthal and Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Phelps has a $4.5MM club option for 2021, so in a sense, he comes with another year of control if the Phillies choose to pick up the option.
This bullpen has needed a massive facelift since the offseason and it’s pretty pathetic that it’s taken this long to make changes that should’ve been done in December. Having to sit and watch Austin Davis, Deolis Guerra, among others, while JoJo Romero sat at the alternate site, and Klentak dealt away young guys, who could have easily slid right into this putrid ‘pen, to acquire veterans who are arguably on the same playing field as those younger players is just simply malpractice.
Speaking of the vets, the trade for Phelps is the fourth bullpen acquisition for GM Matt Klentak in the past few weeks as he went out and traded for former Yankee David Hale and also acquired Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree from the Red Sox. Phelps has a history with Phillies Manager Joe Girardi, having pitched for the skipper from 2012-2014 while Girardi was the man in charge for the New York Yankees, so there’s no doubt the Phillies manager had some say in this deal coming to fruition.
The 33 Year-old Phelps has pitched relatively well this season for the Brewers, appearing in 12 games, tossing 13.0 innings and amassing a 2.77 ERA, a 2.75 FIP, and 13.8 K/9. He easily becomes one of the best relievers in the Phillies bullpen on paper and should be a big part of their late-game success as the calendar turns to September.
This isn’t a big splash trade, as Phillies fans have become accustomed to over the past few seasons at the deadline, but it could be worse. Klentak could’ve been complacent, listened to Jake Arrieta, and not made a single move at the deadline. Welcome to Philadelphia David Phelps. Let’s throw some heat and bring Red October back from the dead.