Phillies ranked 4th most aggressive buyer at the deadline with three holes to fill

Bob Nightengale of USA Today put out his trade deadline buyers list this week and slotted the Phillies fourth, with a line that stings more than anything else in the piece.

The Phillies privately will tell you they should have won at least one World Series since 2021, and possibly a ring for each hand. Now they enter the pennant stretch with what Nightengale describes as perhaps their most flawed roster since this entire competitive run began.

He’s not wrong. The top three of Sanchez, Wheeler, and Luzardo is the best rotation trio in the National League. Schwarber leads the majors in homers. Duran has been elite in the ninth. Everything else on this roster has a crack in it somewhere, and the Dodgers series exposed most of them over three games at Citizens Bank Park.

Phillies Bullpen Is the Most Urgent Need

Nightengale reports the Phillies are in desperate need of a late-inning reliever and would love to bring back Jeff Hoffman from Toronto. The interest makes sense on paper because Hoffman was an All-Star for this organization in 2024 with a 2.17 ERA across 68 appearances, and the Phillies already know how to develop him.

The concern is everything since. Hoffman posted a 4.37 ERA for the Blue Jays in 2025 and sits at 4.40 through 46 appearances this season, which is two full years of results that look nothing like his time in Philadelphia. His career postseason ERA across both organizations is 4.35. For a team acquiring a reliever specifically to pitch October innings, that number is worth thinking about.

“[The Phillies] are in desperate need of a late-inning reliever, and would love to bring back Jeff Hoffman of the Toronto Blue Jays.”

–@BNightengale https://t.co/6bF1Qo5y4N pic.twitter.com/UoCDHRlwYt

— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) July 24, 2026

What makes it work is the contract. Hoffman is at $11 million a year on a three-year, $33 million deal with one more season of control through 2027, and the combination of mid-4.00s results and real salary means Toronto can’t ask for much. Take on the full deal and the prospect cost stays minimal. Ask the Blue Jays to eat money and the price climbs, but even then this isn’t a package that costs anyone the Phillies would miss.

Given that Brad Keller is done for the year with a UCL tear, Banks is at 7.14, and Alvarado is at 7.03, the bar for improvement is low enough that a bounce-back Hoffman would immediately become the second-best arm in this bullpen.

Daulton Varsho as This Year’s Harrison Bader…?

Nightengale floated Daulton Varsho as the right-handed bat target, calling him this year’s version of Harrison Bader for the Phillies. Bader was a genuinely useful midseason addition who gave the lineup a different look and provided defensive value in the outfield, and Varsho fits a similar profile as a plus defender who can handle center and gives Mattingly options against left-handed pitching.

The need for a right-handed bat has become less desperate than it looked a month ago.

Turner is hitting .324 over his last 27 games with seven homers. Bohm has been slashing .260/.314/.464 with a .778 OPS since his May 9 reset. Derek Hill has provided a lift off the bench with his speed and defense. The lineup isn’t the emergency it was in June, but a Varsho-type addition would still deepen a group that ranks dead last in baseball with a .303 on-base percentage.

They’re Going to Be In On Every Starter Available

The rotation depth is the piece that could actually decide this season. Nightengale says the Phillies will be in on everyone from Tarik Skubal to Robbie Ray to Clay Holmes, which covers the full range from franchise-altering blockbuster to sensible rental.

Skubal is the dream and would cost a package that guts the farm system. Ray is the realistic high-end target with a 3.38 ERA in 19 starts and a 1.84 mark over his last seven, though his salary would push the Phillies past the third luxury tax threshold. Holmes is the more affordable option who has already transitioned back to starting.

Any of the three would be an upgrade over what the Phillies have been running out there every fifth day. The fifth starter spot has produced a 6.87 ERA across 21 starts with a 5-19 record, and the group would rank fourth-worst in the history of the statistic if you extended it to 25 starts. Nola giving up multiple homers in nine starts this season, the most in the majors, only compounds the problem behind the top three.

Dombrowski Isn’t Going to Sit This One Out

The most important line in Nightengale’s piece is that Dombrowski isn’t about to watch this team get a year older without making major moves, no matter the cost. That’s the entire Dombrowski résumé in one sentence and it’s why the Phillies hired him.

The window with Harper at 33, Schwarber at 33, Wheeler at 36, and Realmuto in his mid-30s doesn’t stay open forever. Nightengale’s “should have won one, if not two” framing is the thing that should be driving every decision in that front office between now and August 3, because this group has been good enough to win a championship for four straight years and hasn’t done it.

Three holes. Eleven days. A market where 23 of 30 teams are either in a playoff spot or within striking distance of one, which means sellers are scarce and prices are going up.

The Phillies are 55-47 and three games back in the NL East with a 2.5-game cushion in the Wild Card race. The talent to win a championship is on this roster. The depth to survive October isn’t there yet.

Go get it, Dave.

Join The Chase