The Phillies’ deadline needs have been clear for some time now. They were reported to be exploring the market for back-of-the-rotation starters back in mid-June after rookie Andrew Painter‘s struggles forced the team to option him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Adolis Garcia‘s poor performance and season-ending injury renewed the team’s long-running need for a righty-swinging outfielder. Bullpen help is on the menu for just about every contender each summer.
This week’s season-ending injury to Brad Keller could push bullpen arms to the top of the Phillies’ wish list, however, Matt Gelb of The Athletic writes. The 30-year-old righty signed a two-year, $22MM contract in free agency after a dominant rebound campaign with the Cubs in 2025. In 31 1/3 innings, Keller logged a 4.02 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 44.3% ground-ball rate.
Keller recently spent nearly a month on the injured list, returned for one appearance, and is now back on the IL after the Phillies announced that he’d suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He’s likely going to require some version of UCL repair — be it an internal brace or Tommy John surgery — that’ll sideline him for the rest of this season and at least half of the 2027 campaign.
Keller’s 4.02 ERA is skewed a bit by a three-run hiccup in what’ll now prove to be his penultimate outing of the season. He entered that game with a 3.38 ERA through his first 30 appearances. When the Brewers hung a three-spot on him on June 13, that marked only the second time this season that he’d been charged with more than one earned run in an appearance. He may not have been quite as dominant as he was in Chicago, but Keller was a clear bright spot in a top-heavy Philadelphia bullpen.
With Keller out for the season, the setup corps behind All-Star closer Jhoan Duran isn’t looking great. The offseason acquisition of Jonathan Bowlan (from the Royals in exchange for now-struggling lefty Matt Strahm) has proven pivotal. Bowlan has pitched 31 2/3 innings with a 2.84 ERA and brilliant rate stats. Orion Kerkering has an even better 2.43 ERA, but an ugly 12.7% walk rate and a tiny .220 BABIP are among the multiple factors pointing to some likely regression. Lefty Tim Mayza has been solid but not dominant.
Duran, Bowlan, Kerkering and Mayza are the only Phillies relievers who’ve pitched more than six innings and posted a sub-4.00 ERA. Lefty Jose Alvarado has an ERA over 6.00 despite dominant rate stats, thanks largely to a sky-high .440 BABIP, but even if the Phillies expect a turnaround on that front, there’s a clear need for arms.
Even in what’s expected to be a seller’s market, there should be plenty of bullpen pieces on the move. The Mets (Luke Weaver, A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley), Rockies (Antonio Senzatela), Reds (Pierce Johnson, Caleb Ferguson, Brocke Burke), Royals (John Schreiber, Daniel Lynch IV), Giants (Sam Hentges, Keaton Winn), A’s (Mark Leiter Jr., Luis Medina) and Angels (Kirby Yates) are among the likely sellers with interesting names to consider. Several bubble teams will shift from the middle ground to a seller’s mindset in the next two-plus weeks, putting more arms possibly on the market. The Phils will be mindful of performances by the Tigers, Blue Jays, Orioles, Padres, Red Sox and Cardinals (among others) in the final days leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
One problem working against the Phillies is a thin farm system. Baseball America ranked Philadelphia’s system 29th in the sport earlier this month on their midseason update. That doesn’t mean they’re devoid of any impact prospects whatsoever — the Phils still have two names on BA’s top 100 — but they lack both the volume and depth of interesting prospects enjoyed by many of the teams against whom they’ll be competing for bullpen help (and outfielders, and starters) over the next few weeks.
Recognizing that fact, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki floats the possibility of the Phillies listening on touted righty Gage Wood if they pursue a particularly big addition (as they did last year with Duran). The Phillies’ first-round pick in 2025, Wood is a flamethrowing 22-year-old out of the University of Arkansas who’s already climbed to Double-A. He’s pitched 55 innings across three minor league levels this year and turned in a combined 3.44 ERA with a mammoth 35.4% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate. Wood currently ranks as the game’s No. 71 prospect on BA’s post-draft update to their top 100.
The Phillies’ willingness to move Wood isn’t clear. What is clear is that he’ll be frequently asked about as selling clubs discuss their most coveted assets with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who has a reputation for being unafraid to deal high-end prospects (far more so than the more risk-averse brand of younger front office leaders that permeate the sport today). The only other prospect in Philadelphia’s system who’s close to as highly regarded as Wood is infielder Aidan Miller (No. 81 on BA’s list), but he’s yet to play this season due to a back injury.
It bears mentioning, if only in speculative fashion, that the Phillies could use Wood to address one of their primary needs — without trading him at all. The former Razorbacks star is viewed as a starter long term, but because he spent so much of his NCAA career working in the bullpen, he’s going to absolutely shatter his previous workload. The Phillies have been extremely cautious with his innings on a start-to-start basis. He went five innings in a June 30 appearance versus Toronto’s Double-A affiliate, and that marked the first and still only time this season that the Phils have let him complete five innings in a start.
The Phillies don’t need to add Wood to the 40-man roster (for Rule 5 purposes anyhow) until the 2028-29 offseason, but he’s going to be in the majors well before that. Depending on how the market reacts to the Phillies’ available pieces, bringing Wood up and plugging him into the major league bullpen could be a viable path to replacing Keller.
One of Wood’s Double-A teammates, Alex McFarlane, could also be a second-half option. Gelb reports that the 25-year-old righty is expected to be promoted to Triple-A in the near future. McFarlane, the Phillies’ fourth-rounder from the 2022 draft, has pitched 34 innings in Double-A this year and notched a 2.12 ERA with a 32.6% strikeout rate and a 50.7% ground-ball rate. Like many hard-throwing prospects, command is an issue. He’s walked 13% of his opponents. The Phils added McFarlane to the 40-man roster last November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, so they’d only need an active roster move to accommodate him at some point.
