The Philadelphia Phillies aren't expected to sell at the trade deadline, instead replicating what they did last year that brought them to the World Series.
The MLB trade deadline is a little less than two months away, and fans and media alike are trying to figure out which teams will be buyers to make a push for the postseason, or those who will be sellers to try and rebuild their roster. The Philadelphia Phillies won the National League pennant last year. This season so far as of this writing, the team is slightly below .500 and sitting in fourth place in the NL East. With the injuries, the team has dealt with and Trea Turner not living up to his contract early on in his tenure, that has some fans wondering whether they would consider selling at the trade deadline.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal spoke with Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski about what the team plans to do at the trade deadline and compared it to his 2015 Detroit Tigers, the last time he was a seller. Dombrowski says that he's confident in the team enough to turn things around. It was a move the Phillies went with while making additions, last year, and it saw them just two wins away from winning the World Series.
MLB Rumors: Phillies not expected to sell at the trade deadline
"What are we, 7 1/2 games behind the Braves? They've got a good club. But we have really good starting pitching. When it's pitching well, it can shut down anybody. We have a really good bullpen, a shutdown bullpen. And our good hitters can hit good pitching as well as anybody when they're playing well," said Dombrowski. "That's the key for us. If we can get to that point, once you get in, then you take your chances."
Entering the trade deadline last year, the Phillies were 55-47, where they were sitting third in the division 10 games behind the first-place New York Mets, and sitting in the final Wild Card spot. They went 32-28 from there on, finished the regular season with an 87-75 record, and maintained that last Wild Card spot. From there, the postseason magic began.
First, the Phillies stunned the favored St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card Series with a two-game sweep. From there, they faced their rivals and the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves and beat them in four games in the Division Series. In the NLCS, Philadelphia beat San Diego in five games to clinch their first NL pennant since 2009. In the Fall Classic, they took a 2-1 series lead over the Houston Astros but lost in six games.
There is still a lot of season left for the Phillies, or any team not named the Oakland Athletics, to turn things around and make a push for a postseason berth. For the Phillies, it sounds like they are willing to keep the team as is and see how they do.
