Feb 25, 2025; Port Charlotte, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Justin Crawford (80) runs home to score against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fourth inning at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Justin Crawford will probably be the other addition - but when?
Minutes after the Phillies traded for Harrison Bader on Thursday afternoon, I looked down at my phone as I had a series of text messages coming in.
There were six of them from the same person, each contained one letter. They were, in order:
E -A-G-L-E-S
It was a way of expressing what seemed to be a popular sentiment amongst the hoi polloi of the Phillies fandom - the team's activity at the trade deadline was good, but not good enough, so let's start looking forward to football season.
The fans were stoked - and rightfully so - after the Phillies traded for closer Jhoan Duran on Wednesday evening. But after the addition of Bader, their collective reaction was - meh.
Bader is having a solid season. He instantly became the Phillies most productive outfielder offensively, which isn't saying much considering Nick Castellanos has been mediocre, Brandon Marsh has been better lately, but his season remains underwhelming, Max Kepler has been a huge disappointment, and Johan Rojas still can't hit, (I know, shocker).
Out of the current Phillies' outfield, Harrison Bader has:
Highest OPS, SLG, OBP
Second-highest HR, H, RBI, SO, SB
It’s not the flashy move some people may want, but the Phillies' outfield has improved on paper in the last few hours. pic.twitter.com/PhArK22VrZ
Arguably, Bader is their best defensive outfielder as well. Some will argue it's Rojas, I say it's Bader, but I'm not here to quibble.
Harrison Bader takes away a home run! 😳 pic.twitter.com/kmiQFMB7gU
And yet, despite that upgrade in the outfield, it's not a transaction that really moves the needle too far.
Yes, he's an upgrade. But not significantly enough of one.
That said, when you look at the list of outfielders that moved at the deadline, it's hard to find one better.
Ramon Laureano has numbers similar to Bader and he, too, is strong defensively, but the San Diego Padres parted with six prospects to get Laureano and Ryan O'Hearn, which was, well, a lot.
The rest of the outfielders acquired - Cedric Mullins, Alex Call, Austin Slater, Jesus Sanchez, Josh Outman, Randal Grichuk, Willie Castro (super utility), and Mike Yastrzemski - all rank behind Bader in fWAR.
The bigger names that people wanted to go after - namely Steven Kwan and Luis Robert - weren't traded. Nor was Byron Buxton, who was the only player left on the Twins, seemingly, after they moved 10 players that were on the Major League roster.
So it's easy to understand why the Phillies didn't do more. But the question remains, is the popular narrative right that this wasn't enough?
On the surface it certainly seems like it. The Phillies are going to go to the well for a fourth straight season with basically the same group of hitters - several of whom are having down seasons.
The outfield, in particular, has been terrible collectively. Only Nick Castellanos' league average season keeps it from being the worst offensive outfield in the game.
So Bader will help. But even though his on pace to set career highs on basically every counting statistic for a hitter this season, He's not the big bat the Phillies so sorely needed.
So, it's the same group, plus Bader.
Or is it?
"Good question," said Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski. "I mean, [Bader's] going to play a lot. The lineup will be [Rob Thomson's] decision. Of course, we're happy to get him. He's played well this year both offensively and defensively. He's hit the ball with some pop. We think he helps us."
Dombrowski said they like him for both centerfield and left field. How he gets used and where will be up to Thomson. So, you figure, Castellanos is in right, Bader is probably in center, and Brandon Marsh, who Dombrowski mentioned later as someone they are counting on moving forward, will be in left.
"Some of our offensive improvement is going to have to come internally," Dombrowski said. "We think it can. All of a sudden you see Brandon Marsh hit a couple home runs the last couple days. We think he can drive the ball more than he has in the past. He's starting to do that."
If they're the three regulars, where does that leave Johan Rojas and Max Kepler?
When asked about how it relates to Rojas, Dombrowski said the possibility exists that both could Bader and Rojas could be on the roster, but...
"That's a decision we'll make tomorrow," Dombrowski said.
Sounds like Rojas isn't long for the big club. He has an option remaining and can get sent down to Triple-A.
As for Kepler?
"Well, he's playing left field for us at this time," Dombrowski said. "He's actually been swinging the bat a little bit better, particularly versus right-hand pitching, but he's part of our roster at this time."
Not really a ringing endorsement for him to be a part of the equation going forward, now is it?
But the Phillies aren't going to get rid of two outfielders just because they added one. One could go, sure, but the other? Not unless there's another internal replacement coming.
Cue Justin Crawford's entrance music.
Now, Dombrowski wouldn't commit to Crawford coming up right away, or even coming up at all, but you can tell by the way he answers questions that he believes Crawford will be a part of the solution more than he does either Rojas or Kepler.
"We think he's ready to play at the big league level," said Dave Dombrowski on Justin Crawford.
"We could bring him up. If we do bring him up, he needs to play a lot. I'm not sure that we're in a position to do that at this point today, but he's not somebody that we would… pic.twitter.com/TuQH1gw3Sj
"No decision has been made, but we think he's ready to play at the big league level," Dombrowski said. "We could bring him up, but if we do bring him up he needs to play a lot. I'm not sure that we're in a position to do that at this point today, but he's not somebody that we would hesitate to bring up if we decided that was the right thing to do."
There may be some logistical hurdles that need to be cleared before they call up Crawford. Part of it is Kepler is being paid $10 million this season to be unproductive, and parting ways with the balance of that contract (about $3.5 million remaining) is a lot of money to just swallow as a sunk cost.
But it's clear the Phillies look at this as a situation where Crawford can become an outfield addition at some point soon and that would be another upgrade in a spot that houses the Phillies' greatest weakness.
"Justin's got elite talents," Dombrowski said. "He's a good outfielder. He can fly. He really runs well. He's got good bat-to-ball skills. He's aggressive on the bases and he makes a lot of contact. He's got an unusual batting style in that he hits a lot more balls on the ground, which in his case I don't think is really bad. Also, he hits a lot of balls to the opposite field ... and he also has the speed to beat those out. He's an exciting type of player."
But Crawford doesn't have much power at this point in his development. Bader may set a career high for homers, but he only has a dozen so far as well as only 13 doubles.
The Phillies are really lacking in extra-base-hit production outside of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. If they are expecting to make the playoffs - and they are - why does the addition of Bader and maybe Crawford give anyone any more confidence than each of the past two seasons when the offense went AWOL in the postseason?
So, it's understandable why fans are ready for football season after this deadline passed. And yet, the Phillies are a better team than they were yesterday when they lost a series to the stinky White Sox.
Just how much better? And is it enough to win a title in a season with no clear cut favorites?
It's going to take an interesting three months to answer those questions.
