The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to right the ship.
It’s been a tough stretch for the team throughout the latter part of April, playing below .500 baseball that created a sizeable gap between themselves and the New York Mets at the top of the division.
But, following their offensive explosion on Saturday, the hope is momentum is shifting back into their favor after it seemed like everyone found something at the plate.
Despite the poor month of play the Phillies have had, it would be shocking if they missed the playoffs.
There is too much talent on this roster for them not to make the postseason, but it’s clear that this team could use some reinforcements in certain areas, specifically the bullpen.
How president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski goes about upgrading this team remains to be seen, but according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, those plans will not involve trading their superstar prospects.
“… the Phillies are adamant they will not include top prospects Andrew Painter or Aidan Miller in any trade,” the insider reported.
For those who have followed the career of Dombrowski, that is surprising.
The executive built a reputation that he was aggressive when had a team he felt could win the World Series, deciding to ship out minor league talent at a rate that was borderline reckless.
But he has not done that the past two years with Philadelphia.
While the package he gave up to acquire Carlos Estevez ahead of the deadline last season was a pricy one, he still held onto Andrew Painter, Aidan Miller, Justin Crawford and some other star prospects instead of using them to land other big leaguers.
Following the Phillies’ elimination in the NLDS, that mindset was criticized.
If Dombrowski was feeling any pressure to make a splash, that wasn’t shown during this past offseason when he stood pat and watched multiple impact players get sent to other teams around the league.
When taking a step back, though, the decision to not trade away Painter and Miller is a smart one.
Painter is going to arrive in Philadelphia this summer and play a major role on this pitching staff, likely being used in the starting rotation on a pitch limit that should also bolster the bullpen by giving Rob Thomson more options to work with.
As for Miller, his ceiling is becoming the next superstar position player of this franchise.
Alec Bohm, who has started to turn things around at the plate as of late, is only under club control for one more year after 2025, so the natural progression would be to backfill that opening with Miller.
Nightengale’s report doesn’t say Dombrowski won’t trade away any of their prospects.
Crawford could be on the table for the right deal. Some top 30 guys in Single-A and High-A could also be moved like Dante Nori, Griffin Burkholder, Devin Saltiban, Aroon Escobar and Bryan Rincon.
But barring a complete 180-degree turn based on what Nightengale is hearing, Phillies fans shouldn’t be worried about either Painter or Miller being moved.
