The Philadelphia Phillies should have traded for Josh Hader

The Philadelphia Phillies should’ve pulled the trigger on a Josh Hader trade.

The 2020 MLB trade deadline has come and gone, and while the Philadelphia Phillies walked away from all the chaos with a pretty solid reliever in David Phelps, they ultimately missed out on the real crown jewel residing in Milwaukee. Phelps is a solid pitcher, but Josh Hader was the name that truly could have pushed this team over the brink into title contention.

For starters, this Phillies offense is freaking legit. Led by Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, and JT Realmuto, the 2020 Phils have been collectively smashing the cover off the baseball over the last few weeks. The team has four “starters” with an OPS over .800, and the other four regulars in the lineup are all not too far behind with OPS’s in the mid-to-high .700s.

Joe Girardi has also gotten some pretty insane production out of his DH position and bench bats, with Jay Bruce, Phil Gosselin, and Andrew Knapp all having insane statistical seasons. Whatever Girardi and his hitting coach Joe Dillon have been teaching guys has been working thus far, and it put the team in prime position to “buy” leading into this year’s deadline.

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On top of their scorching hot offense, the Phillies have also gotten pretty elite production from their starting staff. Both Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have been phenomenal at the top of the rotation, while guys like Zach Eflin and Spencer Howard have been blossoming into solid mid-rotation starters (we’re going to pretend Jake Arrieta doesn’t exist for the moment).

Despite sitting at just 14-15 leading into Monday’s deadline (now 15-15 following their 8-6 victory over the Nats), this was a team that had to “buy”. Almost everything had been clicking in terms of production, all they needed was a serviceable bullpen to get them through the final few innings each night.

While it’s more than possible that Klentak got them said serviceable bullpen with the additions of Phelps, Hembree, Hale, and Workman, he could have instead set the Phillies up with years worth of elite relief pitching.