Philadelphia Phillies: 6 recent trade deadline misses
By Tim Boyle
The Philadelphia Phillies have been trade deadline buyers each year since 2018. You’d never know it if you looked at the playoff bracket. The team has been void of the postseason for more than a decade now. A big reason for it is how majorly they have missed at the trade deadline.
The trade deadline is a team’s opportunity to fill in any gaps they may have left open in the offseason. It’s an opportunity to make up for the absence of an injured player or even upgrade an underperformer.
Many years have gone by since the Phillies have actually had a major impact trade deadline acquisition. The last to really help change the team was Hunter Pence in 2011. Those five players acquired by the club at more recent trade deadlines weren’t nearly as beloved or productive as him.
6. Philadelphia Phillies trade deadline miss: Justin Bour.
Who doesn’t remember the Justin Bour tenure in Philadelphia? A last-minute entrant to this list, he came over from the Miami Marlins in mid-2018 to provide the Phillies with some pop off the bench. He was hitting .227/.347/.412 with the Marlins at the time of the trade. Expectations were set for him to do something similar.
Unfortunately, Bour was not the same power hitter he was in Miami once he joined Philadelphia. In 54 plate appearances, he hit a single home run while slashing .224/.296/.347. It was an underwhelming short stint with the Phillies that left us all puzzled. Where did his home run stroke go?
The answer might be Bour’s placement as a part-time player. He was every day first baseman for Miami. Moving to the bench and coming off of it for frequent pinch-hitting duties wasn’t his style. He just couldn’t get any power going for the Phillies.
Luckily, all the trade cost them was McKenzie Mills—a pitcher who has yet to see big league action and is now in the Independent League.