Philadelphia Phillies: 6 recent trade deadline misses

2. Philadelphia Phillies trade deadline miss: Brandon Workman.

Nothing about 2020 was normal. The season started late due to the pandemic and the trade deadline’s position at the end of August meant just about any team could have justified buying. This is where the Phillies found themselves when they made an epically bad trade with the Boston Red Sox.

One of the players the Phillies acquired from Boston was Brandon Workman. A very good reliever in past years for Boston, Workman had a 4.05 ERA for them when he was traded to Philadelphia. It was too small of a sample size to think he was cooked. After all, this was a guy who had a 10-1 record the previous season with a 1.88 ERA and 16 saves.

Unfortunately, Workman was cooked. Burnt, in fact. He tossed 13 innings for the Phillies, went 1-4, and had a 6.92 ERA. He averaged 6.2 walks per nine innings and gave up 4 home runs in those baker’s dozen frames he completed.

This Red Sox trade was an especially big miss for the Phillies because it went deeper than just Workman’s lousy performance. They acquired another relief pitcher in the deal as well and gave up what would become a pretty good piece. Let’s dive a little deeper with the biggest recent trade deadline miss of all.