Philadelphia Phillies: 6 recent trade deadline misses

1. Philadelphia Phillies trade deadline miss: Heath Hembree.

Heath Hembree was so bad that he made Brandon Workman look like 2008 Brad Lidge. A very mediocre pitcher during his time with Boston, it wasn’t a bad thought to try and acquire him midseason. However, he did join the Phillies with a 5.59 ERA in 9.2 innings with the Red Sox. They were hopeful he could turn things around.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. Hembree pitched 9.1 innings for Philadelphia and had a 12.54 ERA. He gave up 7 home runs in barely over a full game’s worth of innings. It was tremendously ugly for Hembree whose career since has put him into journeyman status.

This is the biggest miss of all for the Phillies because of one of the players they gave up on to acquire these two relievers. Along with Connor Seabold, Nick Pivetta was sent to Boston. The Phillies had grown frustrated with him. How could they not? He was 19-30 with a 5.50 ERA in almost 400 innings of work.

Immediately after arriving in Boston, Pivetta turned things around. He had a 1.80 ERA in two starts for the 2020 Red Sox and remained in their rotation in 2021 where he was very “meh.” However, in 2022, he looks like a late-bloomer who is beginning to piece things together. Pivetta is a big reason for the success the Red Sox are experiencing in 2022. Although far from an ace, his success is something Phillies fans can look on in envy.