Philadelphia Phillies: 1 Red Sox player to acquire at the trade deadline
By Tim Boyle
A 28-5 loss by the Boston Red Sox last week helped make Nathan Eovaldi’s good year into a much weaker one. We know how big a difference one bad performance can make to a pitcher’s ERA. With Eovaldi, we have enough history to know that maybe he is a sneaky addition the Philadelphia Phillies can make at the trade deadline.
The Red Sox are fading quickly in the American League and appearing to be trade deadline sellers rather than buyers. The culprit is a mix of poor play but also a lot of injuries. Nick Pivetta has eaten the most innings for them this year. Fortunately, for the sake of Phillies history, he hasn’t been so electric of late either.
Eovaldi has been a good pitcher in his career, and he has a lot more experience than their starters in the postseason. Only Kyle Gibson, with one inning of relief in 2019 with the Minnesota Twins, has even appeared in the playoffs.
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi is a realistic trade target for the Philadelphia Phillies at the deadline.
What’s to like about Eovaldi aside from his tremendous 2018 postseason run with the Boston Red Sox? Through his very up and down career, Eovaldi has typically had a better reputation than output. He has been good for the Red Sox, delivering a 24-18 record and 4.15 ERA for them since joining in the middle of 2018.
This year, through 15 starts, he is 4-3 with a 4.32 ERA. The key date to note is July 22. After that, his 13th start of the season, he was 4-2 with a 3.34 ERA. It was his very next start when he saw his ERA balloon up a full run.
Eovaldi is a free agent after this season which makes him an obvious trade candidate for the Red Sox. For the Phillies, this lowers the cost outrageously to something they can more likely afford.
It’s clear the Phillies needed starting pitching help. Even if Zach Eflin was healthy and performing at the same level he had been, an addition was a must.
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The need is even truer with Eflin out. Eovaldi, behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, might be the best and most logical addition the team can make. Dave Dombrowski’s connection to the Red Sox will, hopefully, do the Phillies some favors. He has an “in” with the organization. Maybe there’s a Boston version of Ed Wade willing to do for the Phillies what he did after getting hired by the Houston Astros.