Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Starting Pitcher Trade Candidates
The 2023 MLB offseason is officially underway, and there has been no shortage of signings and trades within its first week. There is also no shortage of rumors and theories, especially on the end of the Philadelphia Phillies‘ as they look to add even more to a team that clinched its first World Series birth since 2009.
Perhaps the first place the Phillies should start this offseason with solidifying their rotation for both now and moving forward. In an interview earlier this week, Philadelphia’s President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski, said they want to keep one spot open for a young arm, most likely Bailey Falter. Still, it is possible Griff McGarry or Andrew Painter will impress enough during spring training to grab the spot.
Dombrowski said they were hoping to fill the other spot in the rotation with a veteran arm. This could mean bringing back Kyle Gibson, Noah Syndergaard, or even Zach Eflin, but Dombrowski is known for getting his guy via a trade, and we’ll be looking at five potential targets he could acquire to fill that spot.
Philadelphia Phillies’ trade target #1: Tyler Glasnow
The Tampa Bay Rays always seem to shop their elite talent, and this year is no different, with reports saying that they are looking to trade Glasnow.
Glasnow will be 29 at the start of the 2023 season and will be one year removed from his Tommy John surgery that kept him out most of 2022. Glasnow has been an above-average starting pitcher since 2019, posting an ERA+ of at least 100 in all three years. He’s had an exceptional strikeout to walk numbers and keeps his FIP and WHIP low as well. When Glasnow is pitching, he is one of the better pitchers in baseball.
Glasnow’s big problem is that he hasn’t been healthy throughout his career. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2018, he hasn’t surpassed more than 111 innings and hasn’t made more than 14 starts. For this reason, Glasnow is a risky pickup, but it might be reflected in his trade value, and if he can stay healthy, he’d be a top-of-the-rotation guy even with Nola and Wheeler. It’s a high-risk, high reward that Dombrowski should be looking into.