Phillies Trade Deadline: Club Will Add Diekman or Other Lefty

Throughout the days leading up to the 2018 MLB non-waiver trade deadline, the Phillies were said to be in on a couple of their former left-handed pitchers.  Ultimately, J.A. Happ went to the New York Yankees and Cole Hamels went to the Chicago Cubs.  However, one more former Phillies left-handed pitcher could be returning to Philadelphia.

According to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic and Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies are looking to add a left-handed reliever:

Other than Diekman, few options remain known to be on the trade market.

The Phillies traded Diekman to the Texas Rangers back in 2015 along with pitcher Cole Hamels in exchange for the haul of prospects that includes current Phillies Jake Thompson, Jorge Alfaro, Jerad Eickhoff and Nick Williams.  The Phillies also received Alec Asher in the deal and also took on the remaining contract of the injured Matt Harrison.

Diekman has not been particularly effective against left-handed batters in 2018 (they are batting .273), but a three-year average of his splits shows that lefties have hit .237 against him over the three-year span.  Diekman presumably would replace Adam Morgan in the Phillies bullpen.  The other left-handed reliever on the Phillies, Austin Davis, has been stellar early in his major league career.