Phillies Add Relief Help in Unconventional Post-Deadline Trade

The July 31 (or this year August 2) trade deadline is now mostly a hard cap.  Teams cannot make trades using the waiver wire during the month of August, which had been the norm.  The Phillies did, however, find a creative way to add a relief arm in a trade - someone that they will be able to use on the major league roster.

The Phillies announced that they acquired reliever Vinny Nittoli in trade from the Toronto Blue Jays. The Phillies sent minor league catcher Karl Ellison to the Blue Jays to complete the deal.   Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Phillies plan to add him to the major league roster.

The reason that the Phillies can make this trade is that Nittoli has not appeared on a major league roster all season.  That is the lone exception.  Additionally, if he is on the roster September 1, he will be available for the postseason.

Nittoli has exactly one game major league experience, coming with the Seattle Mariners in 2021.

Nittoli is a combined 4-1 with a 3.30 earned run average between Triple-A Buffalo in the Blue Jays system, and Triple-A Scranon Wilkes-Barre in the New York Yankees system.  After being activated from an injury in July, the Yankees released Nittoli, who then signed with the Blue Jays organization.

Nittoli has struck out 59 in 44 1/3 innings while maintaining a WHIP under 1.

There are few options available to add pitching, so this was a creative way Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski could do so.  Nittoli has minor league options remaining, so the Phillies can stash him at Triple-A if need be for later.