Report: Phillies Might Not Be Done Making Deals
The waiver trade deadline is tonight, August 31, at 11:59 p.m. The Phillies have been pretty busy up until now, adding infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, first baseman Justin Bour, catcher Wilson Ramos, reliever Aaron Loup, and more recently, reliever Luis Avilan and outfielder/infielder Jose Bautista. Yet the Phillies might still be willing to make another move.
Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports notes that maybe the Phillies would like to add some more offense:
So why would the Phillies need to add a bat after all that has transpired?
This could have something to do with the health of Bour. The Phillies added Bautista as the right-handed bench bat and Bour as the left-handed bench bat. But after Bour made his presence known with a home run and a double among five hits, Bour landed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained oblique on August 23.
Oblique injuries are tricky; the player needs to be completely shut down and given rest in order for it to heal. Sometimes the recovery could take two months. If Bour misses only one more month, that would be the rest of the season.
Therefore, maybe the Phillies will add a left-handed bat to be what Bour was going to be. The Blue Jays are likely to trade Josh Donaldson, who reportedly was placed on waivers earlier in the week. He would be a bit of a wildcard because he himself is recovering from injury.
After playing a rehab game on Tuesday night in Dunedin, Donaldson was set to sit on Wednesday due to "soreness" before the game was rained out. Players must be healthy to be put on waivers, which could make this situation tricky. "Soreness" of course could be expected for someone who has not played in months.
But it could potentially be someone else, too. The waiver process is usually a secret process. We only hear when players clear waivers when someone leaks the info that should otherwise be confidential.
Any trade must be made by 11:59 p.m. for a player to be eligible for the postseason.