How the Phillies are shaking up the lineup and bullpen with Austin Hays and Carlos Estevez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Everything the Philadelphia Phillies wished to accomplish prior to the trade deadline, they did.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski added a much-needed right-handed bat for the outfield in Austin Hays. One day later, the Phillies landed one of the top closers in baseball in Carlos Estevez.
A right-handed bat and a closer in consecutive days are exactly what the team with the best record in baseball needed. If this is it for the Phillies at the trade deadline, Dombrowski deserves his flowers.
The Phillies gave up Seranthony Dominguez and Cristian Pache to acquire Hays, but Dominguez wasn't in the team's long-term plans for the back end of the bullpen and Pache's fate with the organization was uncertain past Tuesday's deadline.
Philadelphia parted ways with two rising prospects, George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri. Neither has started more than two games at the Double-A level (both were from Aldegheri, who was promoted from High-A earlier this month).
The price of Hayes and Estevez was worth it for Dombrowski. How do both fit on the Phillies for the stretch run and into October?
Hays in Philadelphia's lineup
The Phillies intend to play Hays in left field every day. They didn't acquire Hays as a platoon player, even though Hays and Brandon Marsh would be an excellent platoon.
"With all the left-handed hitters they got in Baltimore, he didn't get a chance to play every single day," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Saturday. "We think that may have taken away some of the numbers against right-handed pitching. I'm gonna let him go."
With Hays in left field, Marsh will get the opportunity to move to center field and play every day. The Phillies plan to have Marsh be the everyday center fielder, cutting into Johan Rojas' playing time as a result.
Yes, that means Marsh will get at-bats against left-handed pitching.
"We're trying," Thompson said. "He's working at it. He's getting off the machine in the cage and trying to stay in there. He's seeing the entire field, but we still have to get Rojas in there. He's [Rojas] is a big-time prospect, so we still gotta try and get him some ABs here."
Rojas would essentially be a late-inning defensive replacement, as Thompson said it's not a strict platoon. If Rojas enters the game in center field, Marsh slides over to left.
That's how the Phillies will handle things: Hays in left field, March and center, and Nick Castellanos in right.
Carlos Estevez in the bullpen
Estevez is one of the game's top closers, a role the Phillies envision for him. The newest Phillies reliever won't be in Philadelphia until Monday, which is when they'll discuss his role and talk to the other relief pitchers as they reconfigure the back end of the bullpen.
"He has a lot of the characteristics that you look for in somebody to do it," Dombrowski said. "His stuff has been very good. He struggled a little bit in the second half of last year, but he's been pretty consistent this year overall. The changeup has been a new pitch he's used more lately, but the other thing that he's really done differently this year. He's only walked five guys all year, so his walk ratio is way down. It's nice to have a guy in the back end of the bullpen like that who can throw strikes on a consistent basis."
Estevez is expected to be the closer, but how the rest of the bullpen will shake out will be determined. Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado are expected to be the eighth-inning options, pending the matchup. Orion Kerkering and Gregory Soto would be the earlier options pending the matchups. Matt Strahm would pitch whatever back-end inning the Phillies would need him.
What's next?
The Phillies still have a few days until Tuesday's deadline, but the heavy lifting to improve the roster is finished.
"We feel very comfortable where we are. Now we feel like we have three people at the back end of the bullpen on the right-hand side," Dombrowski said. "There's a long way until Tuesday night, but we feel very comfortable where we are right now."
The Phillies could add more to the roster — perhaps another bat for the bench to help out Rojas, Garrett Stubbs, Edmundo Sosa, and Weston Wilson, but the players they acquired made the best team in baseball better.