Phillies trade for Tyler Anderson has reportedly been ‘held up’

Update 6:00 p.m. ET: For the time being, the trade appears to have been halted. We’ll update this as more information comes in.

The Pirates’ trade of Tyler Anderson to the Phillies has been held up because of an issue (presumably medical) with one of the two players going back to Pittsburgh, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Unclear where talks stand, whether player will be replaced.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2021

Original Story

The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired LHP Tyler Anderson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports.

Heyman says that the Phillies will send RHP Cristian Hernandez and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez.

Anderson, 31, will help the Phillies in their attempt to stabilize the back-end of their rotation, something that the quartet of Vince Velasquez, Matt Moore, Chase Anderson and Spencer Howard has been unable to do. The Phillies aren’t acquiring Cliff Lee here, but Anderson has a 4.35 ERA, 4.26 FIP and 1.3 fWAR across 103 1/3 innings in 2021, so he’ll certainly be an upgrade over what Joe Girardi has had to work with.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the division-rival New York Mets also had interest in Anderson, who can become a free agent after the season.

Presumably, the Phillies aren’t done making moves yet. Multiple reports earlier in the day connected them to Pirates reliever Richard Rodríguez, and we know there’s been interest in Craig Kimbrel, but that may be less likely.

The Phillies will enter play Tuesday night with a 50-49 record, following a walk-off home run from Andrew McCutchen Monday night against the Washington Nationals. They’re currently 3 1/2 games back of the Mets in the National League East. The last time that the Phillies played in the postseason was in 2011.