Before the Phillies acquired Noah Syndergaard, they were in on these pitchers

Prior to landing Noah Syndergaard in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels, the Philadelphia Phillies were in on a variety of other veteran starting pitchers.

Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report that the Phillies had interest in Carlos Rodón. The 29-year-old leads all pitchers in baseball with a 4.2 fWAR, so he certainly would have been an excellent addition to go with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. But with that, the price for Rodón likely was very high, and given that he can opt out and become a free agent this offseason, it’s not surprising that no one met the asking price for him.

Both Jayson Stark of The Athletic and Rob Bradford of WEEI reported that the Phillies had interest in lefty Rich Hill. The 42-year-old has a 4.20 ERA and 4.05 FIP in 15 starts this season, and seemingly would have been a fallback option if the Phillies weren’t able to poach a more attractive trade candidate.

One of those more attractive trade candidates was Hill’s Boston Red Sox teammate Nathan Eovaldi, who the Phillies did indeed have interest in, per Stark. Bradford reports that the asking price for Eovaldi — who ultimately didn’t get traded — was “the moon.” For as impressive as Eovaldi has been at points in his career, the 32-year-old has a lengthy injury history and can become a free agent after the season.

Elsewhere, Stark reported over the weekend that Tyler Mahle of the Cincinnati Reds was a name that the Phillies had interest in, both because they thought he could start a playoff game and he can’t become a free agent until after the 2023 season. The 27-year-old was instead traded to the Minnesota Twins Tuesday, with the Reds landing shortstop Spencer Steer, third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand and LHP Steven Hajjar. According to Baseball America, those were the No. 4, No. 14 and No. 11 prospects in the Twins system.

Additionally, Stark said in regards to the Phillies and José Quintana that he had “heard them connected.” Quintana, 33, was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals Monday evening.

Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports reported late last week that RHP Zach Plesac was “on [the] radar” of the Phillies. Instead, the Cleveland Guardians held onto the 27-year-old, who can’t become a free agent until after the 2025 season.

Ultimately, the Phillies landed Syndergaard for what feels like a pretty light trade package. The 29-year-old was acquired in a trade that sent former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak and 21-year-old outfielding prospect Jadiel Sanchez back to the Angels. Syndergaard is 5-8 with a 3.83 ERA and 3.95 FIP across 80 innings this season. He, Kyle Gibson and Zach Eflin — who has a $15 million mutual option for 2023 — could all become free agents after the season.

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