John Middleton on Phillies deadline: ‘Now it’s up to the players’

The Phillies are in a deep slump.

Since touching down in the states after the London Series, the Phillies have been a bottom third club in baseball. They are 20-23 since June 11 and 3-9 since the start of the second half. A number of big bats, Bryce Harper included, have gone cold. The pitching has taken a step back.

It’s not the same fun brand of baseball the Phillies fans were accustomed to watching earlier in the year, when the team lost only two series out of 20 from April 5 to June 10.

This week’s three-game set against the New York Yankees represents a low point. They were swept at home with a sold out Citizens Bank Park taken over by New Yorkers. Zack Wheeler got crushed against a red hot Yankee lineup in the opener in game one, the Phillies coughed up a three-run lead for the fifth time since the start of the second half in game two and DJ LeMahieu drove in a career-high six RBIs in the finale.

Suddenly, the summer of Phillies baseball everyone dreamed about in May has turned into a slog.

There will probably come a time where the likes of Trea Turner and Harper go back to looking like MVP candidates and the bullpen holds every lead and the first-place Phillies look like the first-place Phillies again, but as long as this stretch of play continues, the frustration will linger.

Luckily for the Phillies, their woes haven’t impacted them in the standings yet. They are no longer the best team in baseball after Wednesday’s loss, but they have a 6.5-game lead in the NL East and a four-game lead for a bye to the Division Series.

The Phillies are able to lean on optimism because they were 10 games over .500 in April, 13 over in May and the Braves have mostly struggled to keep up, though that could change.

Their position in the standings led them to being one of the more aggressive buyers at the trade deadline. They acquired closer Carlos Estévez for pitching prospects George Klassen and Sam Aldegheri. They also added Austin Hays to the outfield mix and essentially swapped out left-hander Gregory Soto for Tanner Banks.

Is it enough? The Phillies were aiming higher, as Jim Salisbury reported that they were monitoring Garrett Crochet market. They also had early interest in Luis Robert Jr., but nothing came about it, according to Yahoo Sports. Neither White Sox player was moved. The prices were high and both came with some baggage.

Sure, maybe a bigger move was possible, but what the Phillies did at the deadline was never going to make or break their chances of winning World Series.

Managing partner John Middleton, who was on hand to unveil the team’s new jersey patch sponsorship on Wednesday morning, agrees.

“I think we did what we had to do, which is get a right-handed bat in the outfield,” Middleton told Phillies Nation. “We strengthened our bullpen. Now it’s up to the players.”

Harper echoed a similar sentiment after the Estévez trade.

“Superstars got to show up,” he said, referring to himself after Sunday’s game.

Harper slumps are rare, but they happen and they usually coincide with team-wide struggles. Harper started the season 0-for-11 as the Phillies dropped three of their first four. Then he hit three home runs for the first time since 2015. In 2021, Harper went 2-for-25 at the end of May as the Phillies dropped six of seven. But he eventually emerged, posting a 1.104 OPS the rest of the way and winning his second NL MVP.

“Just trying to keep going,” Harper said after Wednesday’s game. “That’s it. That’s all you can really do. I played a lot of baseball in my career. … Going through stretches like this, it’s part of the game. It’s part of growing as a player. Just got to keep going.”

There is no reason to doubt that Harper will eventually come out of it and continue building his case for a third NL MVP, but as the Phillies’ struggles continue, the pressure mounts.

“They got to start playing like it’s June, not the end of July,” Middleton said.

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