With Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber, the Philadelphia Phillies core already includes a trio of former Washington Nationals. Could they add two more before the July 30 trade deadline?
According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies have interest in Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas and reliever Kyle Finnegan.
We’ve written about the possible fit of Thomas multiple times this week, with Phillies Nation‘s Nathan Ackerman predicting the 28-year-old will be the outfielder that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski ultimately acquires. Earlier today, I wrote about some reliever/outfielder combinations the Phillies could pursue, one of which was Thomas and Finnegan.
Thomas has been a thorn in the side of the Phillies the past few seasons, and has a .932 OPS against left-handed pitchers this season. He doesn’t grade out well in the field, with -4 defensive runs saved in left field and -11 in right field this year. But he would make sense as a platoon partner with Brandon Marsh, or as a left fielder in the case that Marsh is starting in center field over Johan Rojas.
Meanwhile, Finnegan has averaged 97.2 mph on his fastball this season, and would provide manager Rob Thomson with another late-game option. Adding another high-leverage option feels increasingly important given that Orion Kerkering, Seranthony Domínguez, José Alvarado and Gregory Soto have all struggled to varying degrees lately. The 32-year-old has recorded 28 saves on 32 attempts this year, while posting a 2.32 ERA across 44 appearances.
Both Thomas and Finnegan have one remaining year of arbitration eligibility, so they would theoretically be with the Phillies for two pennant runs. Of course, given that neither can become a free agent until after the 2025 season, that will increase the return Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo asks for.
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