July 27, 2024
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
Is adding Carlos Estévez enough to solidify the Phillies' bullpen as championship-caliber?
The Phillies bolstered their bullpen Saturday night, acquiring closer Carlos Estévez from the Los Angeles Angels a couple of days out from Tuesday's MLB trade deadline.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal was among the first to report.
Pitching prospects George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri are going to LA in the trade.
Just a day and change after making the much-anticipated move to add an outfielder -- acquiring Austin Hays from the Baltimore Orioles -- Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski added a relief pitcher with the requisite skill and experience to appear in high-leverage situations. Two valuable young arms in the midst of breakout seasons were the cost of doing business.
Estévez, who is 31 years old and will become a free agent following the 2024 season, is enjoying a career year, posting exceptional numbers across the board -- most notably a 2.38 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP. All opposing hitters have combined to slash .169/.202/.288 against him this season. Estévez has done a terrific job of limiting base-runners in 2024 despite giving up a decent amount of hard-hit balls. While this could make him a candidate for some regression, he still figures to be an extremely important part of Phillies manager Rob Thomson's bullpen for the duration of the regular season and into October.
Klassen, 22, was a sixth-round pick by the Phillies in 2023 who has improved his command this season and allowed his stuff to take over. Across 14 minor-league starts in 2024, he has posted a 1.97 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched. There have been concerns about whether Klassen could eventually handle the workload of a full-time starter, or eventually transition to a relief role.
Aldegheri, 22, recently earned a promotion from Single-A to Double-A, as the southpaw has held hitters to a .564 OPS across both levels.
Whether or not Dombrowski and co. add another arm remains to be seen, but in right-handers Jeff Hoffman, Orion Kerkering and Estévez, as well as left-handers Matt Strahm and José Alvarado, Thomson will have plenty of weapons at his disposal come October.
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