On Saturday evening, Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia Phillies took a tough loss to the Atlanta Braves, evening up their three-game series from Truist Park in Atlanta at one game apiece heading into Sunday afternoon's grudge match. Suarez didn't quite resemble the pitcher who lit up the Braves in the last two postseason series between the two teams, instead giving up five earned runs on two home runs on Saturday evening, making that eleven runs he's given up in his last two starts combined for the Phillies.
The Phillies have cooled off just a tad from their red hot start lately, a lot of which can be attributed to the insane amount of injuries that the team is currently experiencing.
With the MLB deadline fast approaching, and with Philadelphia not getting any healthier, it would make sense that the team would be interested in adding some depth reinforcements to their roster, and if the latest reports are any indication, one area where the team could be looking to do just that is in their outfield.
“The Philadelphia Phillies are keeping a close eye on Oakland A’s left fielder Brent Rooker,” reported MLB insider Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports recently. “The Phillies rank 26th in OPS among left fielders this season.”
As previously mentioned, the Phillies are currently dealing with a bad case of the injury bug. Both Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber went on the injured list on June 28 after getting injured in the same game, with Harper injuring his hamstring and Schwarber his groin.
As for the potential interest in Rooker, left field is about the only area of defense where the Phillies haven't been stellar thus far this year, making it reasonable that the team could look to add some reinforcements in that area.
Is this the year?
So far, the 2024 season has followed quite a different script for the Phillies than the last two have, even those two resulted in deep playoff runs. In 2022 and 2023, the Phillies struggled at times throughout the regular season, backdooring their way into the Wild Card round, winning that, and then upsetting the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS before setting their sites on championship contention.
In 2022, the team rode that wave all the way to the World Series, finally bowing out to the Houston Astros in six games. However, in 2023, the team fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS despite going up two games to zero and having two different chances to close out the series in front of their home fans.
In 2024, however, the Phillies have been dominant so far in the regular season, cruising to the best record in the league and looking the part of legitimate championship favorites at this juncture. It remains to be seen whether that expectation will get to them come postseason time or whether they thrive off of the underdog energy they have embraced over the last two years in order to be the best version of themselves.
The MLB trade deadline is set for July 30.
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