The Phillies are staring at the trade deadline with two obvious holes and, as usual, Dave Dombrowski may need to get creative to patch them.
Philadelphia is still in the middle of the National League playoff chase, but the club’s grip on a Wild Card spot has looked shaky because of its trouble consistently reaching base. That has put the front office back in the familiar position of hunting for help, especially a right-handed bat - ideally an outfielder - plus bullpen reinforcement.
Dombrowski has done this before. Last season, he made separate deadline deals with the Minnesota Twins to bring in Harrison Bader and Jhoan Duran, targeting specific weaknesses instead of waiting for a perfect fit to appear. This summer, the market could again point him toward a team that can address more than one need at once.
One possible match comes from Toronto, where the Blue Jays won the American League pennant in 2025 but are now sitting in the cellar of the AL East. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic proposed a deal that would send reliever Jeff Hoffman and center fielder Daulton Varsho to Philadelphia.
The cost, in that scenario, would be rookie center fielder Justin Crawford - not a package built around the Phillies’ farm system, but a one-for-one type of swing that would test how much the organization values its young outfielder. Crawford still has five years of team control left, and there’s real intrigue in his tools even if the big-league results haven’t fully caught up yet.
His speed is elite, but it hasn’t turned him into a reliable defender. He puts the ball in play often, though the power isn’t there and the ground-ball tendency remains part of the profile. Through this point, Crawford is hitting .255/.304/.340 with an OPS+ of 73.
Whether that would be enough for Toronto to move Hoffman and Varsho is the big question. The Blue Jays’ outfield, especially in center, remains unsettled for 2027 and beyond, which gives Crawford some appeal as a longer-term piece.
For Philadelphia, Hoffman would be a familiar face. The Phillies would reportedly love to bring him back after he posted the best seasons of his major league career in Philadelphia before landing a three-year, $33 million free-agent deal with Toronto after the 2024 season.
Varsho would bring a different kind of upgrade. He hasn’t been as productive at the plate in 2026 as he was during an injury-plagued 2025, but he would still represent a clear step up from what Crawford has provided, particularly with the bat’s power. He doesn’t fill the Phillies’ need for a right-handed hitter, but his biggest edge over Crawford would come on defense.
A Gold Glove winner in 2024, Varsho would help stabilize an outfield that has been a concern for Philadelphia all year. And with the Phillies’ farm system not especially well regarded, this is the sort of inventive deal Dombrowski may have to build if he wants to land the upgrades he’s after.
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Kevin Gausman is one of the names drawing attention, and the appeal is obvious from Philadelphias side. He has the kind of postseason background that teams covet in July, and Torontos place in the standings suggests the Blue Jays could eventually be in a position to listen. For a contender trying to line up its October pitching before the market gets crowded, that sort of arm is exactly the type that can change the conversation. [Read more 🡒]