Andrew Painter makes his Triple-A debut for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs on May 8, 2025. (Credit: James Short for On Pattison)
With the trade deadline two weeks away, everyone is scouring rosters of potential non-playoff teams to see who the Phillies might be able to add.
The rumors are flying. Some of the names are exciting.
But one guy is looking internally for help - Phillies owner John Middleton.
Oh, don't get me wrong. He isn't punting on the deadline by any means. Heck, when I asked him if he expected President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski to be aggressive at the deadline, Middleton slightly scoffed.
"He's always aggressive," he said. "He doesn't have another gear besides aggressive. So, yeah. I know he will be."
Middleton talked about how Dombrowski made a big offer to the Chicago White Sox last season at the deadline for Garrett Crochet that never came to fruition.
"We made a spectacularly good offer," Middleton said. "So good that Dave looked at me at one point and he said, 'I don't know that we should be doing this.' And he said, 'You know what, I'm ambivalent. If they take the deal, great. If they don't take the deal, great. I'm really happy with keeping the guys we were going to give them.' And that's the way I was."
So, this isn't to tell you that the Phillies aren't going to be doing anything of substance at the deadline in two weeks. If you listen to the chatter, heck, if you listen to the owner, they're going to be busy.
But, that's not the most interesting thing Middleton said on Friday.
Some might think it was his effusive praise of Kyle Schwarber and him talking about how much they love and want to keep Schwarber, a free-agent-to-be after the season.
But that's something for down the road, friends. There's still the 2025 season to talk about. There's still a wretched bullpen to fix.
And while, there will likely be an addition or two at the deadline, Middleton is looking from within.
"You're going to have people in the bullpen who are now starting pitchers," Middleton said.
Of course. That's nothing new. We knew that. We've been talking about that for a while now. No way all these starting pitchers are going to start games in the playoffs. So, yeah... some are going to be in the pen.
But he wasn't just talking about guys on the current team.
"You might see people up," he said. "I could see (Mick) Abel in the bullpen coming out at 97 miles per hour with a really good curveball. (Andrew) Painter may be up here in the same way."
Well, that's newsworthy.
John Middleton: “A bullpen in the regular season is an entirely different animal than a bullpen in the postseason.”
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/aRgs9DLsrX
"One of the things people have to realize is a bullpen in the regular season is an entirely different animal than a bullpen in the postseason," Middleton said.
Abel has been really good at Triple A this season, and you remember he started hot for the Phillies in his first couple of starts, but started to falter and get wild before being sent back down. If he's not traded at the deadline, the Phillies could convert him to a bullpen arm.
There has been some thought that that might be a possibility down the line, but no one from the Phillies had said it publicly - until now.
The Painter news is a bigger development, though, mostly because the team has staunchly insisted Painter would remain a starter and not be moved to the bullpen.
It sounds like something there may have changed.
"I'll be excited when he's shutting people down, which he will, he'll get there," Middleton said, saying that Painter is working on getting command back, which have led to some struggles in Lehigh Valley. "He's a smart guy. He's a determined guy. He'll get it right. He'll get it when he gets it, and hopefully, he'll get it sooner rather than later for us."
It sounds like "July-ish" is no longer a thing for Painter. But as long as he can help them in "October-ish," even if it's out of the bullpen, then the Phillies might have a much better bullpen than fans dreaming of all of these big deadline trades could imagine.
