July 31, 2026
Justine Willard/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Angels shortstop Zach Neto is a rumored name tied to the Phillies ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
The Phillies need help, and only have about three days left to get it.
Bryce Harper openly, and bluntly, put it out there as the club was getting swept by the division rival Marlins earlier this week in Miami.
He is right, even if his remarks clearly ruffled the feathers of interim manager Don Mattingly and excludes the other problem that, right now, the biggest thing the struggling Phillies need to do is just help themselves.
But club president Dave Dombrowski does have to do something by the Aug. 3 trade deadline, otherwise this season with an aging core will end up a wash, and all with no certainty that there will even be a next year with baseball's looming labor strife coming up.
So there's urgency in the front office, and by the looks of it, aggravation in the clubhouse.
There needs to be an external boost somewhere.
Here's the latest roundup of MLB trade rumors regarding the Phillies from a quick list of baseball's insiders...
Not helping the Phillies right now is the fact that their needs for serious contention make for too long a list.
They need a consistent right-handed bat, preferably in the outfield. They need one more starting pitcher for depth, and they need two more relievers, one a left-hander and the other a right.
That's a lot for any club to try and acquire within just a few days' time, but the Phillies might have a rare lifeline in the Toronto Blue Jays, who sit last in the AL East after last year's run to the World Series.
The Blue Jays are emerging as a trade partner for the Phils, per MLB Network's Jon Morosi on Thursday, and with a laundry list of names to offer at the spots they need – starters Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber, righty reliever Jeff Hoffman (the former Phil), outfielder Daulton Varsho, and right-handed bat George Springer.
The Blue Jays & Phillies are emerging as trade partners, as I reported on @MLBNetwork.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 30, 2026
Philly has multiple needs. Toronto has available veterans in those areas: Gausman, Bieber, Hoffman, Springer, Varsho.
As spring complex neighbors, Jays execs know Phillies prospects well.
"[The Philies] have underperformed, the names on that roster, for a long time. And one of the reasons why I mentioned the Jays, they, like the Tigers have gotten clarity in the last couple weeks about what their direction will be as sellers, and remember this: If you're the Blue Jays' front office, and you're trying to deal with a team, the Phillies are your spring training neighbors, and when you've got that ability to look at their prospects all the way down in instructional league, the complex league, and all the way up, it allows you to have a greater familiarity with who you are getting.
"The Jays and Phillies know each other very, very well. In different leagues, that would not surprise me at all to see a multi-player move of Blue Jays going to Philly, and that strengthening of the veteran core of the Philadelphia Phillies. A lot of those Jays players were in the World Series a year ago. They know what it takes. The Phillies do, too. They can maybe get over the mountaintop together." [MLB Network]
"A lot of those Blue Jays players were in the World Series a year ago. They know what it takes, the Phillies do too."@jonmorosi details a potential trade link between the Phillies and Blue Jays 👀⬇️ https://t.co/K2MrkTK6us pic.twitter.com/ghRIjNEcoi
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 30, 2026
A Hoffman reunion, along with landing Varsho in a potential package deal, does seem to be on the radar, as USA Today's Bob Nightengale reinforced in his column published Friday morning:
"The Philadelphia Phillies would prefer to acquire Angels OF Jo Adell, who has 10 homers against left-handed pitchers this year, but the Toronto Blue Jays’ package of reliever Jeff Hoffman and outfielder Daulton Varsho intrigues them." [USA Today]
Hoffman, if you'll remember, was a high-90s hurler, and a pretty effective one, for the Phillies through the 2023 and 2024 seasons, then eventually walked to the Blue Jays in free agency that winter.
He's been bumpy in Toronto since, seeing his ERA hike above 4.00 and his WHIP above 1.10 the past two years, even though his strikeout rate has stayed pretty stable.
The 33-year-old does come with his concerns, at this point, but then again, the Phillies might only have so many options and resources to spend them on at this rate, too.
Vaursho is a 30-year-old bat from the left side of the plate, who is slashing .247/.308/.383 with seven homers and 19 doubles this season. He doesn't jump off the page, but he would give the Phillies one more outfield bat to mix and match with.
Shifting to the Angels, Adell is a 27-year-old right-handed hitter with some decent pop, slashing .244/.291/.403 with 16 homers, 16 doubles, and 62 runs batted in.
He'd be a great get for the Phils, especially since he's hitting .313 with a .941 OPS against left-handed pitchers so far this year, which has been the Phillies' notorious kryptonite.
Dealing with the Angels, though, might be a play for long-term outlook, too, because Adell isn't the only name of note over in Anaheim.
Because Zach Neto, the Angels' emerging star at shortstop, is also a name the Phillies have asked about, per ESPN's Jeff Passan speaking on Sportscenter on Wednesday.
"The Phillies' plan can take a number of different routes. They could go, and try and go all in for a star-caliber player, and they've had conversations with the Los Angeles Angels about Zach Neto, who, you say Trea Turner's a shortstop already, Trea Turner might not be at shortstop long-term, and having a guy of Zach Neto's caliber, not just with his glove, but especially with the bat and with the power would really help that lineup.
"They might be forced to make a choice, and that other route is to go and get an outfielder, a starting pitcher, a relief pitcher, and maybe another bat on top of that. But if they do try and pull the double, get both, it is going to absolutely gut their farm system. We've seen Dave Dombrowski do that at past locations and in past jobs, and frankly to great effect, but the Phillies have tried to be more about sustainability in recent years and extending this window, and that's what they're hoping to do here.
"They know they have elite starting pitching, and they want to build around that and see if they can make a playoff run like they did a few years ago before they started losing earlier in the playoffs." [ESPN]
What will the Phillies do ahead of the trade deadline?@JeffPassan shares potential routes that could make an impact in Philadelphia 👀 pic.twitter.com/7Pw93zy5Cw
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 30, 2026
Bryson Stott, the regular second baseman, will be 29 in October and has one season left of team control after this one.
Neto is 25, and yeah, he's had his issues this year defensively with 15 errors compared to Turner's worst-in-baseball 19, but has a sharper glove to hone and some nice power at the plate with 19 home runs so far this season, and 23 and then 26 in the past two years as a full-time major leaguer.
A potential move for Neto, and Addell, could be that lineup shakeup that fans have been clamoring after for a long time, ever since the Phillies really started hitting a postseason wall.
Turner, with that contract, isn't going anywhere.
But maybe a Neto deal wth the Angels telegraphs a Turner move to second with a shorter throw, while a younger everyday piece takes up the slack at short.
Hey, it's something, at a point where the Phillies probably need to be at their most creative, or otherwise risk their window shutting.
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