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Austin Hays “Not a Platoon” Outfielder According to Phillies Manager Rob Thomson

Anthony SanFilippo

By Anthony SanFilippo

Published:

Jun 3, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Baltimore Orioles left fielder Austin Hays (21) hits a two run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fourth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, and everyone knowing the Phillies would be looking to upgrade the outfield and the bullpen – at least – it was only a matter of time before President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski made a move to bolster his major league roster.

And while many assumed that the trade that went down earlier Friday, where the Phillies acquired outfielder Austin Hays from the Baltimore Orioles for Seranthony Dominguez and Cristian Pache, was done to create a left field platoon between Hays and Brandon Marsh, manager Rob Thomson all but said that wouldn’t be the case.

“I do not see him as a platoon, to tell you the truth,” Thomson said. “This guy was an All-Star last season. For whatever reason – and I don’t know Baltimore’s situation, but he wasn’t playing every single day, so I think that’s maybe affected his numbers a little bit. I want to see what we have here.”

Thomson went on to say Hays would likely get some run this weekend against Cleveland and into next week against the Yankees, even against righthanded pitching.

And if that’s the case, then the platoon must be in centerfield between Marsh and Johan Rojas, right?

“I don’t know that,” Thomson said. “I got to talk to a lot of people.”

When pressed later, he added, “I will answer this tomorrow, after I talk with them.”

So, it sounds like Hays is definitely going to be a regular – he’s going to have to hit to stay in the lineup, for sure, but he’s going to be given a chance to do so.

Dombrowski admitted he’s liked Hays for a long time. So much so that he engaged the Baltimore Orioles in trade discussions for Hays at each of the last two deadlines.

Looks like the third time was the charm:

“I was being asked for much more than we wanted to give,” Dombrowski said as to why he couldn’t get the trade done in each of the past two seasons. “He’s a good hitter. He hasn’t played all that much this year. He got squeezed out…When we’ve seen him, we’ve liked him. He can hit. He’s a gamer. He can play left field well and we were looking for a little bit of a better bat from the righthand side.”

And while Hays is certainly an offensive upgrade over Pache, it looks like the notion of having a better right-handed hitter wasn’t meant for the bench, but rather for the everyday lineup, meaning they are looking for an upgrade over Rojas, mostly.

Dombrowski was also asked if he feels like this trade has the Phillies “set” in the outfield.

“I think so,” he said. “When I say that, I never know what will drop down at this point, but if we ended now, and this was our outfield going forward, we feel good about it.”

And yet, something still seems unsettled. The Phillies felt the need to trade for Hays because they didn’t have great internal options. Weston Wilson is fine as a bench bat, but beyond that, there’s not much on the Phillies 40-man roster to fill a need in the outfield if a need arose.

Imagine a scenario where there is an injury to one of their regular outfielders. Aside from Wilson, the only other player with any outfield experience on the 40-man roster is Kody Clemens. They could always select the contract of one of their minor leaguers not on the 40-man. David Dahl is back at Triple-A. Cal Stevenson or (gulp) Scott Kingery can be an emergency guy.

But the depth is thin.

Asked about that, Dombrowski gave a shrugged-shoulder type of answer.

“Yeah, you can always get deeper, but you can only do so much,” he said.

Subtracting Dominguez, the Phillies will turn to Michael Rucker to replace him in the pen. Rucker was an offseason addition, but has been injured since spring training and hasn’t pitched with the team yet this season.

Thomson said Rucker will slot into the same role Dominguez was filling – more lower leverage spots out of the ‘pen.

Dombrowski admitted he is looking to add to the bullpen. The Phillies have been rumored to be interested in a lot of names. Florida’s Tanner Scott and Washington’s Kyle Finnegan are at the top of that list.

Finnegan could give you another reliable back end of bullpen righty, augmenting Jeff Hoffman and being a reliable veteran in case Orion Kerkering hits a rookie wall:

Finnegan could cost you a major league-ready player at least. Considering their catching situation has been a major disappointment between Keibert Ruiz not living up to expectations and Riley Adams not providing much in a backup role, could the Nats be interested in Rafael Marchan for Finnegan? Would the Phillies risk losing Marchan considering J.T. Realmuto already had to miss a month-plus with a knee injury?

And then there’s the rumor that won’t go away – that the Phillies are talking to the White Sox about lefty starter Garret Crochet. Why add a starter? Well, there’s going to be a need for a 6-man rotation next month with a heavy schedule and few off days. So, there’s that. And, really, how much can you trust Taijuan Walker (if he comes back, as expected)? Additionally, as good as Tyler Philips has been, how much can you lean on him to be an every-time-through-the rotation guy?

So, having another high-end toy to play with in the rotation for two months makes sense. Then, after you see how it plays out, you pick one of three lefties to be deployed out of the pen in the post season. All three of them – Crochet, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez – have pitched out of the pen before. Crochet has more of a power reliever profile than the other two, but Suarez has been a guy whose pitched big games in relief in the postseason for the Phillies as well.

It offers some postseason flexibility.

The key thing to the Hays trade is that it was made by trading off the major league roster, meaning the full bevy of prospects is still available for any other deal.

And reading the tea leaves, it doesn’t look like Dombrowski is done. Not by a long shot.

Anthony SanFilippo
Anthony SanFilippo

Anthony SanFilippo writes about the Phillies and Flyers for Crossing Broad and hosts a pair of related podcasts (Crossed Up and Snow the Goalie). A part of the Philadelphia sports media for a quarter century, Anthony also dabbles in acting, directing, teaching, and strategic marketing, which is why he has no time to do anything, but does it anyway. Follow him on Twitter @AntSanPhilly.

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