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Phillies Trade Matt Strahm to Kansas City Royals
By Luke Arcaini
Published:
Phillies left-handed reliever Matt Strahm has been traded to the Kansas City Royals for RHP Jonathan Bowlan, according to multiple reports and later confirmed by the team:
Rumors of potentially moving Strahm have been flying for over a month now. The lefty is entering the final year of his contract and was set to make $7.5M for the Phillies in 2026. When you look at Matt Strahm’s production, you realize that’s a good number for a pitcher with his stats. But this was a salary dump for the next move, not because the team was just ready to ship Strahm out of Philadelphia.
Jonathan Bowlan will enter his second full season in the majors. He pitched to a 3.86 ERA in 44.1 innings last year with Kansas City, and is under contract until 2032, still awaiting his pre-arbitration status.
After the Phillies added to their bullpen on Wednesday with Brad Keller, it now gets worse. It would be hard to imagine Dave Dombrowski not making another bullpen move, but on the flipside, the team is very high on some young arms to make some noise this year, including newly-acquired Zach McCambley.
My biggest takeaway from this trade: something’s coming. Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Tatsuya Imai? One of those three guys would be awesome. There’s still something in the back of my head that believes they have the outside chance to get one of Bregman or Bichette to Philadelphia. It’ll be a little easier now with $7.5M off the books.
Luke Arcaini writes about the Phillies for Crossing Broad, covers the Phillies for FOX Sports The Gambler, and co-hosts "Phillies Digest" on YouTube. The wave is the worst thing in all of sports. Contact: lukearcaini8@gmail.com