Phillies

At This Point, I Think We’re All Just Waiting for “The Trade”

By Nick Piccone

Published: Jun 15th, 2026 · 10:06 AM EDT

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The Phillies split their road trip in Toronto and Milwaukee, winning the series against the Blue Jays 2-1 and losing against the Brewers, 2-1.

While they scored 14 runs in three games in Toronto, they sandwiched shutout losses between a flabbergasting nine-run effort in Milwaukee. If it wasn’t for Kyle Schwarber’s single Friday night, the Phillies would have been perfect game’d by Jacob Misiorowski. And even though the Phils’ offense is at the bottom of the league as it stands right now, the Braves’ lineup may have mustered only two or three hits against Misiorowski Friday night. In a season that’s already seen a fair share of disappointing losses, Friday’s loss in Milwaukee didn’t move me at all. In fact, neither did Sunday’s (even though J.T. Realmuto should have been out there).

As much as I said before the season I wasn’t going to poo-poo this Phillies’ season, it feels like a lot of fans are until something happens.

That something would be a trade. And with Adolis García likely done for the season after suffering a right latissimus dorsi tear Wednesday night in Toronto, it feels like Dave Dombrowski might be forced to make a move sooner than later instead of biding time until the trade deadline. USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale reports the Phillies “are desperately looking to acquire an outfielder at the trade deadline … and have Angels right fielder Jo Adell and Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki on their radar.” ESPN’s Buster Olney recently threw out the Phillies as one of the usual suspects expected to be in the mix for a potential Tarik Skubal trade. And with the starting rotation not panning out the way the Phillies have wanted thus far, it doesn’t seem as far-fetched as it did a few months ago.

However, the biggest need for this team continues to be a bat. Hell, they could use two or three. We’ve seen Bryce Harper cool off. Trea Turner is stuck in the Ice Age. Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh simply can’t carry an offense. We’ve seen a big enough sample size to make an educated guess that it won’t improve as the weather gets colder.

So, we’re kinda stuck. The Phillies have made a miraculous run to get back in the thick of the playoff hunt thanks to their pitching. But the last few seasons, the pitching has had to be perfect for this team to have a shot to make noise. Asking the pitching to be perfect is not conducive to success, despite how good it has been. The offense needs much more help, and until that happens, we’re just in wait-and-see mode. Again.