Buckle up! Phillies expect to make deals before the Deadline

Don Mattingly heard about it, of course.

But asked Sunday morning at Camden Yards about his reaction to the news that Tarik Skubal had been traded to the Dodgers, Mattingly did not miss a beat.

“What happened?” he said, straight-faced.

His response got a few laughs.

“No, no real reaction,” Mattingly said. “You know, we’ve got enough issues of just taking care of our own business. If we get to [the Dodgers in the postseason], we deal with it then.”

By the time this Phillies Beat newsletter hits your inbox (subscribe here, if you haven’t already), there will be less than 12 hours remaining before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. The Phillies are trying to find hitters and pitchers to help a roster that needs real help if they want to make a deep postseason run. So far, asking prices remain high -- at least for the Phillies -- but are expected to drop before the Deadline. The Phillies are expected to get deals done.

The Phillies never seriously pursued Skubal. A well-traveled rumor that the Phillies offered Gage Wood, Justin Crawford and Jonathan Bowlan -- or anything resembling that -- for Skubal was utterly false.

The truth is the Phillies could not put together a package to beat the Dodgers, who sent outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith to the Tigers.

Hope (No. 25) and Ryan (No. 68) are top 100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline. But they were only the Nos. 5 and 7 prospects in the Dodgers' system, respectively, while Smith ranked No. 17 for the club.

It still left the Dodgers with seven top 100 prospects, including four in the top 24.

The Phillies have three top 100 prospects: Wood (No. 48), injured infielder Aidan Miller (No. 50) and 17-year-old outfielder Francisco Renteria (No. 86).

Miller has not played baseball since last year. He had a medical procedure on June 5 to treat discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine. He had been projected to resume baseball activities within six to eight weeks.

But eight weeks and two days later, Miller isn’t ready yet.

The Phillies might have needed to package Andrew Painter, Wood and another prospect in a three-prospect deal for Skubal. Miller? His value has dropped, although right-hander Ramon Marquez (Phillies’ No. 4 prospect) has seen his value grow. Would Wood, Marquez and two other prospects beat the Dodgers? It seems unlikely.

But the Phillies should have enough talent to make at least a couple trades before 6 p.m. The Phillies could move forward with Painter as their No. 5 starter -- he is scheduled to start Wednesday against Washington at Citizens Bank Park -- but it wouldn’t address their depth concerns with the starting pitching.

If something should happen to Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler or Jesús Luzardo, the Phillies would be in serious trouble. So, it would still make sense to find another starter. They’ve scouted everybody from Kevin Gausman to Brady Singer to Tomoyuki Sugano in recent weeks.

The Phillies should be able to find a late-inning reliever, too. How about a reunion with Blue Jays right-hander Jeff Hoffman? Bats? The Braves acquired Lane Thomas, but there are others out there. But the Phillies have had interest in Angels outfielder Jo Adell, Orioles outfielder Taylor Ward and Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho. There are reports they have expressed interest in Dodgers outfielder Alex Call and Giants second baseman Luis Arraez, although it’s difficult to see how that works without moving Alec Bohm or Bryson Stott.

There are others out there, too.

Buckle up. Something is going to happen today. It would be stunning if it doesn’t.