Grading Dombrowski, Fuld and the Philadelphia Phillies front office at the season’s midway point
By Bill Felber
Acquired or traded
Dombrowski and Fuld were bold in their dealings with other teams, acquiring nine players via trade, waiver claim or purchase.
Those nine came at a cost of just three players who left the Phillies for other big league destinations.
Substantively, the most important deal brought Andrew Vasquez to the bullpen. Vasquez was picked up on a waiver claim from San Francisco, which, in very circular fashion, had acquired him from the Phillies the previous August.
Vasquez never actually made a big league appearance for the 2022 Phillies; to that point, his MLB resume consisted of brief stops in Minnesota, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Since coming back to the Phillies, he’s made 25 appearances covering 35 innings with a 1.80 ERA and 0.8 WAA. It looks as though he’s found regular work.
Cristian Pache has probably been the value surprise. An outfielder with a history of failure in Atlanta and Oakland, Pache came to Philadelphia in a May trade with the A’s that cost Dombrowski and Fuld a minor leaguer.
The way things are going for the A’s this season, you could figure that as soon as they quit on a non-performer, he’d start to perform. That’s Pache. With the Phillies, he’s hitting.316 and lobbying for additional playing time.
The glamour pickup was Kody Clemens, son of You Know Who. This Clemens is a first baseman, although the Phillies have tried him occasionally on the mound just to kill time. As a backup to Alex Bohm, Clemens is batting .232 with four homers, but that’s only brought a -0.6 WAA.