Phillies acquire pitcher Michael Lorenzen and infielder Rodolfo Castro at the trade deadline

Lorenzen is expected to make his first start Thursday as the Phillies turn to a six-man rotation.

Published Aug. 1, 2023, 3:48 p.m. ET

MIAMI — The Phillies made two deals at the trade deadline on Tuesday, acquiring right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen from the Detroit Tigers for infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee, and switch-hitting infielder Rodolfo Castro from the Pirates for left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter.

Lorenzen, 31, has posted a 3.58 ERA in 105⅔ innings this season, the second-highest total of his career. He is signed through this season. To make room on the 40-man roster for Lorenzen, infielder Josh Harrison was designated for assignment.

Castro, 24, is a switch-hitting utility infielder. He has most of his big league experience at second base but has also played shortstop and third base. The Phillies like his defensive versatility and his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He’s batting .290/.368/.538 with six home runs in 93 at-bats against lefties this year. His right-handed splits are not as pretty: .173/.271/.192 through 104 at-bats.

Lorenzen, who has a 4.02 ERA through parts of nine seasons, is coming off the first All-Star season of his career. He has improved his command this season with Detroit, decreasing his walk rate from 10.7% in 2022 with the Angels to 6.5% in 2023. He has also improved against left-handed hitters, who are batting .201/.279/.355 against him this season, compared to .233/.348/.409 in 2022.

The Phillies like that Lorenzen has a history of starting and relieving, and has a big arsenal with multiple breaking balls and a good changeup. He has a traditional starter’s mix with the ability to go to the bullpen. According to Baseball Savant, Lorenzen throws seven pitches: a four-seam fastball, a slider, a changeup, a sinker, a sweeper, a cutter and a curveball.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Lorenzen likely will make his first start for the Phillies on Thursday. The Phillies will use a six-man rotation for now. There is no guarantee that Lorenzen will be the fifth starter if the Phillies go back to a five-man rotation. The Phillies like how Cristopher Sánchez has pitched.

“We’ll see where everybody’s at with their innings and how they are,” Thomson said. “You could almost go to a piggyback if we had to go to a five-man [rotation].”

Lorenzen is on pace to exceed his highest innings total in 2023. He’s never thrown more than 113⅓ innings in a season, and is already at 105⅔. But Thomson said he isn’t concerned because Lorenzen doesn’t have a lengthy injury history.

Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh played behind Lorenzen with the Angels in 2022. He saw the news on TV before he went to hit in the cage on Tuesday.

“He’s got tremendous stuff,” Marsh said. “His fastball runs the whole plate. Changeup runs the whole plate. Great offspeed and just a well-rounded guy. Super good guy. And when I saw that pop up on the ticker I was like ‘Oh, snap.’ I’m a huge fan of Lorenzen, so I’m super excited to see him again.”

Reliever Jeff Hoffman and outfielder Nick Castellanos played with Lorenzen in Cincinnati. Hoffman was his catching partner in spring training. He said he was as impressed with Lorenzen’s hitting as he was his pitching. Lorenzen has played 34 big league games in the outfield in his career and has hit seven home runs in 133 at-bats.

To be clear: The Phillies do not plan to use Lorenzen as an outfielder, but it’s easy for Hoffman to imagine.

“If Thoms was in a bind and needed somebody, that’s who you would use,” Hoffman said. “He’d be like, ‘I’ll go grab a helmet.’

“He is super talented, both as a hitter and as a pitcher. He’s going to help us win games. Huge mix. He can basically throw anything. He just has really good feel. Strike thrower. Just an out getter, and that’s what we’re looking for around here.”

Added Marsh: “He can take left field and the nine hole if wants to. I’m kidding, but not really.”

Lee, a 20-year-old infielder, has posted a .279/.367/.395 slash line this season between rookie ball and high-A Jersey Shore with five home runs. He was the Phillies’ No. 7 prospect, according to Baseball America. The Phillies did not want to give him up, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said it was necessary because it was a stronger seller’s market.

Falter was sent down to triple-A Lehigh Valley after starting 0-7 with the Phillies. He has a 4.21 ERA in 47 inning in triple-A. Falter had a 1.96 ERA in five starts in the month of July.

Dombrowski said they liked Castro’s bat from the right-handed side and think he has a chance to be an everyday player at some point — even if not with the Phillies right now.

That the Phillies acquired a bench player over a right-handed outfield bat was somewhat of a surprise. The Phillies were in the market for an outfielder, but ultimately didn’t acquire one.

“There were not a lot of right-handed hitting outfielders that moved,” Dombrowski said, “but also, for us... it was an interest, but we also asked ourselves a couple of things. First and foremost, the pitching was the priority for us. We really wanted to get pitching depth because we were concerned about the depth of our organization, in that regard, if something would happen over the next couple of months.

“From the right-handed-hitting perspective, we talked long and hard. We really like the job that [Johan] Rojas has done for us. He’s a young kid coming up that’s given us energy. We like him. And so, it’s a situation where his defense, of course, is outstanding. His speed is outstanding, too. He’s felt comfortable at the big league level. And we’ve often asked ourselves, ‘Do we feel like he’s overwhelmed?’ And the answer kept coming back. So, it’s not that we didn’t inquire, but there were very few guys who were available, and some of the prices we just didn’t want to pay based upon how we have felt about him.

“We do have [Cristian] Pache coming back shortly, too. He hits left-handed pitching very well. So we figured that we have a combination of people we can mix and match in the outfield.”

The Phillies’ offense hasn’t lived up to its potential, but Dombrowski’s moves at the deadline signaled a belief in their lineup as is.

“We think we have a very talented offensive club,” Dombrowski said. “And we have a lot of stars on our club. And sometimes you need complementary players to help them. If you acquire guys that are very similar to what you have from an ability perceptive, you can be redundant. And we just thought in this situation here, to play great defense and have speed, that was not something we were afraid to turn to.”

When asked how many of the offensive improvements need to come internally from the lineup, Dombrowski said “a lot.”

“I think our guys know that, too,” he said. “We have some good offensive names and we like their ability. It’s just now we have to go out and do it, and we have confidence that they’re going to do it. So, to me, when you looked at who was available at the price we would have to pay, we really kept coming down to the offensive improvement that we feel we’ll get from within, will be good for us. That that will help us more than what we could have [gotten from] some outside help.”

Song not traded

The Phillies designated rule 5 pick Noah Song for assignment on Saturday, giving them a few days to trade him before Tuesday’s deadline. But a deal didn’t happen, and Song will go through waivers. If he clears waivers, he’ll be offered back to the Red Sox. If the Red Sox accept Song, they will pay $50,000 to the Phillies.

“We had mentioned his name many times to people, but nobody really stepped forward,” Dombrowski said. “Our next step will be to ask waivers on his contract, which we will do [Wednesday]. And see if anybody claims him at that point. They have 48 hours to do that. We’ll find that out by Friday. And so people have the ability to claim his contract at that time. If not, we’ll start the process of offering him back to Boston.”