Phillies bolster their bullpen by trading touted pitching prospects for closer Carlos Estévez from the Angels

With 72 hours to spare before the trade deadline, the Phillies acquired a pitcher they can envision getting the last out of a postseason series.

It remains to be seen whether Carlos Estévez will ever take over a closer role that has gone largely unassigned in Rob Thomson’s managerial tenure. But the Phillies paid a prospect price to pry the 31-year-old right-hander away from the Angels on Saturday night, jettisoning double-A lefty Samuel Aldegheri and high-A righty George Klassen.

“Probably a little more than you like to give up for a rental,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski conceded, referring to Estévez’s expiring contract. “But who knows, maybe we’ll sign him once the year is over, too? Hard to tell.”

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For now, that’s beside the point. Because while the Phillies discussed a move for late-inning relievers who had additional years of club control — including the Nationals’ Kyle Finnegan, according to a major-league source — they settled on the one they think is best suited to put them over the top for the World Series.

And that’s all that really matters in the Phillies’ 2024 universe.

“We sat in a room with all of our people the last couple days, and you have to make a decision,” Dombrowski said. “It’s going to hurt at some point when you make a trade to try to win. We are trying to win. We think [Estévez] is a guy that can be a real significant piece to that.”

In a two-day span, the Phillies addressed their two most glaring needs before the deadline at 6 p.m. Tuesday. They traded for righty-hitting outfielder Austin Hays from the Orioles on Friday, then added Estévez to the back of a bullpen that sprung a small leak in the last few weeks.

Does that mean Dombrowski is ready to put down his pencil?

If anything, the Phillies could target starting rotation depth, especially after Ranger Suárez went on the 15-day injured list Saturday with lower-back soreness. But Dombrowski said the team is hopeful Suárez will miss only a few starts while noting that right-hander Taijuan Walker is also due back next month from an inflamed right index finger.

“I mean, you’re always open-minded,” Dombrowski said. “There’s a long way to Tuesday night at 6 o’clock. But we feel very comfortable where we are right now.”

Besides, the Phillies spent considerable prospect capital — the No. 5 (Klassen) and No. 7 (Aldegheri) players in their system, according to Baseball America’s midseason rankings — for Estévez. It’s doubtful they will tap into the farm system again for anything less than a difference-making player.

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The Phillies pursued Estévez in free agency two offseasons ago before he got a two-year, $13.5 million deal with the Angels. They prioritized Estévez now over other available relievers for reasons that went beyond 51 saves over the last two years, including 20 this year.

Start here: He has been lights-out for two months.

Estévez hasn’t given up a run in 18 innings since May 28, retiring 53 of 58 batters in that span. Like every team, the Phillies fanned out their pro scouts across the league within the last few weeks. Longtime special assignment scout Charley Kerfeld trailed Estévez and made a positive recommendation.

The Phillies were beneficiaries of Estévez’s biggest meltdown of the season on May 1 in Anaheim. Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas slugged back-to-back homers in a three-run ninth inning of a 7-5 comeback victory.

But Kerfeld noted an improved changeup that helps Estévez keep left-handed hitters, in particular, from sitting on his fastball, which averages 96.4 mph. Opponents are hitting .154 and slugging .231 against the changeup this season, compared to .286 and .619 last year.

The biggest reason, though, for Estévez’s ERA falling to 2.38 from 3.90 last season is dramatically improved command. He has walked only five batters all season, slashing his walk rate from 11% last year to 4%.

Dombrowski also noted an intangible quality that put Estévez above all other relievers on the Phillies’ list.

“We’ve got a lot of information on him as far as the type of makeup and bulldog type of approach he has out there,” Dombrowski said. “We’ve got some people who told us he’ll definitely fit into the Philadelphia mentality. He will not be afraid of this.”

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Sounds like the description of a closer, right?

Thomson, however, prefers not to assign specific innings to the relievers. He hasn’t designated a closer this season, with lefty José Alvarado and right-hander Jeff Hoffman splitting most ninth-inning opportunities based on matchups against the opposing lineup.

At minimum, Estévez will deepen the Phillies’ stable of relievers in the late innings. But his presence will also enable Thomson to slide Alvarado and even Hoffman into high-leverage spots earlier in the game. And in the playoffs, Thomson likes to use his relievers aggressively, often in the middle innings.

Given the price they paid for Estévez, he figures to get plenty of chances to slam the door in the ninth.

“However Topper determines he’s going to use him, we’ll see,” Dombrowski said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a lot of ninth innings and slots people behind him.”

Aldegheri, signed as an international amateur out of Italy in 2019, has a 3.23 ERA in 15 starts and was promoted to double-A earlier this month. Klassen, a sixth-round draft pick last year from the University of Minnesota, has a 1.97 ERA in 14 starts between two levels of A-ball.

But the Phillies sold high on both 22-year-olds, who have skyrocketed up the prospect charts with breakout seasons.

It’s the price that World Series-or-bust contenders pay.

“Not guys we wanted to give up, but we also knew that we were going to have to give something up because it is definitely a seller’s market,” Dombrowski said. “The reality comes down, for me, we wanted the best guy to give us a chance that we felt to win this year. We just felt that he’s the right guy.”