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Hendry Mendez

Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

By Darragh McDonald | July 10, 2025 at 2:41pm CDT

The Phillies are known to be focused on bullpen help, with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski admitting as much last month. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the club is showing more willingness to pay a higher prospect cost in order to get more controllable arms.

As noted by Gelb, this is in contrast to the club’s recent bullpen pursuits. At last year’s deadline, the Phils acquired Carlos Estévez, a rental. This winter, their big addition was grabbing Jordan Romano on a one-year deal. They appear to be dreaming a bit bigger ahead of this year’s deadline. Gelb reports that they are expecting the Twins to sell and have their eyes on Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax.

The Twins aren’t surefire sellers just yet. At 45-47, they are only three games out of a playoff spot. However, the payroll appears to be tight, as they were limited to fairly modest moves in the winter. They signed Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe and Ty France to one-year deals worth a combined $10.25MM. With ownership exploring a sale of the franchise, the front office may not get much more wiggle room to add this summer.

Even if they fall back in the standings and move more clearly into seller mode, they wouldn’t have to trade Durán or Jax. Both pitchers can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons beyond the current campaign. Both could be key parts of the club’s bullpen plans next year and in 2027 as well.

Durán is making $4.125MM and Jax $2.365MM. Both players will be due raises for next year but should still be underpaid. Jax has been dominant throughout his career, with a 2.39 earned run average, 30.9% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 63.9% ground ball rate. Jax also has strong numbers, particularly dating back to the start of last year. Over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he has a 2.77 ERA, 35.8% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 49.6% ground ball rate.

Talented relievers who reach free agency can earn eight-figure salaries, so there’s lots of value here for the Twins. However, if they decide this isn’t their year, there would be an argument for making moves. Reliever performance can be volatile and injuries are quite common nowadays. Though holding Durán and Jax for the future would be understandable, it’s a path that does have some risk.

For the Phillies, acquiring one or both of those arms would bolster their bullpen for this year and potentially for the future as well. Romano is a free agent after this season, so it could proactively address next year’s bullpen and perhaps give the club one less thing to do in the winter.

But as mentioned, going this route would require the club to give up more notable prospect talent. Gelb suggests that Andrew Painter is still unavailable but the club might not have any other truly untouchable prospects.

Aidan Miller gets a specific mention in the piece as an attractive guy who could be moved. The 27th overall pick of the 2023 draft, Miller just turned 21 years old but is already performing well in Double-A. In 64 games at that level, he has just seven home runs but has a 14.1% walk rate and has stolen 31 bases while holding down the shortstop position.

That combination of skills makes him a consensus top 50 prospect in the sport. It’s rare for those kinds of players to be available but perhaps the Phils have the right amount of urgency. They have been in the playoffs a lot lately with a strong roster but without getting a ring. Many of their core players are now between 32 and 36 years old, so perhaps the club wants to strike before the aging curve slopes more steeply.

Gelb mentions that the Phils probably wouldn’t flip someone like Mick Abel for a rental but it doesn’t seem like he’s completely unavailable. He also mentions Aroon Escobar and Eduardo Tait as prospects who could be of note in the coming weeks. Hendry Mendez, Alex McFarlane and Jean Cabrera get mentioned as intriguing potential secondary pieces.

Gelb also floats Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians as a fit similar to Durán or Jax. Clase has been Cleveland’s closer for years now but the club is in a tight spot this season. They are a bit behind the Twins, currently at 43-48 and 4.5 games back of a playoff spot. Clase is making just $4.5MM this year, $6MM next year and then there are two $10MM club options with $2MM buyouts.

Clase hasn’t been quite as dominant this year. His 22.9% strikeout rate is a couple of ticks below his 24.6% career rate. His 45.8% ground ball rate is still above average but far off his 58.8% career rate. Regardless, he has still been quite good and there’s loads of value in his contract. The Guardians could certainly keep him around beyond this campaign, though if the Phils are dangling notable prospects, they will probably answer the phone.

Another consideration of the Phils is shaking up their outfield, according to Gelb, including trading from their major league outfield. Both Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler have been somewhat disappointing at times this year and it’s been previously reported that the club may want to make room for prospect Justin Crawford.

Crawford is slashing .339/.410/.444 in Triple-A this year, despite only having two home runs. He won’t keep a .417 batting average on balls in play forever but he has an 11% walk rate and his speed has helped him steal 28 bases and run down balls in center field. Kepler, meanwhile, is hitting .213/.307/.378 on the season. Marsh started slow but has been heating up and is now at .265/.341/.378 for the whole year. He’s also controlled for two more seasons after this one, while Kepler is signed to a one-year deal.

That means Kepler is probably viewed as more disposable by the Phils but Marsh is surely more capable of bringing back a return that could help elsewhere on the roster. Kepler is making $10MM but Marsh just $3MM. Marsh is also a somewhat-capable center fielder, which is a weak spot in the league-wide market. His defense isn’t strong up the middle but a team without better options might take a chance on him.

If the Phils think Crawford can immediately come up and hit major league pitching, there’s an argument to flipping someone and bringing him up, though it’s a risky plan. Even the best prospects in the world can struggle when first exposed to the big leagues, so it would certainly be a gamble.

It’s an interesting dynamic with the deadline approaching. Dombrowski has a gunslinger reputation and there are some signs that his trigger finger is getting itchy. On the other hand, the flip side of the Phils having a veteran-laden roster is that they will need young players to step up in the near future. Dealing prospects would cut into Philadelphia’s ability to organically shift from one era to another but perhaps they focused enough on the present to make a bold move.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

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Cleveland Guardians Minnesota Twins Newsstand Philadelphia Phillies Aidan Miller Alex McFarlane Andrew Painter Aroon Escobar Brandon Marsh Eduardo Tait Emmanuel Clase Griffin Jax Hendry Mendez Jean Cabrera Jhoan Duran Justin Crawford Max Kepler Mick Abel

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Brewers Acquire Oliver Dunn From Phillies

By Darragh McDonald | November 14, 2023 at 12:40pm CDT

The Brewers have acquired infielder Oliver Dunn from the Phillies, per an announcement from the latter club. Dunn has been added to Milwaukee’s 40-man roster, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, bringing their count to 37. In exchange, the Phillies receive outfielder Hendry Mendez and infielder Robert Moore. Notably, Dunn was set to be Rule 5 eligible but the other two players were not. Today is the deadline for selecting players to prevent them from being eligible in the Rule 5 draft.

Dunn, 26, was an 11th-round selection of the Yankees in 2019 but went to the Phillies last year. He was the very last pick in the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 draft, with the Phils making three more selections after every other team gave up.

He then played 119 Double-A games in the Phillies’ organization in 2023, hitting 21 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 27.5% of his plate appearances but also walked 16.2% of the time. His .271/.396/.506 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 148 while playing second base, third base and left field. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and hit .343/.455/.616 in 88 plate appearances there.

Dunn would have been Rule 5 eligible again next month but it seems the Phils didn’t have a spot for him, or perhaps were debating the decision until they were able to work out this deal, nabbing a couple of guys who won’t be Rule 5 eligible until 2025.

Mendez, 20, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic, getting a bonus of $800K from the Brewers in 2021. Prior to this deal, he was considered the #25 prospect in the Brewers’ system by Baseball America, who note that he has strong approach at the plate but a concerning lack of power. He has nine home runs so far in his 856 minor league plate appearances, including three this past season.

Moore, 22 in March, was just selected 72nd overall in the 2022 draft. The son of executive Dayton Moore, he got into 123 High-A games in 2023 and hit .233/.321/.361 for a wRC+ of 94. He played second base, third base and shortstop. BA has him ranked #20 in the system.

For the Brewers, they’re giving up a couple of long-term prospects coming off underwhelming seasons in order to add a guy who can bolster their infield depth immediately. They are set to have Willy Adames at shortstop, though his name has come up in trade rumors. They also have Andruw Monasterio, Brice Turang, Rowdy Tellez, Abraham Toro, Owen Miller, Jahmai Jones and Vinny Capra as options on the 40-man to cover the infield spots, with Dunn now added into that mix.

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Milwaukee Brewers Philadelphia Phillies Transactions Hendry Mendez Oliver Dunn Robert Moore

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