Phillies Acquire RHP Michael Lorenzen in Deadline-Day Deal with Tigers
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Certain parts of this Phillies team are ice-cold. So what does the front office do? Acquire a red-hot player. Specifically, one that posted a 1.14 ERA in the month of July. It’s not a complex or detailed strategy, but it works. And it’s very Dave Dombrowski. Very.
Around 3:15 on Tuesday, with just hours to go before the 6:00pm ET trade deadline, reports from MLB Network insider Jon Morosi indicated that the Phillies and Michael Lorenzen were nearing a deal, and within fifteen minutes, multiple sources confirmed the trade that is sending Phillies’ infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee to the Detroit Tigers.
Lorenzen, 31, signed a one-year, $8.5 million deal with Tigers for 2023. In 18 starts with Detroit, he had a 3.58 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 5-7 record. The righty earned his first All-Star nod this season and recorded two outs while allowing no runs, despite his team being defeated by the NL.
Even though Lorenzen has allowed some hard contact this season, he has generated some swing-and-miss action and has kept free passes at a minimum, with his walk rate being in the 77th percentile, per MLB Savant. Lorenzen gets most of his whiffs from his curveball and changeup, and he has gotten a lot of groundball outs by keeping his fastball toward the bottom of the strike zone.
With Lorenzen joining the Phillies, reports have made it seem likely that Rob Thomson and the Phils will run a six-man rotation for the time being before reevaluating in mid-August.
Christopher Sanchez has arguably been the Phillies’ most consistent starter over the past month, so his departure from the rotation is unlikely. Aaron Nola is having a down year but remains a lock atop the Phils’ rotation. Lately, Phils’ starter Ranger Suarez has struggled, but he has been virtually unhittable when at his best.
Normally, this situation would call for a tough decision to be made, but for better or worse, that is likely not going to be needed. Michael Lorenzen is reaching a career-high in innings pitched, and many speculate that Nola and Suarez’s recent struggles are a by-product of a playoff-shortened offseason, so running a six-man rotation for the remainder of the regular season could be advantageous for the Phillies in a plethora of ways.
Hao-Yu Lee, the aforementioned prospect en route to Detroit, is currently ranked fifth among Phillies’ minor league prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Lee has five home runs, 26 RBI, a .283 average, and 14 stolen bases for the high-A Blue Claws this season.
Despite the deadline being under two hours away, the Phillies are still likely to pursue a righty-hitting outfielder and possibly a bullpen arm to further improve their active roster. Prospects Ethan Wilson, Simon Muzziotti, and Carlos De La Cruz will likely be among the first to go if a deal goes through.
