The Philadelphia Phillies were very active ahead of the MLB trade deadline, completing four deals in total.

From the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies acquired second baseman Luis Arraez and right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian. In a deal with the New York Mets, the bullpen was further upgraded by landing left-handed pitcher Brooks Raley.

Two deals involving minor league players were then completed. Seth Johnson was traded to the Athletics for outfielder Cobly Thomas and Nolan Hoffman, who was designated for assignment, was traded to the Kansas City Royals for Manuel Colon.

Surprisingly absent from those deals is a starting pitcher. Alas, it wasn’t from a lack of effort from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, as he revealed that market prices dictated the inability to make a deal, with Philadelphia being unwilling or unable to meet what was being asked for.

Why didn't Phillies acquire a starter ahead of MLB trade deadline?

“Both, in some cases,” Dombrowski said, via Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic (subscription required). “I’d say some clubs felt we were unable to match others, but not in many cases. … The top of our farm system is very well regarded. It’s a little deeper than what people think it is once you start talking to them.”

There were some really solid prospects traded ahead of the deadline to bring in starting pitchers. The Tampa Bay Rays parted ways with three top-30 prospects to land Freddy Peralta. Robbie Ray cost the San Diego Padres two top-21 prospects to acquire from their National League West rivals, the Giants.

In their deal with San Francisco to bring aboard Arraez and Kilian, the Phillies parted with their best trade chip, right-handed pitcher Ramon Marquez. While Dombrowski noted their farm system was better regarded than rankings suggest, matching the offers of other teams would have been difficult.

Philadelphia wasn’t going to part with Gage Wood, their No. 2-ranked prospect, to bring aboard Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor, which the Chicago Cubs did when they sent Jefferson Rojas to the Mets for those two.

Andrew Painter, Aaro Nola have risen to the occassion for Phillies

Another thing that factored into the decision-making for Dombrowski was whether the pitcher they were targeting was better than what they already had in place. At a minimum, the acquired player had to be better than Andrew Painter, who has been the No. 5 pitcher the last three times through the rotation.

He has looked much better than he did in his first 14 appearances, when he had a 7.06 ERA. His improvement, along with Aaron Nola finding his groove, has Dombrowski looking smart for not using more prospect capital to bring in another pitcher.

Can those two keep it up? That will be key in the Phillies finishing the regular season strong enough to make the playoffs.

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