The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired outfielder Harrison Bader from the Minnesota Twins in a move aimed at strengthening their outfield as the team pushes for a World Series run. The trade, completed ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline, saw the Phillies send right-handed pitcher Geremy Villoria and outfielder Hendry Mendez to Minnesota.
“There was no stone unturned, but we felt good with our club,” said Dave Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations. “We didn’t have a lot of gaping holes. Again, our offensive improvement is going to have to come internally. We think it can.”
Bader, 31, joins Philadelphia with a $10 million mutual option for 2026, making him likely a short-term addition. He has played 77 games in left field this season along with appearances in center and right field. His defensive skills are reflected by his +5 Outs Above Average ranking him 19th among qualified outfielders.
“He’s done it,” Dombrowski said. “He’s been doing it this year, so we think he can continue to do it.”
Bader is hitting .258 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs this season and holds an OPS of .778 with an OPS+ of 111—one of his best seasons statistically.
The Phillies’ outfield has struggled offensively this year, combining for a .677 OPS which ranks near the bottom of Major League Baseball and is their lowest since 1992.
Bader’s arrival affects Triple-A prospect Justin Crawford’s timeline to reach the majors. “We think he’s ready to play at the big league level,” Dombrowski said. “We could bring him up. If we do bring him up, he needs to play a lot. I’m not sure that we’re in a position to do that at this point today, but he’s not somebody that we would hesitate to bring up if we decided that was the right thing to do.
“He, like [Andrew] Painter, like a lot of those youngsters, they can use more development time. It will never hurt them.”
Max Kepler will remain part of the roster despite underperforming expectations at the plate this season. “He’s actually been swinging the bat a little bit better, particularly vs. right-handed pitching,” Dombrowski said. “But he’s part of our roster at this time.”
To make room on the roster for Bader, Philadelphia designated right-hander Brett de Geus for assignment and will add Bader to their active roster on Friday.
Dombrowski confirmed that top pitching prospect Andrew Painter will remain with the organization despite trade interest from other teams: “Will we see him? I’m not really sure what’s going to happen. We’re in a position where it’s a possibility, but I don’t want to say anything more than that because we really haven’t made that decision ourselves.”
The Phillies also kept other top prospects Aidan Miller and Crawford rather than using them as trade pieces for another bat.
In recent discussions about improving their lineup flexibility, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber were open to changing positions if needed: “You dip your toes in everything,” Dombrowski said. “Both players would be willing to do that, but our preference is to keep them at first and [DH]. Bryce has become a good first baseman. We like him there. Schwarbs is a tremendous DH… We’ve talked about it here. We get this guy from an offensive perspective, how does our defense look? How good of a defensive club are we, or do we suffer in that regard? We talked about [it]. They were open about it. But internally that wasn’t our preference.”
The team focused on addressing bullpen needs by acquiring Jhoan Duran earlier in the week as well as David Robertson recently; reliever José Alvarado is expected back later in August while Aaron Nola could return mid-month.
“Now it comes to playing better on the field,” Dombrowski said.
