Help arrives for Phils before trade deadline

Addressing their three most vital needs while relieving themselves of one nagging mystery, the Phillies Friday gave their roster a meaningful re-set.

They needed a starting pitcher and acquired All-Star righthander Kyle Gibson.

They needed dependability at the back of their bullpen and acquired veteran Ian Kennedy.

They needed to professionalize their infield defense and made a deal to bring dazzling shortstop Freddy Galvis back to the organization.

And they needed to halt the vigil for former pitching prospect Spencer Howard to demonstrate reliability or physical endurance, so they used him as a key to the trade-deadline flurry.

While not as aggressively as he might have implied, and while less busy than the Mets and Braves, Dave Dombrowski’s moves should boost the Phillies’ chances to win a playoff spot for the first time since 2011. With the Phillies 3.5 games behind the Mets as the 4 p.m. deadline hit Friday, the question, as always, was just how realistic those chances were all along.

“We’re very happy with what

we accomplished,” said Dombrowski, the Phils’ president of baseball operations. “We think we made ourselves better now. We also think that we’re in a position that, for next year, we have another starting pitcher for our rotation, which is helpful.”

Gibson and Kennedy will arrive from Texas along with animated Class AA pitcher Hans Crouse and cash considerations in exchange for Howard and minor-league pitchers Kevin Gowdy and Josh Gessner. Though Dombrowski insists he had ownership approval to do whatever was necessary to better the team, the deal allowed the Phillies to stay under the luxury tax.

Galvis, a former Phillies fan-favorite, was acquired from the Orioles for right-handed minor-league pitcher Tyler Burch. Dealing with a quad injury, Galvis is not expected to be available to the Phillies for another 10 days. That will give Didi Gregorius time to shake his defensive and offensive slumps before Joe Girardi is forced into an everyday-shortstop change.

Galvis, who played for the Phils from 2012 through 2017, can play multiple defensive positions and is viewed by the Phillies as the kind of veteran who previously may have squeezed through on the kind of postdeadline waiver deal that is no longer permitted. He was hitting .249 with nine home runs in 72 games for Baltimore. Burch had a 3.99 ERA in Class A.

With Zach Eflin continuing to recover from a knee injury, Gibson, 33, fills the Phils’ most immediate need as a reliable starter behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. A first-time All-Star this season, he is 6-3 with a history of going reasonably long into games. His 2.87 ERA was the third best in the American League. Under contract for another year, he is more than a one-time rentan-arm.

Kennedy, 36, is a 15thyear veteran of multiple clubs. A former starter, he transitioned to the bullpen in 2019 and has successfully completed 46 of his 51 save opportunities. His addition will allow the Phillies to consider returning Ranger Suarez to his natural position as a starter, though they have yet to make that decision.

“Ian is going to pitch in the back end somewhere,” Dombrowski said. “But where, that will be Joe’s decision.”

The Friday flurry did cost the Phillies Howard, 25, once considered the prize of their farm system. Howard had one win in 13 starts with the Phillies and only once made it into a fifth inning, often demonstrating an alarming inability to maintain his velocity during games.

“Part of the deal was that if we were going to trade a guy like Spencer, we wanted to get an arm back,” Dombrowski said. “And we like Hans Crouse. We like him a lot, actually.”

Crouse was considered the Rangers’ ninth best prospect and was 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA and a 54-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio for Class AA Frisco. The righthander is known to talk to the baseball among other mound quirks, inspiring Dombrowski Friday to liken him to former eccentric bigleague star Mark “The Bird” Fidrych.

In 14 games for Class A Jersey Shore, Gowdy had a 4.43 ERA. Gessner had a 1.17 ERA in three rookie games in the Florida Complex League.