PHILADELPHIA — Phillies owner John Middleton stood on the field at Citizens Bank Park, a stadium slightly revamped in anticipation of the club’s opportunity to host the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Gone is the analog clock that sat in left-center field. The new 2026 All-Star Game logo has taken its place.
Sure, it’s a big change to the ballpark, but Middleton won’t be checking for the time in the outfield anytime soon.
“I still got a watch,” Middleton said. “I got my cell phone on. That’s kind of what I look at most of the time.”
With the second half starting and the clock ticking until the July 31 trade deadline, Middleton spoke to reporters before Friday night’s game. He talked about his excitement for next year’s Midsummer Classic, but he also provided his assessment of the team so far this season and his thoughts on the trade deadline.
Overall, Middleton said he was pleased with how Philadelphia played in the first half of the year. Superstar Bryce Harper dealt with injuries, right-hander Aaron Nola remains on the shelf and a number of players have underperformed compared to the hope or expectation. The club is still 55-42, good for first place in the National League East by a half game.
But some of the team’s warts were apparent on Friday in the Phillies’ 6-5 loss to the Angels. Harper hit two home runs, Schwarber hit one and Philadelphia scored on no other play. Starter Jesús Luzardo allowed four runs, then Tanner Banks allowed a two-run homer out of the bullpen.
The Phillies badly need relief help, and they could seriously use some right-handed reinforcement in the lineup. It’s clear that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has to change some things up. The veteran executive has a reputation for making splashes, but he’s never fully made an all-in blockbuster with the Phillies. Middleton thinks he’ll be pursuing upgrades at the deadline.
“He’s always aggressive,” Middleton said. “He doesn’t have another gear besides aggressive.”
But how aggressive will the Phillies be? It’s still uncertain, and it’s seemingly something Middleton is still calculating himself. It can be tough to find the right formula. The owner admitted that the Phillies struggled with how much is too much last year when they pursued then-White Sox ace Garrett Crochet, who is now pitching in Boston.
They offered both of Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford, perhaps their two best hitting prospects, for Crochet, according to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb.
“We made a spectacularly good offer,” Middleton said, “so good that Dave looked at me at one point and said, ‘I don’t know that I should be doing this.’ He said, ‘You know what? I’m ambivalent. If they take the deal, great. If they don’t take the deal, great. I’m really happy with keeping the guys we were going to give them.’ And that’s the way I was.”
Prospects are just prospects, but a team never wants to sacrifice too much future value. In the aftermath of the Phillies’ 2008 World Series victory, Ruben Amaro Jr. took over as general manager and made numerous win-now moves. A lot of them, as Middleton noted, were successful.
Cliff Lee came to Philadelphia, pitched exceptionally well and then came back. Pedro MartÃnez threw his last season with the Phillies. Roy Halladay became a Phillies icon. Roy Oswalt had an ERA under 2.00 for the Phils in 2010, and Hunter Pence was acquired to play the outfield the next year.
None of it mattered in the end.
“Every move he made, it was an A-plus move,” Middleton said, “and every player that he brought in performed at a very high level. And we still lost.
“Not only did we not win the World Series, but we exited, every year, one round earlier than the year before. If you kind of empty the cupboard, you can do everything right and you still don’t win.”
The front office did not sustain enough young talent to support that aging set of veterans at the end of its heyday. As a result, the Phillies missed the postseason every year from 2012 to 2021. They don’t want a repeat of that once this core ages out.
“You have to weigh all that, because we’re going to be playing baseball five or 10 years from now, right?” Middleton said. “And we want the fans to be excited five or 10 years from now. To do that, you can’t just trade everybody and say, ‘Well?'”
There are still ways to improve this current club, which has a path to contend for a title. Middleton said the 2025 Phillies’ starting staff is their best since 2011, when they had “a historically great rotation.” The Phillies already have the third-best odds to win it all at 9.5%, according to FanGraphs. They are behind only the Detroit Tigers (10.0%) and Los Angeles Dodgers (21.2%).
There can be a middle ground. Not every prospect has to be dealt, but it could be a waste to not acquire enough pieces to try to boost the team’s World Series odds even more for this season.
In terms of the playoffs, Middleton said the bullpen is “an entirely different animal” than in the regular season. He mentioned a young Adam Wainwright becoming a reliever for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and bolstering that unit. The Phillies could move at least one of their big-league starters — and, in Middleton’s eyes, potentially even former first-round picks Mick Abel and Andrew Painter — to the bullpen in October.
Making use of what the Phillies already have to avoid sending out more minor leaguers for bullpen arms could be the smart play. But they’ll also probably want to trade for a legitimate reliever or two, in addition to looking into a batter. It’s all about figuring out the best way to give the Phillies’ veteran roster a real shot at a championship without making the future disappear.
“Some of these players are in the back half of their window,” Middleton said, “but there are other players who are in the beginning of their window. And so you got to keep thinking about that.”
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