Did Philadelphia Phillies Fleece Baltimore Orioles at Trade Deadline?

Last week's Philadelphia Phillies-Baltimore Orioles trades already look pretty lopsided.

Apr 10, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski. / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles were busy ahead of last week's trade deadline, especially with each other. While contenders rarely swap players in the middle of the season, that didn't stop these two teams from completing a pair of big trades with each other.

In the first one, the Orioles sent outfielder Austin Hays to the Phillies for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Cristian Pache on July 26. In the second one, Baltimore acquired another Philadelphia reliever, getting Gregory Soto in exchange for two prospects (Seth Johnson and Moises Chace) on July 30.

Along with Craig Kimbrel, the Orioles now have three former members of the Phillies' bullpen. While a club can never have too much pitching depth, that may not be the best strategy for a team with World Series aspirations.

Craig Kimbrel and Gregory Soto fighting over who gets to blow a 3 run lead in the ALDS pic.twitter.com/Vv5GQFjtfH

— Phillies Muse (@Phillies_Muse) July 30, 2024

The Orioles bullpen now has

Seranthony Dominguez
Greg Soto
Craig Kimbrel

Interesting strategy

— The Good Phight (@TheGoodPhight) July 30, 2024

It's unclear why Baltimore's front office decided to load up on former Philadelphia relievers, especially when none of them are particularly good. They all have postseason experience, but Kimbrel and Soto were terrible in the Phillies' NLCS collapse to the Arizona Diamondbacks last year.

Kimbrel has been a disaster for the Orioles this year with six blown saves and may be on the verge of losing his closing job (he was recently used in a non-save situation). Dominguez had a 4.75 ERA before being traded, while Soto has a 4.42 ERA since the beginning of last year.

Pache isn't good, either, which is why he's already been DFA'ed.

In return, Philadelphia got a far superior outfielder in Hays, who was an All-Star last year and is a career .261/.314/.433 hitter. The Phillies also got a pair of promising young arms in Johnson and Chace. Johnson is now the organization's No. 10 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, while Chace slots in as their No. 25 prospect.

Now that the dust has settled, it looks like Dave Dombrowski got the best of Mike Elias. And if Soto or Kimbrel cost Baltimore in October, Philadelphia fans won't be surprised.