Dombrowski breaks down Hays trade, Deadline plans

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There had been plenty of speculation the past few weeks that the Phillies would try to land Luis Robert Jr., Cody Bellinger or even Jazz Chisholm Jr. to boost their outfield.

For one reason or another, none of those players ever seemed likely.

It seemed more likely that the Phillies would acquire somebody to platoon in left field with Brandon Marsh, or maybe do a little bit more. The Phillies think they found that player on Friday, when they traded right-hander Seranthony Domínguez and outfielder Cristian Pache to the Orioles for Austin Hays.

Here is what Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said about Hays and what else is coming before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline:

Why Hays?
Well, we’ve liked Hays for a few years. We’ve actually tried to acquire him the last two trading Deadlines and have been asked for much more than we’ve wanted to give. He’s a good hitter. I know he hasn’t played all that much this year. He’s gotten squeezed out in playing time with the amount of good young outfielders that they have. A lot of them left-handed hitting, but [the O’s have] a lot of good young players there, so hasn’t had as much playing time. When we’ve seen him, we’ve liked him. He can hit. He’s a gamer. He can play left field well, and we’re looking for a bit better at-bats from the right side, and he fits it.

Will he play left field?
Yes. Now [manager] Rob Thomson will make out the lineup. You can ask him. But we think [Hays] can hit left-handed and right-handed pitching. He’s done that in the past. He started in the All-Star Game last year. He’s got pretty good ability from our perspective. Now, Topper will make that lineup out, but we don’t think he’s just in a position where he has to be platooned by any means.

How quickly did the deal come together?
We had talked a couple weeks ago about just the generality of it. But perhaps this year maybe even more than most at this time, a few days beforehand, [we] really have a total pulse of what everybody is looking for. Part of it might be just because it's difficult to buy in a seller's market. So we want to have a real pulse of what's going on. So as we got a better pulse of everybody, it seemed like something to revisit. So I reached out to [Orioles GM] Mike [Elias] yesterday. He got back to me. They had some discussion internally themselves overnight and said, “Get back to me first thing this morning.”

Does trading Domínguez change what you do in the bullpen in terms of numbers?
Well, I can't say it changes dramatically. We were already kind of looking toward bullpen at this point. We're bringing [Michael] Rucker back today. We like Rucker. He's now healthy for us. He's ready to pitch for us. He's taken a lot of time. That's something we'll continue to pursue.

When teams call to ask about your top prospects, what do you tell those teams?
I don't think I would tell you what I tell teams.

Is the outfield set now?
I think so. I think we're pretty much set. Now, when I say that, I never know what will drop down at this point. But if we ended now and this was our outfield going forward, we feel good about it.

When did you identify outfield as a need?
It's a situation where, as you looked at our ballclub, we were a little bit susceptible to left-handed pitching. We felt it in the outfield. So for us to put ourselves in a position in a big game versus good teams, you want to get as many guys as you can to hit that left-handed pitching. With [Kyle] Schwarber and [Bryce] Harper, they hit them both. But they're still a little more feared when they're facing a right-handed. [Bryson] Stott has hit both, although he hasn't been going from an offensive perspective. He's platooned a little bit with [Edmundo] Sosa; I don't know if he'll have a chance to do that.

[Brandon] Marsh has not hit left-handed pitching. We have felt very comfortable to have a defensive player in center field in either [Johan] Rojas or [Cristian] Pache. But, all of a sudden, we were playing two defensive players versus a left-hander in left field and in center field. You can get by with that at times. But if you're trying to do a little bit extra, having a guy who can hit left-handed pitching in a big series could be important.

Do you need to acquire a closer?
I don't think that's been the way we've used our bullpen. So I wouldn’t just use a closer. I’d see somebody who can pitch innings late in a game that are important innings for us, like our other guys do.

How would you characterize your trade talks?
Ongoing.