Phillies Add Tanner Banks from White Sox, Send Gregory Soto to Baltimore at the Deadline

As it turned out, the Phillies were not done, attempting to upgrade their bullpen by adding one left hander and trading away another.

In the final minutes before the 6 p.m. Tuesday trade deadline, the Phillies acquired lefty reliever Tanner Banks from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for High-A middle infielder William Bergolla.

Banks, 32, has been a regular contributor in the White Sox bullpen for the past three seasons. This year he’s thrown 48 innings with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.292 WHIP. He has 55 strikeouts and 15 walks, meaning he throws a lot of strikes.

He’s also been lethal against left-handed batters:

Tanner Banks is a nightmare matchup for LH hitters.

Faced 83 of them this year.
Struck out 28
34 percent K rate

They’re hitting .184 with only one HR against him

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 30, 2024

That’s all well and good, but there’s a reason Jayson didn’t tweet his numbers against righties.

If he did it would look something like this:

Tanner Banks has been a nightmare against RH hitters.

Faced 122 of them this year.

Struck out 27.

Meanwhile righties are slashing .308/.372/.477 for an .849 OPS against him.

“We’ve liked Banks for a long time,” said Phillies president Dave Dombrowski. “Our people have pushed for him. We like his stuff. He’s really been effective versus left-handed hitters this year. He’s been one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball in that regard. We just thought he was a better fit for our bullpen at this time.”

To make room for Banks, the Phillies traded Gregory Soto to the Baltimore Orioles for minor league righties Seth Johnson and Moises Chace.

According to a report by Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies tried to include Soto in the deal for Austin Hays on Friday but the O’s wanted Seranthony Dominguez.

Sources said Phillies had attempted to include Gregory Soto in last week’s trade with BAL for Austin Hays. Orioles wanted Seranthony Domínguez. Ultimately, Orioles land both.

Both pitching prospects Phillies acquired from BAL are interesting. More here: https://t.co/EP4JGEt1sa

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 30, 2024

In the end, both ended up there, although Dombrowski said they wouldn’t have traded Soto unless they made the deal for Banks, which he said wasn’t finalized until about 45 minutes before the deadline.

The interesting thing is the Orioles are going to war this postseason with a back end of the bullpen that consists of Soto, Seranthony Dominguez, and Craig Kimbrel.

Yikes.

Soto had been a bit of a disappointment for the Phillies, and the last straw likely came Monday night when he allowed three runs in one inning of relief against the Yankees.

“We didn’t necessarily get him as a closer but I think a lot of times he envisions himself as a closer, which is fine,” Dombrowski said. “But the way we use our pen, I’m just not sure there ever was a way he felt comfortable in that regard.”

Well then.

As it turns out, the Detroit Tigers won that trade with the Phillies, as Matt Vierling has turned into a useful player for the Tigers while Soto didn’t live up to expectations in Philly.

This season, Soto had a 4.08 ERA and a blackeye of a WHIP (1.585) in 35 1/3 innings.

Bergolla, 19, was having a very good year at Lakewood. He was slashing .295/.350/.385 with a .735 OPS but considering what the Phillies have at the major league level (Trea Turner and Bryson Stott) and prospects like Aidan Miller and Starlyn Caba ahead of him, he was going to be blocked for a while, so he became a good asset for the Phillies. He was originally signed out of Venezuela as an International Free Agent in 2022.

Johnson, 25, has made 18 starts this season for Double-A Bowie. Across 65 innings he has a 2.63 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP and 61 strikeouts and adds organizational depth. Dombrowski said he will be assigned to Double-A Reading.

Chace, 21, Has thrown 52 innings at High-A Aberdeen. He has 76 strikeouts (impressive) but also 30 walks. Meaning he needs to work on his command. He had a 3.46 ERA. Dombrowski said he will report to High-A Lakewood.

Dombrowski hinted that they were looking at other possibilities that didn’t come to fruition before making the deal for Banks. He also said the Phillies were looking for a right-handed hitting, “very minimal usage” centerfielder, but that none that they thought were better than what they had in the organization already were made available.

“We just felt we had a guy like (Johan) Rojas that we can use. We have some guys at Triple-A that we could bring up, so we just didn’t feel there was a big upgrade.”

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