Phillies and Blue Jays expected to fight for recent 37 home run slugger

Phillies and Blue Jays expected to fight for recent 37 home run slugger originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays will be two teams that are all but certain to get better at this year’s deadline. The only question for both sides is who they want to add, with both teams potentially looking at similar options. The Phillies, who have been interested in adding a right-handed bat for the better part of the past few seasons, are expected to improve over the next few weeks. 

The same can be said for the Blue Jays, though Toronto’s moves will only be due to the injuries it has dealt with. 

One player that could be useful for both sides is Jo Adell, who has swung the bat at a rather high level for a lot of this season. 

Adell was one of the top prospects in baseball when he came up to the big leagues and has really figured things out recently. He was a player recently floated as an option for both squads.

“Adell has one more year of team control remaining, and it’s unclear whether the Angels might hold on to him and hope he rediscovers his power stroke before the offseason (or next year’s trade deadline). Still, Los Angeles needs to start thinking long-term, and the fact is that Adell won’t factor into the next competitive version of this team — whenever that version arrives. He’s a flawed player, but if you’re in need of someone who can hit left-handed pitching, you could do worse,” Chris Landers wrote.

Team speaking, the Phillies definitely need him more. 

That isn’t to say that the Blue Jays shouldn’t go out and try to add a player who can leave the yard at any moment and has some above-average tools elsewhere. However, the Phillies really need offensive guys who come in and make an impact, and considering he’s a right-handed hitter, Adell would be just that.

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