Phillies need one specific player, but going after this Cardinals star instead would make sense

phillies/news/phillies-specific-player-going-after-cardinals-star-sense/b89e7e014a7a61228b9d629e?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=appeared_on">Phillies need one specific player, but going after this Cardinals star instead would make sense originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Philadelphia Phillies have continued to win games at a rather high level ever since moving on from skipper Rob Thomson and replacing him with Don Mattingly, though it’s important to recognize that the Phillies need to be a lot better on both sides of the baseball.

Right now, the Phillies are winning games and have been impressive, but there’s definitely a feeling that they need to add more on both sides of the baseball. One area in particular that needs improvement is not in the outfield, but the Phillies are expected to go after a right-handed-hitting option.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many right-handed hitting outfielders available, unless Mike Trout is there for the taking. 

They at least might have to go with a left-handed option, and there’s one guy I think they should be interested in: Lars Nootbaar. 

According to the latest from one MLB insider, it’s not guaranteed that Nootbaar is going to be available, but he’s expected to get trade interest, and the Phillies should at least throw their hat into the ring and see what he’s going for.

“I’m not sure that Nootbaar will even be available, but what I do expect is that he’ll receive plenty of trade interest. And Chaim Bloom has shown that he’ll always listen — and that if a team meets or even exceeds his price, he isn’t afraid to pull the trigger on a trade,” Robert Murray wrote.

Nootbaar has dealt with an injury throughout much of the 2026 campaign, returning over the weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals. He went 3-10 with a home run already.

Throughout his career, he hasn’t been a perfect player, but he’s definitely been above average, as evidenced by a 110 career OPS+ over his six seasons so far.

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