NEW YORK — Carlos Estevez stood at his locker, knowing what the plan had been and what it might yet be for the future.
Estevez had just held the final nail for Francisco Lindor to pound it into the Phillies’ coffin, a sixth inning grand slam at Citi Field that gave the New York Mets a 4-1 win to clinch the National League Division Series in four games.
He knew that he’d been brought to Philadelphia for just such moments, one All-Star against another with a playoff game on the line. He knew he failed to come through. And he knew what it might mean for his future.
“I know I came over for that situation, types of situations like that, and it hurts,” Estevez said. “It’s tough to lose a game like that. But at the same time, I know this is a really good group. This is not the last time they’re going to be in the playoffs.”
In the moment, the jovial closer hit on both sides of his tenure in Philadelphia: That it didn’t work, and that it’s likely to be limited.
From the wider aperture, many things went wrong in the Phillies’ two losses in New York. But high among them were the clear failures to improve the ballclub at the trade deadline, a washout that didn’t hasten the end of another disappointing season but certainly failed to prevent it.
The two big moves brought over a pair of 2023 American League All-Stars. Austin Hays bolstered the outfield, providing a right-handed power bat for the outfield platoon. Estevez was another high-leverage dependable arm for the bullpen.
The final score on that, much like the Phillies’ trip to Queens, was 0-for-2.
Estevez was OK and nothing more. He went 3-2 with six saves in eight opportunities with a 2.57 ERA in 20 appearances. He allowed runs in two of his three appearances in the Phillies’ abbreviated postseason run.
The Phillies had the 15th-best bullpen in the majors before his arrival, with a 4.07 ERA, and the 13th-best after at 3.87. A bullpen that allowed 17 of the 23 runs scored by the Mets this postseason and that permitted 11 of 15 inherited runners to score needs no introduction as anything other than an unmitigated disaster. The blame for that is hardly Estevez’s alone, even if his introduction as a sort of closer disrupted what looked like effective usage patterns.
The plan with Hays was similarly sound. The execution of it was similarly specious.
That was no fault of Hays, who suffered a hamstring strain, a kidney infection and back soreness that limited him to 80 plate appearances in two months. A platoon with Brandon Marsh never materialized, and though Marsh hit .250 from Aug. 1 on, neither did anything in the postseason.
Hays worked hard to get back and drew a start in Game 3 against lefty Sean Manaea. He was overmatched enough for manager Rob Thomson to call out his rust, a rare level of candor on an individual player from a usually tight-lipped manager, though Thomson placed the blame more on the situation than the player.
“I felt great when I first came over,” Hays said before Game 3. “I was playing every day. Things were going well. The injury happened, I wasn’t feeling really good coming back from that. I was on rehab and I was kind of doing stuff away from the team. I wasn’t with the guys for a little bit.”
Both players arrived in a clubhouse with clear needs. Much as they were bolstering the roster for an all-but-assured postseason run, trying to shore up the weaknesses of years’ past, they also could’ve sparked a club in need of one. The Phillies entered the All-Star Break with a 62-34 record. They went 3-11 leading into the trade deadline and 33-33 in the second half. Tally up the loss on the eve of the break and the postseason, and the Phillies finished the season with losses in 37 of their last 71.
The book on Estevez is likely closed. Both he and Jeff Hoffman, who was brilliant during the season and awful in the playoffs in nearly equal if opposite measures – are free agents. Estevez’s pedigree as a closer and longer track record than Hoffman’s emergence over his 18-month Phillies tenure should portend a bigger payday, which would likely come somewhere other than Philadelphia. Hence the dip into the third-person in discussing his Phils future.
Hays won’t be a free agent until 2026. He’s the kind of cost-controlled player that, given the Phillies hefty salaries elsewhere, they must extract value. The logic behind his acquisition should receive another examination next season when he’s healthy and has a full spring to contribute.
Whatever will be written in the future, the verdict for 2024 is unequivocal. With a chance to take a contending team over the top, the front office fell short at the deadline. In a too-brief postseason, the players followed suit.
Contact Matthew De George at [email protected].
