It’s no secret that Philadelphia hopes to strengthen their relief regiments by the deal deadline, for which, Pittsburgh Post’s Noah Hiles Dennis Santana and David Bednar. Hills wrote that Santana was interested in Philadelphia, although Bednar’s recent outstanding performance also brought him into the radar of the NL East Team. Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 first mentioned Philadelphia’s interest in Santana and Bedner last week, noting that Philadelphia may want to get both reliefers in a deal.
MLBTR’s ranking among the top 40 trade deadline candidates featured Bednar (3rd) and Santana (9th place), both of whom were prominently in exchange for their impressive performance in 2025, which is indeed the Pirates are indeed the sellers of the deadline and each competitor can basically use some of the Bulls’ help. Both right-handers plan to enter free agents after the 2026 season, so additional arbitration control figures can increase the Pirates’ asking price.
Santana’s rise from Readyman rescuer to Bullpen Ace is amazing, as Bucs claimed in the trade that Santana announced a small notice from the Yankees over a year ago. After Santana posted unshakable numbers for four teams in part of seven Major League Baseball seasons, Santana suddenly blossomed in Pittsburgh with an ERA of 1.99, strikeout rate of 25.16% and a walking rate of 5.8% in 81 1/3 of the Pirates uniform. Santana has certainly been helped by the .206 Babip this season since his 3.52 Siera was two higher than his 1.46 ERA, but Santana’s basic metrics (especially his walking speed and elite hard contact rate) suggest that his success isn’t Fox.
Santana mainly took on the set-up role, but briefly served as close-up in Pittsburgh when he was elected as Triple-A in early April. Between the struggle in 2024 and the early stumbling of this year, Bednar looks to have a standout from his past All-Star games, but his brief work among minors has brought his career back on track. Since the recall, Bednar has shined 1.88 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, and his 34.7% strikeout rate is the best in baseball. On the other end of the batting coin, Bednar was successful despite Babip’s .343, and his 2.27 Siera was even lower than his all-season 2.73 ERA.
Bednar or Santana is an obvious upgrade for a Phillies (4.41) who ranks No. 24 out of 30 teams in the Bullpen Era. near Jordan Romano After some early struggles in the major seasons, the ship has been somewhat corrected, but not the most reliable late choice, and Jose Alvarado He won’t return until August with his 80-game suspension (of course, Alvarado is not eligible for the playoffs). With Philadelphia owning one of the best rotations for the sport and the roster remains as dangerous as ever, the solid bullpen may be the last part of the Phillies’ final breaking the club’s first World Series title since 2008.
Considering that the bullpen has become a constant target area for several years, controllable relief workers like Santana or Bedner will help the Phillies solve this problem. Last season’s deadline gives the Phillies an upcoming free agent Carlos Estevez To strengthen the pen, Philadelphia was abandoned on the first side after Estevez left the Royals to sign.
Bednar is the price of two pitchers as he will earn the rest of his 5.9mm salary in 2025 before receiving a raise in his final ARB year. Santana lost an arbitration hearing to the Pirates in February, thus earning a 1.4mm salary in 2025, making his work very cheap. This lower price is probably one of the reasons why Philadelphians (and other teams certainly) are particularly interested in Santana services. Since Phillies are expected to have the highest luxury tax rating, this is their fourth year as a tax, any supplement will double the financial cost given the associated 110% tax rate.
