Update from Ken Rosenthal (6 p.m. ET): The Pirates’ trade of Tyler Anderson to the Phillies has been held up because of an issue (presumably medical) with one of the two players going back to Pittsburgh, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. It’s unclear where talks stand, and whether the player will be replaced.
Check back for further developments. Here’s what we have previously reported on the trade:
The Pirates on Tuesday traded LHP Tyler Anderson to the Phillies for two prospects, catcher Abrahan Gutierrez and right-hander Cristian Hernandez (29th in the Phillies system, per MLB Pipeline). Anderson, who figures to slot into the Phillies’ rotation on Thursday for Vince Velasquez, is 5-8 with a 4.35 ERA in 103 1/3 innings and 18 starts this season. He owns a 1.200 WHIP, has struck out 7.5 per nine innings and walked 2.2 per nine. All 18 of his starts this year have gone at least five innings.
Hernandez has a 3.49 ERA with 74 strikeouts over 56 2/3 innings (12 starts, 14 appearances) in Low A. Gutierrez, who projects as a big-league backup, is hitting .285/.418/.424 with 29 RBIs, five home runs, 36 walks and 29 strikeouts through 48 games in Low A. Gutierrez was among 13 former Braves prospects who were made free agents in the wake of Atlanta’s violation of international signing rules from 2015 to 2017. The Pirates have another of those players already in their system, Double-A infielder Ji-hwan Bae.
Anderson is owed about $1 million for the rest of the season. That leaves the Phillies about $3 million under the luxury-tax threshold. One rival executive said Tuesday: “They’re going over the threshold if they need to. That’s not even an issue.”
The Phillies will still look to add at least one reliever before Friday’s deadline. Ownership, according to sources, has authorized president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to exceed the luxury-tax threshold for the first time in franchise history. It remains unclear whether Dombrowski will do that.
Eno Sarris, baseball analytics writer: Anderson has around league-average stuff, and good command of four pitches, which helps him go deep into his starts — he’s completed the fifth in all of his starts this year, something that can’t be said about the back-end options for the Phillies right now. He’ll be an upgrade for them just by being a league-average type pitcher there. The Phillies will likely get a reliever, too, but this might be a sign that they’re going to shop in the middle or bottom of the market and try to get as much impact as they can get for less prospect capital.
— Jayson Stark, Matt Gelb and Rob Biertempfel contributed to this post