Philadelphia Phillies Trade Rumors: Marlins' Leo Nunez Would Improve the Bullpen

Even though the Phillies are the first team to 60 wins, they are still looking for ways to improve their team. Particularly, the Phillies are looking for more bullpen help and a right-handed bat.

Jerry Crasnick at ESPN tweeted yesterday that the Phillies have been checking out Marlins closer Leo Nunez. He also reported that in return, the Marlins would want young starting pitching.

The Phillies happen to have a lot of young starting pitching.

This may be a very nice trade for both teams.

Nunez, 27, has been doing pretty well as the closer this year in Florida.

He has saved 27 of 30 opportunities with an ERA of 3.30. His WHIP is a little high for a closer at 1.19. Opposing batters are only hitting .223 against him, so this indicates that his slightly elevated WHIP is due to the fact that he does walk quite a few hitters.

He probably would not close in Philadelphia due to the fact that the Phillies are already overloaded in potential closer options. However, he is a definite upgrade over Danys Baez as a right-handed reliever.

Nunez would be more than a rental because his contract would keep him under team control for next season as well. This could give the Phillies another option if Ryan Madson departs as a free agent.

The main problem with any trade is what the Phillies have to give up to grab Nunez.

The price should not be that ridiculously high because the Marlins will definitely be selling. They are 13.5 games back and in last place in the East.

They want young starting pitching. The Phillies have a lot of high-potential starting pitching at the lower levels in the minor leagues.

I think that it would probably take one of the higher-ceiling prospects with potentially a player to be named later to get this deal done just because it is a very competitive market for relief pitchers this year.

I think that this could be a very nice trade for the Phillies at a lower price than either Mike Adams or Heath Bell. This also might allow the Phillies to have the flexibility to look for that right-handed bat as well and fill more holes.