Phillies take ‘gamble’ with trade for former top pitching prospect

The big moves were finished, and Dave Dombrowski had added a closer and an outfielder to Philadelphia’s roster. The Phillies’ president of baseball operations swung two separate trades with the fire-selling Minnesota Twins: one for the hard-throwing Jhoan Duran to anchor his bullpen on Wednesday and one for Harrison Bader to play left and center field on Thursday.

But shortly after the 6 p.m. deadline passed, the Phillies announced another, much smaller transaction. They acquired right-hander Matt Manning, a former top prospect and first-round pick with the Tigers, and assigned him to Single-A Clearwater.

“It’s an interesting deal,” Dombrowski said. “Matt Manning was a premier pitching prospect, high No. 1 draft choice. Had some success at the major-league level, had a good arm, great athlete, and so he had some success. Has not performed well over the last year, but we like some things about him. So he’s basically a gamble.”

Manning, the ninth overall pick in 2016, was once a minor leaguer with a lot of hype. He twice represented the Tigers organization at the All-Star Futures Game, and he won the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year Award at Double-A in 2019. The pitcher made his big-league debut in 2021 at 23 years old, but he had a 5.80 ERA in 18 starts.

The next two seasons, Manning pitched better, although he was limited to only 27 combined starts with the Tigers due to a number of injuries. He made only five starts in the majors in 2024, and he spent all of this year at Triple-A Toledo. Manning primarily pitched out of the bullpen this season with the Mud Hens, posting a 6.04 ERA in 31 total appearances.

With Manning struggling in the minors, the Tigers designated him for assignment on Thursday to create room on the 40-man roster for reliever Paul Sewald after landing him in a trade with the Guardians. Dombrowski got input from former Detroit assistant general manager and current Phillies scout David Chadd, then took the opportunity to add Manning to the organization as a lottery ticket.

Philadelphia traded 18-year-old rookie-ball outfielder Josueth Quiñonez to the Tigers and designated reliever Devin Sweet for assignment in a corresponding move. Manning will head to Single-A instead of Triple-A so the Phillies can get him in the pitching lab at their training complex in Florida.

The team will look into ways for Manning to improve. After all, he was drafted so highly for a reason. He’s a 6-foot-6 pitcher with extension, and maybe some tweaks and a change of scenery could help.

Perhaps it doesn’t work out and Manning can’t fix anything with the Phillies. That’s certainly a possibility, and the Phillies know that. But Dombrowski figured it was worth a roll of the dice.

“It really is a gamble, but we think it’s a good gamble for us to take,” Dombrowski said, “because if we can help him out, there’s some positive upside. And he was a well-, well-touted pitcher that also is very athletic, and we’ll see if we can help him out.”