Dave Dombrowski was more aggressive at this season's MLB trade deadline than in years past, not holding on to all of the Phillies' top prospects in an effort to improve his club for 2025 and beyond.

The Phillies paid the price for one of the best late-inning relievers in baseball in Jhoan Duran, parting ways with Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait to get two and a half seasons of team control for a closer. The price was steep, but Dombrowski made it clear the Phillies would part ways with top prospects for very good players with multiple years of control.

In the hours leading up to Thursday's trade deadline, parting ways with any of the top three prospects — Andrew Painter (No. 1), Aidan Miller (No. 2) and Justin Crawford (No. 3) — seemed unreasonable. The Philles wanted to retain all three players. Painter and Crawford are major ready and are expected to contribute to this team at some point this season. They did, and they were also able to acquire a right-handed bat in Harrison Bader in a separate trade with the Twins.

The Phillies also really like Miller and his upside. The 21-year-old shortstop is one of the youngest players in Double-A Reading. The front office didn't want to part ways with Miller, especially for a rental. They weren't going to go that route for a bat after the Duran trade. 

While teams scouted Painter, Miller and Crawford in the hopes of getting them in deadline deals, the Phillies wouldn't budge. The three are cornerstones in the Phillies' future. They are banking on the window of contention extending with the current core of Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler in place (of course, this is also contingent on re-signing Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto). 

What are the short-and long-term plans for the Phillies' top-three prospects? Will Painter and Crawford be in the majors as soon as this weekend?

Andrew Painter

The Phillies' top prospect was on target for a July-ish timetable to the big leagues (the Phillies' words), but command issues in Triple-A Lehigh Valley halted those plans. The Phillies are deep with starting pitching, which allows them to afford to be patient with Painter.

The Phillies gave Painter an 11-day rest at the All-Star Break to reset, and the results paid massive dividends. In his two starts since the reset, Painter has reached at least six innings in both starts, allowing three earned runs with eight strikeouts and walking five. 

Painter's on the same turn as the fifth starter in the Phillies' rotation and could be joining the big league rotation soon. 

"There's always a possibility," Dombrowski said. "By no means have we discussed that much further. He has thrown well and has thrown better, so real progress is being made. Will we see him? I'm not really sure what's going to happen. I think we're in position where it's a possibility, but I don't want to say anything more than that. We haven't made our decision ourselves."

Painter is expected to come up sometime in August and could be moved to the bullpen for the postseason run.

Justin Crawford

The Phillies' No. 3 prospect has been in consideration for a promotion for the past month, but the Phillies have not pulled the trigger. The front office did acquire Bader, who can play every day in center field or left field, or play with Brandon Marsh in a potential platoon in center or left field. 

If the Phillies do decide to call Crawford up finally, they want to make sure Crawford is in the lineup every day.

"We think he's ready to play at the big league level. We could bring him up," Dombrowski said. "He needs to play a lot. I'm not certain we're in a position to do that today, but it's not something we would hesitate to bring up if we decided that was the right thing to do."

With Badar around, the Phillies can afford to wait another week or two with Crawford, but it wouldn't be surprising if Crawford is with the big-league roster as soon as this weekend. 

"He, like Painter, like a lot of those youngsters — they can use more development time. It wouldn't hurt them," Dombrowski said. "He's going to have to make some adjustments, but he's also in a position where we think he's ready to do that when called upon."

If Crawford joins the Phillies, he would be a tone setter at the bottom of the order. He also would play every day in center or left field, giving the Phillies even more flexibility with Bader and Marsh. Keep in mind the Phillies are still figuring out where they want to play Bader and if he's an everyday player, which halts anything regarding Crawford.

"Justin's got elite talents," Dombrowski said. "He's a good outfielder, he can fly, he's got good bat-to-ball skills. He's aggressive on the bases. He makes a lot of contact. He's got an unusual type of batting style, in which case he hits a lot more balls on the ground, which I don't think is really bad. He also hits a lot of balls to the opposite field and hits the ball deep in the zone. He's an exciting type of player to watch play. He's been that type of player everywhere he's played. The speed that he brings is a real dynamic."

Aidan Miller

Miller is one of the youngest position players in the Eastern League at 21. He's developing in Double-A Reading, but the Phillies believe he could help the big club toward the end of the 2026 season.

The Phillies are high on Miller's potential and were reluctant to trade him, even though his name was dangled in trade talks.

Since Miller is part of the long-term plans, is shortstop still in his future?

"From people in our organization that are seeing him play, they still feel he can play shortstop," Dombrowski said. "When we drafted him, it wasn't a definitive — but a player as big as he is — that apted to maybe he would move off of shortstop. That has really changed. Our people feel he can play shortstop and be a big shortstop for us."

Trea Turner is currently the Phillies' shortstop. That could change two years down the line. 

"He's stolen a lot of bases for us, and he's running well. Now what will we do? We have a shortstop in Trea that has played very well and is signed for a long time," Dombrowski said. "If he retains his athleticism, we'll end up weighing that. Right now, we feel he can play shortstop."