Is there life after Jhoan Duran?

The Phillies still have some dry powder after shipping out Mick Abel and blue-chip catching prospect Eduardo Tait to acquire All-Star closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins on Wednesday evening. The big question now is whether we’ll need to evaluate the move in isolation or as part of a bigger whole.

The Phillies have sent plenty of signals that they intend to be aggressive at this year’s trade deadline, realizing the opportunity they have with one of the best rotations in the big leagues and two all-world hitters in Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. In that sense, I’d be mildly surprised if Dave Dombrowski isn’t an active participant in the final hours leading up to Major League Baseball’s trade deadline at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

» READ MORE: Do the Phillies really need another hitter? Can they really afford Chicago’s Luis Robert Jr.?

Duran clearly fills a need and makes the Phillies a better team. But the bullpen depth is still a concern. You need more than three high-leverage arms to make it through a postseason. And the lineup has enough holes — and, thus, enough room for marginal improvement — that it would be tough to justify the absence of some kind of move.

With all that said, here are five guys who have the potential to both move the needle and prove worthy of the price tag even if they don’t win headlines.

Reid Detmers, Angels

Upside, upside, upside. I’m a sucker for converting big-stuff starters to high-leverage relievers. I had Detmers’ name circled ever since the Angels announced they were putting him in the bullpen this season. The 26-year-old righty has always had a fastball to dream on. Since mid-May, he’s looked like a guy set to follow in the footsteps of pitchers like Andrew Miller and Travis Wood, among others. In his last 30 innings, Detmers has a 1.20 ERA with 42 strikeouts, 10 walks and just two home runs allowed. That’s right. He’s struck out more than a third of the 117 batters he’s faced.

I’ll be surprised if Detmers gets moved, for many of the same reasons he would be one of my prime targets. He is four years shy of 30, three full seasons shy of free agency, poised to make a modest raise on his $1.83 million salary in arbitration. Why would the Angels rush to trade him now, before he has fully established himself as an elite relief commodity? Well, that’s why we call it deal-makin’. Figure out the price the Angels could command at next year’s deadline if Detmers is an elite closer, and then make them an offer that gets you enough of a discount to warrant the risk but also convinces them to take the bird-in-hand.

» READ MORE: Source: Phillies acquire closer Jhoan Duran from Twins

Like I said, I don’t think there’s much of a chance it happens. It would take some serious cojones to trade Aroon Escobar and another prospect with potential for a guy who had a 6.70 ERA in 17 starts last year. Such a price tag would probably require another piece heading to Philly. Worth noting the Angels do have a right-handed hitting power bat in Taylor Ward and a name-brand closer in Kenley Jansen. Just sayin’.

Steven Kwan, Guardians

As much as I am a sucker for converted starting pitchers, I am equally and oppositely opposed to left-handed slap hitters. The same is true for “left field defense.” Kwan is a different cat, though. For starters, his .289 batting average over the last two seasons with Cleveland comes with a respectable .418 slugging percentage. Second, he works a count. As of Wednesday, he had two more career walks than strikeouts. Most of all, his swing and skill set have a postseason profile. He’s the kind of guy who can make something happen when the rest of your big-swing lineup is flailing. Kwan is a remarkable 25-for-72 in 17 career playoff games. That’s a .347 batting average, combined with a .413 on-base percentage. With 14 runs and four RBIs, he has “created” an average of one run per playoff game in his career.

As I’ve said before, Aidan Miller and Andrew Painter are untouchable for anything less than a Mookie Betts-level player. But Kwan is the kind of guy who is worth dipping into the Aroon Escobars of the world. He’ll be two years shy of 30 next opening day, and he is under club control at a reasonable price through 2027. If the Phillies could somehow cobble together a package that gets them a high-leverage relief arm (Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis), you could absolutely justify parting with a package of something like Escobar and another prospect.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Diamondbacks

Observation bias alert! I’ve had a soft spot for Gurriel since he destroyed the Phillies in the last five games of the 2023 NLCS, going 7-for-19 with two doubles and a home run as the Diamondbacks won four of five games. There isn’t much flashy about him, and he’s slashing just .247/.296/.404 this season. But his OPS is nearly 100 points higher on the road this season and he has always hit lefties well. If the Diamondbacks think they are underwater on the last year of Gurriel’s three-year, $42 million contract, the Phillies might be able to get him cheap.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Brandon Marsh trying not to focus on trade deadline: ‘You always bet on yourself’

Alex Call, Nationals

I feel like I’m the only one who keeps mentioning Call as a potential trade addition. All he’s done is post an .821 OPS while playing good defense over the last two seasons. Granted, we’re talking about 350 plate appearances. He isn’t even a poor man’s Kwan. But he does play center field, and he would give the Phillies a lefty killer to pair with Marsh in center field and rotate in elsewhere as needed.

Ramón Laureano, Orioles

Laureano figures to be at the top of a lot of team’s lists, given his .887 OPS and $6.5 million club option for next season.

Baltimore’s outfield situation is as crowded as it is murky. In addition to Laureano and Tyler O’Neill, the Orioles have 25-year-old Colton Cowser in left field and 30-year-old Cedric Mullins in center. A lot depends on how Baltimore views the futures of Cowser and Heston Kjerstad, another former top prospect who was optioned to triple A after a horrendous start to the season.

It’s ironic that Laureano has emerged as the only legitimate star of the bunch. This offseason, nobody in the majors thought he was worth more than the one-year, $4 million contract that Baltimore gave him as a free agent. That’s somewhat puzzling given that he ended last season hitting 10 home runs with an .832 OPS for the Braves, who signed him after he was released by the Guardians. Laureano has some defensive question marks and has battled injuries in his career, but he didn’t come from nowhere. From 2018-21, he hit 49 home runs with an .800 OPS in 313 games for the Athletics.

» READ MORE: What’s it like for players dealt at baseball’s trade deadline? Three Phillies tell their stories.

Whatever the scouts thought before this season, the numbers speak for themselves. Laureano has been a whole lot more than a platoon bat, with a .307/.370/.566 batting line and 10 home runs against righties.

He’s also a testament to the illusion of the trade deadline as cure for a front office’s offseason mistakes. The Phillies could have signed Laureano for next to nothing this offseason instead of giving Max Kepler more than double that amount. Now, in order to add him, they’d likely need to part with a package of prospects that wouldn’t be worth their while. After all, what incentive do the Orioles have to trade Laureano, given that they can keep him in their lineup with a $6 million club option next season?