Did Phillies flight just preview MLB trade deadline blockbuster deal?

The Philadelphia Phillies have been in the market for a high-leverage reliever for the entirety of the 2024 season. Many have connected them to closers like Kenley Jansen and Tanner Scott, both of which would provide quite an upgrade in the Phillies bullpen.

But there has been a bit of speculation surrounding the Oakland Athletics closer, Mason Miller, being dealt before the deadline. The Athletics would be looking for a massive haul of prospects in order to replace Miller, likely headlined by one or two top 100 prospects in all of baseball.

The Phillies have the prospect capital and the need for a closer for this trade to make sense. And Philadelphia just poured fuel on the fire of all these rumors with their All-Star Game flight plans.

Could Phillies All-Star Game flight plan foreshadow a blockbuster deadline deal?

The Philadelphia Phillies private jet will be taking nine All-Stars to Arlington for the All-Star Game. Eight of them will be Phillies and the final one will be Mason Miller, the Athletics lone All-Star representative, according to Taryn Hatcher of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

This, along with the previous two months of rumors connecting Miller to Philly, will ignite quite the conversation. First of all, how does something like this even happen?

Well, that answer is simple. Miller's Athletics played a three-game set in Philadelphia against the Phillies in the final three games before the All-Star break. This puts Miller in the same city as the Phillies' All-Stars when they would be headed to Arlington. Rather than sending Miller back to Oakland to catch his own flight, the Phillies and Athletics came together to make the experience a bit better for the young right hander.

This is probably just an offer out of the goodness of their hearts. We have seen things like this in the past, where All-Stars will take the same jet as another team in order to avoid sending a lone All-Star on a commercial flight.

Back in 2022, Oakland Athletics revealed that he was originally going to take a commercial flight to Los Angeles, the site of that year's All-Star Game. But the Houston Astros, who the Athletics were playing on the road before the All-Star break, offered Blackburn to join them on their charter flight.

Could this be a recruiting technique that will pull the Phillies that much closer to the closer of their dreams? Who knows. It would certainly do a ton for Miller's idea of being trading to Philly. Remember, Miller is a Pennsylvania native.

Miller is still 25 years old and is pitching to the tune of a 2.27 ERA across 39.2 innings. Philadelphia got to see his dominance up close and personal, when Miller tossed a shutout inning with two strikeouts on July 12th.