The Phillies need bullpen help, and there’s appealing options. But are they willing to take a big swing?

Here’s a thought experiment for a Phillies off-day in July, 21 days before the trade deadline: If you could address only one area of the roster, which would it be?

Do you bolster the bullpen?

Or do you add a righty-hitting outfielder?

Rival executives and evaluators expect the Phillies to be active — even aggressive, as one major league source speculated this week — on both fronts before July 31. Surely, Dave Dombrowski can do two things at once. Last year, he acquired outfielder Austin Hays from the Orioles and relievers Carlos Estévez from the Angels and Tanner Banks from the White Sox.

» READ MORE: Trade deadline preview: Dave Dombrowski on the Phillies’ biggest roster needs and their X-factor

But this is our game and our rules, so you can choose only one.

And, really, it isn’t much of a choice.

Because although the Phillies rank 23rd and 22nd in OPS from left field and center field, respectively, the midseason options to upgrade at those positions are, well, lacking. It’s neither a new problem nor unique to the Phillies. Across baseball, the sport is in a run-scoring depression.

“I think the thing you have to realize is offense is down,” Dombrowski said recently. “It’s hard to find guys to put up numbers. I mean, it just is.”

Indeed, unless you’re sold on Taylor Ward, Adolis García, Luis Robert Jr., or Harrison Bader as needle-movers, there isn’t much inventory. It’s not even clear if the Angels (Ward), Rangers (García), and Twins (Bader) will sell, given their existence on the outskirts of an American League wild-card traffic jam.

Besides, the absence of slug in the outfield wasn’t what KO’d the Phillies in the last two postseasons.

All together now: It was the bullpen.

In 2023, the Phillies got walked off on in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series in Arizona and blew a two-run lead in the eighth inning of a tide-turning Game 4. Last year in the division series, they gave up five runs in a tone-setting eighth inning of Game 1 against the Mets and coughed up a one-run lead in the sixth inning of Game 4.

» READ MORE: One-stop shopping at the trade deadline: Three teams that could be a match for Phillies’ biggest needs

The Phillies subtracted Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Domínguez from the 2023 bullpen and Jeff Hoffman and Estévez from last year’s group. Jordan Romano, their big offseason bullpen acquisition, has four losses, three blown saves, and a 7.44 ERA, tied with Claude Willoughby in 1930 for the worst mark by a Phillies pitcher 36 appearances into a season.

Oh, and José Alvarado is two-thirds of the way through an 80-game suspension for failing a drug test and ineligible for the postseason.

So, yeah, the bullpen figured to be an area of need long before Romano trudged off the mound Tuesday night in San Francisco after giving up the first inside-the-park walk-off homer to a catcher — a catcher! — in 99 years.

The Phillies took a flier this week by signing veteran righty Phil Bickford to a minor league contract. Bickford, 30, has a 4.62 ERA in 187 appearances, mostly with the Dodgers. He asked for his release this week after posting a 2.60 ERA in triple A with the Cubs.

Maybe Bickford can help. Regardless, the Phillies will need more.

The good news for bullpen buyers: The trade market will feature several appealing options. In the rental aisle, the Nationals almost certainly will trade Kyle Finnegan. Even if the Red Sox and Cardinals hang on in their wild-card races, they could dangle walk-year closers Aroldis Chapman and Ryan Helsley.

» READ MORE: Bullpen help will be costly. Here are some relievers to watch.

But a major league source said it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the Phillies take a bigger swing.

And here’s where it gets interesting.

The Twins and Guardians awoke Wednesday with only 24.9% and 9.0% odds of making the postseason out of the AL Central, according to FanGraphs. Both have All-Star closers who are controllable for multiple seasons.

If Minnesota listens on Jhoan Duran, or if Cleveland makes Emmanuel Clase available, the Phillies will discuss whether to go all-in and trade a coveted prospect.

There are layers to the decision. Given the age of the core — with Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Ranger Suárez poised to test free agency — Dombrowski might be more open to swallowing hard and moving, say, 21-year-old shortstop Aidan Miller.

But if the deal involved Miller, touted center fielder Justin Crawford, or even teenage catcher Eduardo Tait and A-ball infielder Aroon Escobar, promoted this week to high-A Jersey Shore, the return would have to be controllable beyond this year.

In Duran, the Phillies would be buying a 27-year-old righty with a fastball that averages 100.2 mph for this playoff run and two more, which would align with the team’s “Wheeler window.” (Zack Wheeler’s contract runs through 2027.)

Clase, 27, is signed through next year with $10 million club options in 2027 and 2028. If there’s a red flag, it’s only that he struggled in the postseason last year.

» READ MORE: Can starters provide relief? Sizing up who could fill a need in the Phillies’ bullpen for the playoffs.

Nine of the Twins’ next 12 games are against the Pirates, relegation-worthy Rockies, and Nationals. But they also play three games at Dodger Stadium from July 21-23. The Guardians have a Charmin-soft predeadline schedule, with 17 games against the White Sox, Athletics, Orioles, Royals, and Rockies.

The Phillies will be watching — and scouting — in the event that the Twins or Guardians go into sell mode. Because in either case, with Duran or Clase, there no longer would be any guessing about which reliever will get the final three outs. Rob Thomson could slide Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm into the seventh and eighth innings, knowing he had a closer with elite stuff behind them.

It’s what the Phillies are missing, more than anything else. But which chips should they be willing to push into the middle of the table to acquire it?

Maybe that’s a thought experiment for another off-day.