Three big questions about the Phillies offense before the trade deadline

Zack Wheeler should be an All-Star. Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez, too. They are the three biggest reasons the Phillies are where they are: 16 games over .500, a game-and-a-half in front of the Mets for first place in the division, within striking distance of the best record in the National League.

Wheeler’s one-hit, complete-game gem in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Reds was a microcosm of both the pitcher and the team at his back. On the one hand, it’s nice to have a guy who can head back out for the ninth with 100 pitches and mow through the final three hitters. On the other hand, it’d be nice if the Phillies didn’t need him to.

With a week left before the All-Star break, and four weeks left before the trade deadline, Rob Thomson and Dave Dombrowski face a number of pressing questions as they look to capitalize on this impressive starting rotation they have assembled.

1. Do J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott have something more to give?

One of the most welcome sights of the Phillies season came in the eighth inning Sunday afternoon. Bryson Stott swung his bat, J.T. Realmuto raised his arm, and Tony Santillan’s fastball clanged off a video board in right field. Realmuto waited for Stott at home, and together they celebrated a moment that has been in short supply this season.

To say that Realmuto and Stott are the Phillies’ missing pieces is to use the phrase literally. The biggest reasons the Phillies have struggled to score runs this season is that they’ve had two spots in the lineup giving them very little in the way of production.

» READ MORE: Phillies should wait to make a decision on Max Kepler and Justin Crawford as trade deadline approaches

Sunday’s win over the Reds was Realmuto’s 33rd consecutive game without a home run. His last dinger came on May 21 in Colorado. In fact, four of his five homers this season came in a 16-game stretch in which he posted an .863 OPS and eight extra base hits in 68 plate appearances. The Phillies went 13-3 in those games. They have gone 17-16 in the 33 that followed.

Stott, too, is a man in desperate need of an extended hot streak. He reached base three times Sunday, which is the same number of times he’d reached base in his previous six games. He had a .490 OPS in the last 30 games. The Phillies were 14-16 in those games.

Whatever Dombrowski does at the deadline, it almost certainly won’t involve replacing Realmuto or Stott, two cornerstones in the clubhouse and the field. In order for the Phillies to become an offense that is materially different from the one we’ve seen in the first half, they are going to need a lot more from at least one, ideally both.

2. Bryce Harper has struck out 14 times in his last seven games, tying a career high. Will Harper turn it around, or is he a different hitter than he was before his wrist injury?

It goes without saying that Harper has earned the benefit of the doubt. The last time we saw him with a sub-.800 OPS this late in a season, he finished the year with 18 home runs and a 1.006 OPS in his last 71 games. That was only two seasons ago, when he missed April while recovering from elbow surgery.

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Of course, back then, he was on the upswing. We had every reason to expect progression. This time around, things are more uncertain. Will the pain in his wrist flare up again? Even if it doesn’t, will the fear of it limit his production? Harper struck out six times in the Phillies’ wins over the Reds this weekend, including 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Saturday. The Phillies need him back at the top of his game. Harper has hit home runs in just 3.3% of his plate appearances this season, which would be his lowest in a season since 2014, when he was 21 years old. His extra-base hit percentage of 8.2 would be his lowest in a season since 2016.

3. Can a Max Kepler-Otto Kemp platoon really work, or will it further drain left field production?

In Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Reds, the duo combined to go 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Kemp got the first two plate appearances against lefty Nick Lodolo. Kepler got the last one against righty Graham Ashcraft. On Sunday, Kepler played the whole game and reached base twice, both times against wild rookie righty Chase Burns.

Figuring out left field is Thomson’s cross to bear for at least the next few weeks. The Phillies entered Sunday ranked 24th in the majors with a .653 OPS at the position. If the Phillies can simply improve that mark to something in the vicinity of league average, it would help convince Dombrowski to save his trade powder for the bullpen.