The Philadelphia Phillies lead the National League East and hold the second-best record in the NL at 47-32 heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Houston Astros. With their sights set on October, the Phillies should be a major player at next month’s trade deadline, particularly for a high-leverage reliever. But does president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski have different thoughts?
The Phillies bullpen needs another high-leverage arm — or two. They rank 25th in baseball with a 4.63 ERA and lost Jose Alvarado for 80 games due to a PED suspension. Alvarado is also prohibited from pitching in the postseason. Matt Strahm has regressed this season, and their biggest offseason bullpen acquisition, Jordan Romano, is sporting a 6.51 ERA.
However, in an interview with The Athletic’s Jayson Stark on his “Starkville” podcast, Dombrowski hinted he might upgrade the bullpen from within. This approach mirrors what he did with the Boston Red Sox during their World Series title run in 2018, rather than parting with top prospects for premier relievers.
“The postseason bullpen is a lot different than the regular-season bullpen, because in the National League this year, if you advance past the wild-card round … you play five [NLDS] games. Well, the way the schedule is (with an extra off day), you only need three starting pitchers during that time period. So if you have five (starters), two of them can go into the bullpen as it is there. Plus, if you have additional (surplus starters), they can go into the bullpen there.
“A good example was in ’18, when I was in Boston. Alex Cora was our manager, and he did a masterful job of working our starters into our bullpen and using some of them at times in the ‘pen. I mean, we ended up using [Chris] Sale in the ‘pen. We ended up using [Nathan] Eovaldi in the ‘pen, and they did very well for us. And we’d give somebody an extra day’s rest because we knew we could fill in with somebody else.”
While it might not be what Phillies fans want to hear, this approach could be the better move than giving up prospect capital for a reliever who can leave in free agency at the end of the year.
If the Phillies reach the NLDS, they can use Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez in the rotation. Meanwhile, Ranger Suarez, Jesus Luzardo and Andrew Painter — who is expected to make his MLB debut this summer — can move to the bullpen.
Alvarado is scheduled to return from suspension on Aug. 19. But the Phillies need to reach the postseason first, and to do that they must get through the regular season without their bullpen blowing critical games.
It would still benefit Dombrowski and the front office to add a high-leverage reliever at the deadline just to solidify the struggling bullpen before October.
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