Getting to Know the Unknowns of the Phillies Bullpen
Wondering who the heck the guys are that have come out of the Phillies bullpen so far this year?
Yeah, same.
Even in just a very abbreviated showing so far, it is obvious that no matter how much the Phillies might hit the ball and maintain good-to-average starting pitching, the ‘pen will be the issue in this shortened season.
This has been something that has seemingly been an issue during Matt Klentak’s entire tenure as the Phillies’ GM up to this point. He can sign guys like Bryce Harper, and he can trade for guys like JT Realmuto, but he seemingly is not willing to put any money or any effort into improving the bullpen.
David Robertson does not count either. Although it’s not Klentak’s fault that D-Rob has been riddled with injuries, it is Klentak’s fault that Robertson’s 2-yr $23 million deal last offseason is by far the most money thrown at anyone primed for a bullpen role with the Phils.
Last season, when the Phils were still very much in the hunt for a playoff spot, we were hoping to see them bring in some experienced, reputable arms, but instead, they scraped the bottom of the barrel for guys who were all DFA’d by their previous teams, like Mike Morin, Blake Parker, and more.
So instead of going out and getting impactful arms who you know would step in right away and make an impact, Klentak tried to find lightning in a bottle from guys who lost their place on other clubs.
We all know how far that got him… not very far at all.
You would think going into this past offseason heading into 2020 that Klentak & Co. were well aware that they actually need to shore the ‘pen.
We also now know how far that went… not very far at all.
We still aren’t sure what the idea is behind constantly trying to throw guys into the game that obviously, for lack of a better word, stink, as our beloved GM will be the one to answer that one.
For what it’s worth, we seem to be stuck with at least most of these unknown arms that Joe Girardi was forced to put on the 2020 Opening Day roster, so we might as well get used to them now and get to know them a bit.
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I’m here to tell you a bit about the guys that you’ve never heard of, including where they came from and what their track record looks like up to this point.
The Phillies currently have 11 arms in the bullpen as of this writing, so we will tell you a bit about them all.
“You Know Me!”
RHP Hector Neris, LHP Adam Morgan, LHP Jose Alvarez
This group of guys are ones that we know pretty well, as we’ve seen them pile up large chunks of innings over the last few years (or 1 year in Alvarez’s case).
Neris has probably been the most consistent part of the ‘pen during his Phillies tenure, as much as we have been back-and-forth on him.
Adam Morgan was a nightmare as a starter and didn’t take to the ‘pen too well from the start either, but he has settled into being one of the better arms we’ve seen out of the bullpen over the last couple seasons (yes, it is sad).
Alvarez had a very solid first season with the Phils in his first year here last year, and he should see some big innings once again this year.
We won’t get too much into these guys.
“You Probably Should Know Me More!”
RHP Tommy Hunter
Tommy Hunter signed with the Phillies in December 2017 for 2 years and $18 million. He pitched in 65 games in 2018 to the tune of a 5-4 record with a 3.80 ERA and 51 K in 64 IP. He was one of the better arms for the team that season, but then a torn flexor tendon held him to just 5 games in 2019.
He turned into an afterthought this offseason, but in typical Matt Klentak fashion, he scooped up a guy who hasn’t shown anything to make them trustworthy.
This is one low-risk high-reward signing that I do not hate. Hunter showed that he was capable in 2018, and the organization knows him well. He was brought back for only $850,000 this year. This would be fine if you made other big-name signings around him, but he might be the biggest name the Phillies signed for their bullpen this past offseason, so that is saying something.
“You Know Me All Too Well Now!”
LHP Austin Davis, RHP Nick Pivetta, LHP Cole Irvin
Austin Davis is the epitome of what the Phillies bullpen has been over the last few seasons. The team has shuffled through so many borderline-AAA-talent pitchers in their bullpen, and Davis has been the poster child. He made more trips between the minors and the majors last year than a flight attendant makes to different airports in a year.
He has never been impressive in any major league games, but he is just mediocre enough to stay in the organization. Kudos to you, Mr. Davis.
Nick Pivetta’s seesaw of a career has been well-documented over the past few seasons, and the majority of us are tired of this experiment. Pivetta did show some flashes during his time out of the bullpen in 2019, but I don’t think many of us would be mad to see him completely dropped.
Sometimes guys don’t pan out. It just happens a lot more with Phillies homegrown pitching, and Pivetta is a prime example of that.
Cole Irvin gave us a couple nice little starts last year when he first came up. I think we all got excited because we hadn’t seen a left-handed starter for the Phillies since 1850 (Okay, not THAT long, but Irvin, Ranger Suarez, and Adam Morgan are the only lefty Phils starters since 2016). Irvin was very unimpressive the rest of the season, especially in his stints out of the bullpen, in which he had a 6.00 ERA in 13 relief appearances.
What did this showing get him? You guessed it. A spot in the 2020 Opening Day bullpen. We can all agree that the Cole Irvin ship has sailed before it even was built. Klentak gonna Klentak.
Now, let’s introduce you to the guys that you may be, probably, definitely, do not know:
“You Definitely Don’t Know Me!”
RHP Deolis Guerra, RHP Trevor Kelley, RHP Reggie McClain, RHP Ramon Rosso
It’s okay. You can stop reading this over and over again expecting to have an epiphany and remembering who one of these guys are. It’s not going to happen.
We’ll start with…
RHP Deolis Guerra (31 years old)
- 5th MLB season ( 4 teams: PIT, LAA, MIL, PHI)
- 2019: 1 G, 0.2 IP, 4 R, 4 H
- Career: 75 G, 96.2 IP, 7-2, 4.47 ERA, 77 K, 1.28 WHIP
On the surface, Deolis Guerra hasn’t been that bad thus far in his big league career, that began in 2015 with the Pirates. His best season came in 2016 with the Angels, in which he went 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 44 G (53.1 IP).
He has seen big league time in parts of 4 seasons before 2020, and other than that 2016 season, he’s been pretty mediocre-to-bad.
Sure, he brings a little bit of experience to the Phillies’ bullpen, but there was a WHOLE LOT MORE experience on the open market for just a little bit more money. Good for Guerra getting himself back into the bigs after not pitching at all in the majors in 2018 and seeing only 1 appearance last year, but this is not the type of signing the Phillies needed to improve their ‘pen.
He also gave up a 3-run bomb to Gio Urshela literally during this writing. So, yeah.
RHP Trevor Kelley (26 years old)
- 2nd MLB season (2 teams: BOS, PHI)
- 2019: 10 G, 8.1 IP, 8.64 ERA, 1.68 WHIP
- Career: 11 G, above plus 1 G in 2020 (1.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K vs Marlins)
Trevor Kelley was a 36th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2015 out of North Carolina. he had a 2.37 ERA as a reliever through the Boston minor league system from 2015 through 2019. Definitely promising.
He came up for the Sox on July 2nd, 2019, got sent back down 2 days later, and then was a September call-up for the team a couple months later. As you can see by his 2019 line, he has a tough time transitioning to the majors.
Kelley is a solid presence on the mound (6’2” 210 lbs) and had a pretty cool big league debut last year in Toronto. He’s a sidearmer who boasts some pretty decent stuff. He’s only 26 and could definitely turn into a solid major league pitcher.
Still, though, he’s not what this team needed. They needed a shut-down guy who will give us confidence every time they come into the game. Nothing against Trevor, but he, as well as the rest of the guys on this list, just aren’t it.
It’s almost as if Matt Klentak looked at the 2019 stats for who was left on the free-agent market and took the ones with the worst years on paper and brought them into camp to duel. Kelley adds to that list.
RHP Reggie McClain (27 years old)
- 2nd MLB season (2 teams: SEA, PHI)
- 2019: 14 G (2 GS), 21.0 IP, 6.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
- Career: 16 G, above plus 2 G in 2020 (2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 K vs Marlins)
Reggie McClain and Trevor Kelley might as well be the same person. Good arm out of college (Missouri- 2016) and solid minor league numbers (4.35 ERA in 4 minor league seasons, but a 2.23 ERA in 29 G in 2019), and a pretty bad showing during a cup of coffee in the bigs. Great job, guys. You did just bad enough to get let go by your teams but just good enough to earn a spot in the Phillies bullpen.
McClain could end up being decent as well, but he just is another notch on the board of relievers who didn’t work out in one place and then found themselves in the Klentak bin of recycled relievers until we see otherwise. Hopefully, we have enough games this year for him to do so.
UPDATE: McClain was placed on the Paternity List on 8/3 and replaced in the bullpen by Enyel De Los Santos. We’re not sure what we think of him either for what it’s worth.
RHP Ramon Rosso (24 years old)
- 1st MLB Season
- Minors career: 23-10, 2.80 ERA, 62 G (60 GS), 322 IP, 360 K, 1.15 WHIP
Now, this is somebody we can get behind, kind of.
Ramon Rosso (pictured) is a young flamethrower who showed enough promise during Spring Training and Summer Camp to earn himself a spot on the big league club for this shortened 2020 season.
As you can see, he spent most of his time as a starter during his minor league career. Is he better suited as a reliever in the majors? Maybe. Is he also here too soon? Probably. While his minor league stats look very good on the surface, he did not have the best go-around in AAA last year, going 2-4 with a 5.50 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP in 14 starts for the Iron Pigs.
Now, sure, it is an odd season where Rosso wouldn’t have any games to pitch in AAA this year. so maybe the Phillies just wanted a guy like him to get as much experience as possible.
Thing is, the Phils have playoff aspirations – just check the updated MLB odds. They signed a guy like Bryce Harper for 13 years who expects the organization to stack talent around him. Why, still, did this front office feel the need to fill the ‘pen with unproven arms like Rosso and the aforementioned other guys?
I hope you are a little more familiar with these guys that you all made this face over on Opening Day:
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I’m sure we will continue to be sour over the fact that Matt Klentak virtually forgot all about the bullpen for seemingly the 100th straight offseason. By the time the trade deadline came around last season, Klentak sat on his hands, so the most we can do is hope he doesn’t do the same this year. We’re not going to get our hopes up, though, and you can’t blame us for that.
For now, enjoy the nail-biting any time a Phillies starter leaves the game for the foreseeable future. At least this year we will only have to do it for (hopefully) 60 games.
Featured Image: Matt Slocum/The Associated Press All stats prior to 8/3/2020
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