Three free agent relievers the Philadelphia Phillies need to sign

The Philadelphia Phillies need to fix their bullpen ASAP.

The Philadelphia Phillies bullpen is off to a truly disastrous start, there’s no way around it. Despite snagging two key wins against the New York Mets over the last fews days, the ‘pen is still on track to be one of the worst in all of baseball history (seriously).

The Philadelphia Phillies front office honestly dropped the ball during the offseason, when they failed to add even a single reliable reliever during free agency. The names were out there, and Matt Klentak sat on his hands as pretty much every other team in the NL East improved their bullpen.

With the 2020 MLB season now over a quarter of the way done for the Phillies, the front office needs to start taking stabs on some free agents before it simply becomes too late.

Andrew Cashner

Currently the best overall option on the market in terms of WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Andrew Cahsner would instantly become the Phillies best “long reliever” working out of the bullpen.

A ten year veteran who had spent most of his career starting games, Cashner was acquired by the Red Sox at last year’s deadline via a trade with the Orioles. Cashner had a 3.83 ERA through 17 starts for Baltimore at the time, and Boston had high hopes for him coming in and boosting their pitching staff.

The Red Sox moved Cashner to the bullpen, and it didn’t work out in the slightest. His ERA spiked all the way up to 6.20 and (obviously) nobody came calling for him in free agency.

At just 33 years of age, Cashner likely still has a little bit left in the tank to offer. His veteran presence could be soothing to some of the younger guys in the bullpen, and Joe Girardi could lean on him in scenarios where he needs multiple innings of relief due to Cahsner’s previous experience as a starter.

While he seriously struggled in the second half of 2019, even Cashner at his absolute worst would be an upgrade to the Phillies bullpen.