Philadelphia Phillies: Hector Neris has overstayed his welcome in Philly

It’s time for Philadelphia Phillies RHP Hector Neris to hit the road.

It feels like I’m stuck in a freaking time loop, but Hector Neris has once again blown a game for the Philadelphia Phillies. Despite seemingly being booted from the closer spot in lieu of former Red Sox reliever Brandon Workman arriving, Neris still found a way to cost the Phillies a ballgame.

Coming off a pretty brutal stretch of games, the team really needed starting pitcher Zack Wheeler to perform on Saturday night. Considering he was paid $100+ million this offseason to put up solid outings for the Phillies, it was a reasonable task to require, even if he was going up against a loaded Atlanta Braves offense.

Unlike the Phillies bullpen, Wheeler actually delivers when called upon. He went 7.0 innings, struck out eight, and allowed just two runs (via a home run in the seventh inning). The most impressive part of Wheeler’s night? He threw 105 pitches. In today’s day and age of hyper aggressive pitch count tracking, that’s pretty rare to see. Props to Wheeler for pushing so deep into a ballgame.

The Phillies got an appropriate amount of run support from their respective offense as well. Bryce Harper launched a two-run moonshot in his first plate appearance, JT Realmuto knocked in his team-high 22nd RBI, and Andrew McCutchen launched a solo homer as well.

Wheeler departed the ballgame with a 4-2 lead, just six outs away from receiving his fourth win of the season.

Then, the “Hector Neris experience” took place.

Now for starters, I totally understand Joe Girardi’s logic using Neris in this spot. The Phillies need a proper set-up man behind Workman, and Neris has long been described as someone who would likely succeed better as an eighth inning type of guy. This was a slightly high-leverage scenario where Neris wouldn’t even have to face Ronald Acuna Jr., the perfect time for him to get comfortable with his new role.

However, in typical Neris fashion, the dude got absolutely railed. He allowed three straight baserunners, including an RBI single to outfielder Marcela Ozuna. Neris saw his bare minimum of three batters before being yanked by Girardi, leaving newly acquired Workman to deal with men on the corners and no outs. Workman worked out of the nightmarish jam, but not before allowing two more Neris-earned runs to cross the plate via a singular base hit.

Despite it sounding absolutely insane, Neris is actually the highest paid active reliever on the Phillies roster. He has an 11.12 ERA, he’s allowed 17 baserunners to just 17 recorded outs, and he currently leads the team in blown saves.

Money withstanding, Neris has been flat out awful in 2020 by every possible definition of the word “awful”. Throw in the fact that he’s currently being paid as one of the better relievers in all of baseball, he’s without question the most overpaid player on the roster. For a team as luxury tax sensitive as the Phillies, one would think that should be fairly significant to the front office.

The Philadelphia Phillies have a $7 million team-option on Neris for the 2021 season, and in no way shape or form should they even consider picking it up. They shouldn’t even bring him back on a pay cut. Hell, if I had in my way, I wouldn’t even let him pitch another game for the team in 2020. Throw a young guy out there like JoJo Romero instead and at least we can chalk it up to “development” if he struggles.

DFA’ing Neris would certainly send a harsh message to the rest of the bullpen, but even just a proper benching until his contract expires should make the memo clear. Continuously chucking Neris out there to blow games for the team is downright embarrassing for the rest of the roster, and for the most part it doesn’t even look like Neris cares half the time. Regardless, 2020 should without question be the last time the veteran reliever ever throws a pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies.