The Philadelphia Phillies success once again rests on closer Hector Neris

The Philadelphia Phillies need Hector Neris to be elite.

Heading into the 2020 MLB season, pretty much everyone in the universe not named Matt Klentak knew the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen was going to struggle. They had done absolutely nothing during the offseason in terms of improving it, and they had no-one rising up through the pipeline that was expected to make an impact working out of the pen’.

Despite the Phils’ bullpen looking absolutely horrible on paper, one thing that was supposed to be consistent was their closer position. RHP Hector Neris was coming off a 2019 season in which he recorded 29 saves and a 2.91 ERA, and the Phillies were expecting him to at least hold down the closing role when called upon. There was no guarantee the team would get through the 7th and 8th innings, but if they did, Neris had to come in and be near perfect in the 9th.

It was a lot of pressure to put on a guy who’s been wildy inconsistent for the majority of his MLB career, and it backfired in spectacular fashion. Neris blew multiple saves in his first couple appearances, and his ERA climbed all the way up to an 11.12 in late August. It got so bad for Neris that Joe Girardi completely yanked him out of any sort of high-leverage situation, forcing the Phillies to overpay on the trade market for below average veteran relievers.

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The team tried hard to make an experienced arm like Brandon Workman slide into the closer spot after acquiring him from Boston, but he progressively looked worse and worse with every single appearance. The team’s big trade deadline acquisition David Phelps might just be the worst pitcher on the entire roster, and guys like David Hale and Heath Hembree would serve a better use to this team as water boys than actual bullpen arms.

After weeks and weeks of experimenting and shuffling around relievers, the Philadelphia Phillies are now all the way back at square one. Hector Neris is this team’s closer, and they’re going to need him to be really special down the stretch.

Staring pitchers Spencer Howard and Jake Arrieta are both likely done for the season, Zack Wheeler‘s status is still up in the air as he’s dealing with a fingernail injury, JT Realmuto is currently out with a hip strain, and Rhys Hoskins might need Tommy John surgery in the near future. This is not a roster built to blow teams out anytime soon, and if they plan on sneaking into the postseason, it’s going to happen via some very close victories.

If a save situation does arise, Neris has to be surgical in his approach at the mound. No more hanging splitters up in the zone, no more four-pitch walks, and no more mental collapses. This team can’t afford to blow anymore wins late in ballgames, and the responsibility to avoid that is once again falling back on Neris’ shoulders.

Some may say this is an unfair expectation to place on Neris, but he was paid $4.6 million this past offseason to be the Philadelphia Phillies closer. This was always his designed role, now he simply needs to execute what he is being paid to do. Neris got the save during tonight’s 4-1 victory over the Mets, but it wasn’t pretty. He allowed two baserunners and had to throw 25 total pitches. A save is a save, but he’s going to have to seriously clean things up going forward if this team wants any shot at playoff baseball in 2020.