Philadelphia Phillies: Free agent reliever market slowly starting to take shape

FA reliever market starting to take shape for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Following the announcement that the Los Angeles Dodgers have resigned right-handed reliever Blake Treinen (two-years/$17.5 million), it’s starting to look like the free agent relief pitcher market is finally beginning to heat up. Treinen is the second major domino to fall this offseason in regards to relievers (Trevor May being the first, signed with the Mets), which should help clear things up for the Philadelphia Phillies moving forward, as they look to continue adding to their league-worst bullpen.

Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies have already made one move this offseason when it comes to fixing their bullpen, trading for the hard-throwing lefty Jose Alvarado. It was a smart move all things considered, one that netted the Phillies a young arm under team control for the next few seasons. However, there’s still a lot to be done in terms of getting the Phils’ bullpen up to speed.

The team also re-signed Hector Neris to a one-year/$5 million deal, and are hoping to rebuild him into a serviceable arm under the guidance of newly hired pitching coach Caleb Cotham.

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Outside of Neris and Alvarado, the Phillies don’t have much. JoJo Romero and Connor Brogdon flashed some potential during their rookie seasons, but both are far from finished projects. It’d be foolish for Dombrowski and company to roll into 2021 expecting big things from both players.

While Treinen would’ve in all honestly been a good signing for the Phillies, his return to LA helps “set the market” around the league for other free agents. Players who value themselves above and below a guy like Treinen will know where to set their asking prices at, which was a crucial part to this year’s offseason (considering the pandemic and declining revenue league wide).

The Philadelphia Phillies could use this as an opportunity to engage with one of the top-end free agent closers like Liam Hendricks or Brad Hand, or could stick to rebuilding their bullpen in way of cheaper bounce-back candidates. Both are fine options, as essentially nothing can be worse than the ‘pen the team fielded in 2020.