10 free agents the Philadelphia Phillies should still be interested in
By David Esser
Archie Bradley, RP
The Philadelphia Phillies don’t want to spend $15+ million on a closer – I get that. However, the team desperately needs someone reliable in their ninth inning role. The team’s inability to find a stable closer in 2020 was the main reason they missed out on the postseason, with both Hector Neris and Brandon Workman blowing more saves than I care to count.
While the top-end guys like Liam Hendricks and Alex Colome might be out of the Phillies price range at the moment, a guy like Archie Bradley fits in line with what the team should be targeting. He won’t make as much as some of the elite closers, he’s coming off a fantastic 2020 campaign, and he’s still only 28 years old.
Similar to that of Taijuan Walker, Bradley could end up being a longterm solution to the Phillies pitching woes.
Bradley has 40 saves over the last two seasons, and his ERA has bounced around the 3.00-3.50 range. In 2017, his best year, his ERA ended up finishing at an impressive 1.73.
Snatching up Bradley on a team friendly 2-3 year deal would do a lot in terms of giving Girardi a competent bullpen moving forward. It would allow Neris to slide back into a “set-up” role, which is ultimately a spot that he should see better production at.