Philadelphia Phillies: Say goodnight to the Hector Neris era

Hector Neris will not pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2022. After 405 games, 407.2 innings, and somewhere around 1,300 swear words screamed at the television and radio per season, the era of Neris in Philadelphia came to a close.

Neris signed a two-year deal with the Houston Astros this weekend worth $17 million. After 84 saves throughout his years in Philly, the club has officially moved on from the 32-year-old reliever.

And thank goodness they did! Neris, despite consistently putting up some swell strikeout numbers in his career, was like watching Jose Mesa at his worst.

The Phillies have put an end to the mediocre era of Hector Neris

It’s hard to believe Neris debuted with the club way back in 2014. I hardly remember what I was thinking back then about him or the club in general. This was the time period when the organization had yet to admit defeat and undertake a rebuild. The 2014 team still had many core members from 2008 still present.

Neris wouldn’t consistently get save opportunities until 2017 following two successful full seasons pitching in other situations. He made the most of the chance, finishing the 2017 season with a 3.01 ERA and 26 saves.

A positive sign of things to come, Neris rained on the parade with a rough 2018 performance. He saved only 11 games and had a 5.10 ERA. Things got so bad that the Phillies demoted him to Triple-A midseason.

The rollercoaster continued in 2019 with a 2.93 ERA and 28 save performance. Then there was the 4.57 ERA showing in 2020 and finally the 3.63 ERA he posted in 2021.

Neris never could quite grasp the closer job for any extended period of time. The Phillies had little patience with him. Home runs and walks got the best of him at times. His tenure in Philadelphia concludes with a 21-29 record, 3.42 ERA, and those 84 saves all amassed in non-playoff seasons.

It’s not all on Neris that we haven’t seen the Phillies make the postseason in a decade. But in a way, he does represent shortcomings of the franchise.

All of the best teams in Phillies history have had a reliable closer. It might be the last line of defense for any team, however, it’s often a necessity for success.

Neris was never quite cut out for the closer job. Although he had the “stuff” to get batters out, the success in big moments just wasn’t there.

And unfortunately, with his departure from the Phillies with no truly large moments, he’ll quickly fall into the category of forgotten relievers in franchise history. File him near Jeanmar Gomez.