Philadelphia Phillies: 3 needs to address before Opening Day
By Tim Boyle
The Philadelphia Phillies need a bullpen arm or two or maybe even three
Oh, the Phillies bullpen. The number of hearts you have broken in the last few seasons. Confidence in you remains lower than low.
The Phillies did at least try to improve their bullpen with the addition of Corey Knebel prior to the lockout happening. Likely to become their closer for the 2022 season, he’s a much-needed addition but not nearly enough.
I’ve penciled in Ranger Suarez as a starter in 2022 (how can they not?), so this leaves them with one more roster spot to fill as they look to completely retool their relief stock.
The team did get okay seasons out of Connor Brogdon, Jose Alvarado, and Sam Coonrod last season. Okay isn’t good enough when talking about relief pitchers. Okay, to me, it means having an ERA under 4.30. Each met this criterion but with plenty of shaky outings around it.
Fortunately, you can stumble upon a pretty good relief pitcher without realizing it. Someone in the minors might suddenly get hot and turn into the next hot thing. A free agent pickup or someone brought over in a trade in a lesser deal could turn out to be ten times better than anticipated.
For the Phillies, the goal should be to get as many relief pitchers into the mix as they possibly can. From there, the battle is selecting the right ones to open the season with.