Philadelphia Phillies: 5 fatal flaws that will come back to bite them
By Tim Boyle
The Philadelphia Phillies bullpen remains unsuitable for young viewers.
Is there anything more offensive in baseball than the Phillies bullpen over recent seasons? Despite some promising additions in the offseason, the club is well short of having a relief corps anyone can trust.
Corey Knebel, Brad Hand, and Jeurys Familia can all have career years, and still, the Phillies will lose a ton of games because of how their relievers perform. They haven’t been able to develop any young relief arm in a while. The return of Seranthony Dominguez could lead to a success story. Other than him, they have a bunch of guys in their mid-20s just hoping to not get sent back to Triple-A.
The most fatal flaw of all for this Phillies team is one of the most difficult to solve. Relievers are fickle. The additions they made could have easily fixed the problem or made it worse. It’s impossible to tell with relief pitchers.
The issue is exasperated further with the slumping bats and poor starting pitching performances. The relievers are put into tighter games and left with less room to seal a victory. With no signs of any teams showing mercy toward Philadelphia in this regard, it’s going to be a difficult flaw to overcome. A bullpen cannot save a season. It can certainly ruin one.