The Phillies Bullpen Is A Problem, And it Has No Easy Fix
The start of the Phillies’ season has not gone the way anyone hoped it would. The slow end to last season has turned into a slow start this season. They…
Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jordan Romano (68) looks on against the Miami Marlins in the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park.
Kyle Ross-Imagn ImagesThe start of the Phillies' season has not gone the way anyone hoped it would. The slow end to last season has turned into a slow start this season. They are not terrible, still in the playoff mix, but they are a far cry from the team people outside the city picked to be major World Series contenders. And while there are many issues, the bullpen is by far the most concerning.
The Phillies currently have the 4th worst bullpen ERA in the league. They have a 5.03 ERA, with a WHIP of 1.46. 4 of the Phillies 8 relievers have an ERA over 5. Jose Alvarado looks like an All-Star. Matt Strahm looks mostly solid. The rest is where the issue starts.
Joe Ross might be better than we think. He had 1 real bad outing where he gave up 4 runs in 1 inning. But in his last 6.2 innings, he has given up no runs. If you take away that 1 start, his ERA is sub 3. As the long man in the bullpen, he is good enough to get by. The real concern is Jordan Romano and Orion Kerkering.
Jordan Romano's Rough Start
Jordan Romando has given up runs in 5 of his 12 outings, and multiple runs 4 times. You just do not know who you are getting on any given night. At one point, he had 3 straight scoreless outings, but then gave up 6 in the 9th inning to make a game where you had a 7-run lead a close call.
So yes, he looked good his last time out, and he has his velocity back, but how can you trust him? He had his velocity in the Marlins game, and they still killed him. Until he strings many clean outings together, we will be holding our breath.
Jayson Stark joined The Afternoon Show, and was not sure if Romano's issues are fully fixable.
"His stuff has been better... My reservation is that his slider still doesn't have that bite it had when he was an All-Star in Toronto. That was his best pitch. It was a huge swing and miss pitch for him. But he lost that pitch, he never found it last year, and do you feel like he has found it this year?"
Orion Kerkering's Busted Slider
Kerkering is a mess too. He actually started the season well. He gave up just 1 run in his first 8 outings. Since then, he has given up 6 runs in 4 innings. That is not even counting the inherited runners he let in. His Baseball Savant numbers dont paint the pitcher of a guy getting unlucky. He is missing the strike zone too much, and when he throws a strike, hitters tend to barrel the ball up.
His big issue is the sweeper/slider. Both HRs he has given up came off that pitch. Including the 3-run shot that blew the lead in game 1 vs the Nationals. Jayson Stark talked about how the Phillies might have messed too much with his slider.
"I talked to two scouts this week. They think the Phillies messed up his slider. It has a slightly different shape now, so the hitters see it so much better. When he first came up, he had a 40% swing and miss rate; it is under 25% this year, plus he has command issues with it. That is a bad combination."- Jayson Stark
Stark went on to say that he thinks Kerkering is fixable. The question is when. Phillies don't exactly have the luxury to wait around for him or Romano to figure things out.
The Rest is A Mess
Everyone else is hard to trust. Carlos Hernandez, Jose Ruiz, Tanner Banks. You are nervous anytime they have to take the mound. Banks is slightly better. If he were the last guy in your bullpen, you might be okay with it. But the other 2 are borderline unusable.
You can't run a bullpen with 2 guys you trust and a long man. They need Romano and Kerkering to be top-end guys, and they need more dependable bodies for the middle innings. Right now, Alvardo is being overused. You run the risk of wearing out your one fully trustworthy guy.
Maybe getting Ranger Suarez back helps. Move Taijuan Walker to the pen. Walker is not exactly easy to trust, but he has been pretty great this year, and it's better than what they have.
Outside of that, it is hard to do anything else before the deadline. There is no great bullpen prospect to call up. They just have to wait until they can make a trade and hope the bullpen doesn't hurt them too badly.
Romano and Kerkering being better is the most important thing though. Those two figuring it out would turn a glaring hole into a minor problem. If they don't figure it out, the Phillies are in trouble. Not just because they lack bullpen arms, but because they might run the few good arms they have into the ground.
