November 21, 2023
The Phillies could be set with their starting rotation after throwing $172 million at Aaron Nola to keep him as the team's No. 2 behind Zack Wheeler. But there could be more tinkering ahead with the pitching staff, as the bullpen could be revamped a bit heading into 2024.
As of right now, Philadelphia has a relatively (on paper) solid top eight in their bullpen, though they do not have an obvious closer:
| Pitcher | Age | 2023 stats |
| Jose Alvarado | 28 | 1.78 ERA in 41.1 IP |
| Jeff Hoffman | 30 | 2.41 ERA in 52.1 IP |
| Gregory Soto | 28 | 4.62 ERA in 60.1 IP |
| Seranthony Dominguez | 29 | 3.78 ERA in 50 IP |
| Matt Strahm | 32 | 2.82 ERA in 54.1 IP |
| Andrew Bellatti | 32 | 5.11 ERA in 24.2 IP |
| Dylan Covey | 32 | 3.69 ERA in 39.0 IP |
| Orion Kerkering | 22 | 3.00 ERA in 3.0 IP |
There isn't a ton of depth beyond the top eight, (Yunior Marte, Connor Brogdon and McKinley Moore are the only three other relievers with MLB experience on the team's depth chart), so there will definitely be some veteran arms joining the party. The team also is relatively young right now in the bullpen.
Philly had the fifth best relief corps in the entire league last season by ERA, and they're only likely to lose Craig Kimbrel and Michael Lorenzen from that unit.
Here's a look at some of the best bullpen fits, broken into as few tiers:
• Hader is the best available by far but the Phillies will need to pay handsomely for his services. Last year he had a 1.82 ERA and 33 saves for the Padres. He's also just 29, and could command upwards of $20 million. We broke down the Phillies interest in him here.
• Robertson was a Phillie twice before and is coming off a respectable 3.03 ERA over 65.1 innings for the Marlins last season.
• Chapman had almost identical stats for the World Series champion Rangers.
• Paxton has a solid body of work behind him but is injury prone.
• Kimbrel was good for the Phils last year but blew two saves in the NLCS. All of these arms are over 35.
• These are two pitchers who are somewhat under the radar, but combine great stuff with relative youth. Middleton recently turned 30 and has been a reliable late innings arm with several teams, including the Yankees and White Sox last season (a 3.38 ERA).
• Fulmer is also 30, and a former starter who could play sort of a Matt Strahm — long man, sometimes late game and sometimes starter role
• The Phillies have three lefties currently in the top eight bullpen arms we broke down below. So it might stand to reason that they target a righty who has closing experience. They could consider a reunion with Neris, who was a solid late innings contributor for them a few years back. He's had success with the Astros.
• There also could be a match made in heaven for Dave Dombrowski in flame-throwing Hicks.
• If the Phils do want more southpaws to choose from, Moore stands out. He had a breakout year as a reliever a year after he stunk it up as a starter for the Phillies in 2021. He's been excellent since.
• Peralta had a combined 2.82 ERA in the Yankees bullpen over the last three seasons.
• Smith has playoff experience and has pitched for several contenders over the last few seasons.
• And Suter is a do-it-all reliever who can start, close and throw multiple innings from the left side.
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