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The Philadelphia Phillies were expected to pursue a bullpen addition at some point this season and that expectation was raised on Sunday.
One of the team’s only reliable high-leverage relievers, Jose Alvarado, was given an 80-game suspension and barred from the playoffs after a failed drug test. Now the team is left to determine what external additions might be available with every potential seller well aware of their desperation.
There is some good news for the Phillies, though. While they might desperately need a closer, the team has an abundance of something virtually every other club would like in exchange: starting pitchers.
“Could the Phillies deal from an apparent area of surplus — say, starting pitching, especially after Mick Abel’s dazzling major league debut Sunday — to fill an immediate void?” asked Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Answering that question, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski seemed to hint that the team will indeed consider trades that leverage some of that starter depth to bring in a high-leverage reliever.
“We do have an abundance of starters, which is a good place to start,” he said, per Lauber. “How that affects the decisions we make, I guess that’s more as time goes on. We’ll see what happens.”
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The Phillies have focused on achieving enviable rotation depth in recent seasons and, even with veteran Aaron Nola on the injured list, have enjoyed strong starts from Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo and Abel recently. The Phillies also have an improving Taijuan Walker in the bullpen and top prospect Andrew Painter looking to make his big-league debut at some point this season.
But, with the relief corps looking like a different story, it could be time to shed some of that depth to add another solution for late innings.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.