The Philadelphia Phillies have an urgent need at the upcoming trade deadline.
Those who have watched the team can probably immediately identify it–or at least, one of their top needs. Philadelphia’s bullpen has been a huge issue, especially the closer role (by far the most important of the eight slots in the ‘pen).
Jordan Romano hasn’t worked out as a bounce-back free-agent signing, and José Alvarado got suspended 80 games, plus the playoffs, for performance-enhancing drug use. So even though the latter will be back soon, he’ll be ineligible when the Phillies would have needed him most of all.
Luckily, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has a reputation for making the big trades he needs when his team is in a pinch. That’s why one baseball analyst sees them going out and landing a sturdy closer.
During the most recent episode of the “Talkin’ Baseball” podcast, Jomboy Media’s Jack Oliver, better known as “Jolly Olive,” predicted that the Phillies would acquire Washington Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan to shore up the bullpen by the end of the month.
“The Phillies, they have one of the worst bullpen ERAs in baseball,” Oliver said. “Eight different Phillies have a save this year, and none of them have more than eight. So they’ve just been passing that role around and haven’t been able to find any rhythm there since Alvarado got suspended.
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“I have Kyle Finnegan going to the Phillies. He’s been locking down a lot of saves for the Nats. I think they’re one of like, the five guaranteed sellers… Feels like a Dombrowski guy to just make a quick swap with.”
Finnegan racked up saves at a higher pace last season, when he was named an All-Star for the first time, but his ERA (3.12) is lower this year. He’s also on an extremely affordable contract at just $6 million with free agency looming.
Though fans might have their sights set higher on the Emmanuel Clases and Jhoan Duráns of the world, settling for Finnegan wouldn’t be the worst thing for these Phillies.
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