The Philadelphia Phillies’ bullpen has been their biggest Achilles’ heel all season.
That problem reared its ugly head again on Wednesday, as Seth Johnson allowed a two-run home run to Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez in a loss that dropped the Phillies out of first place. Their 4.27 reliever ERA ranks 23rd in Major League Baseball.
Most of all, the Phillies just need a closer. They’ve had eight pitchers record saves this year, and no one has more than Jordan Romano’s eight. And Romano also sports an ERA of 6.69.
Two baseball writers foresee the Phillies solving this obvious problem with a trade for a two-time All-Star.
On Thursday, Will Laws and Nick Selbe of Sports Illustrated predicted that the Phillies would acquire David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a midseason blockbuster.
“The Pirates actually demoted Bednar to the minors early this season after three rough outings in which the two-time All-Star retired only three of the nine batters he faced. He returned in mid-April and has been dominant since, rescuing his trade value for the last-place Buccos,” wrote Laws and Selbe.
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“Bednar is making a reasonable $5.9 million this season and has one year left before reaching free agency, so teams would be getting more than just a rental to fortify the back end of their bullpen.”
How good has Bednar been? Well, he hasn’t allowed an earned run since May 23, a streak of 21 consecutive appearances. And he’s struck out 26 batters in 20 1/3 innings during that time frame.
That’s the kind of shutdown ninth-inning man the Phillies need. And though it’s all about 2025 in Philadelphia, it would be nice not to have to worry about the closer role at the start of next season, too.
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