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The Phillies 2020 Bullpen: The Epitomic Bullpen

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s4&period;203-0&period;006&comma;7&period;001-0&period;209c0&period;391-0&period;047&comma;1&period;243-0&period;051&comma;2&period;004-0&period;847c0&period;6-0&period;607&comma;0&period;795-1&period;985&comma;0&period;795-1&period;985s0&period;2-1&period;618&comma;0&period;2-3&period;237v-1&period;517 C22&comma;9&period;62&comma;21&period;8&comma;8&period;001&comma;21&period;8&comma;8&period;001z M9&period;935&comma;14&period;594l-0&period;001-5&period;62l5&period;404&comma;2&period;82L9&period;935&comma;14&period;594z"><&sol;path><&sol;svg><span class&equals;"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text">YouTube<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading"><strong>Written by&colon; John Storey<br>Follow him on Twitter&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;JohnStorey&lowbar;&quest;s&equals;20">&commat;JohnStorey&lowbar;<&sol;a><br>Follow Prospects Worldwide on Twitter&colon; <a rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;ProspectsWorldW" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&commat;ProspectsWorldW<&sol;a><&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<hr class&equals;"wp-block-separator is-style-wide"&sol;>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>2020 was a rough year for Phillies fans&period; The second season of lackluster results in the <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;h&sol;harpebr03&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Bryce Harper<&sol;a> era&period; But in 2020&comma; things were a bit easier to diagnose&period; Rather than spontaneously combusting midway through the season&comma; as they seemingly had in the previous two&comma; the Phillies had a clear need&colon; their bullpen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Ranking 30th in ERA&comma; WHIP&comma; and both hits and home runs per nine&comma; this was one of baseball’s least reliable pens&period; Few fans won’t remember the week of total darkness just before the August trade deadline when the Phillies bullpen imploded game after game&period; It wasn’t a full week&comma; it only felt like it&period; Between Wednesday &lpar;August 19th&rpar; and Saturday &lpar;August 22nd&rpar;&comma; the Phillies dropped five consecutive games&comma; including a doubleheader&period; The bullpen was explicitly responsible for losing four of those games&comma; including two walk-offs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>No doubt&comma; some defensive mishaps stratified things&period; Nearly a third of the runs surrendered &lpar;34&rpar; in those five games were unearned &lpar;10&rpar;&period; However&comma; the majority &lpar;6&rpar; of those came in the fourth&comma; Friday&comma; game&period; In the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves&comma; already down by three runs&comma; the Phillies’ bullpen found a way to allow seven runs in a single frame&comma; dissolving any chance at a comeback&period; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;d&sol;duvalad01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Adam Duvall<&sol;a> was the first baserunner to reach on an error&period; He then scored an unearned run on a <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;c&sol;camarjo01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Johan Camargo<&sol;a> double&period; A sacrifice fly allowed <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;r&sol;rileyau01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Austin Riley<&sol;a> to score before <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;s&sol;swansda01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Dansby Swanson<&sol;a> reached on an error while Johan Camargo tagged home&period; A <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;d&sol;darnatr01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Travis d&&num;8217&semi;Arnaud<&sol;a> single plated Swanson unearned before Marcel Ozuna hit a home run cashing three more unearned runs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Case in point&comma; it doesn’t take much evidence to demonstrate the Phillies’ ugly bullpen numbers weren&&num;8217&semi;t unconditionally terrible&period; Their peripherals indicated there was some baseline value&period; The Phillies bullpen xFIP was more reasonable at 4&period;61&comma; ranking 18th while their SIERA suggested a value of 4&period;26&comma; good for 17th&period; Their strikeout rate&comma; 22&period;9&percnt;&comma; also distanced them from baseball’s worst&comma; placing them 23rd&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Moreover&comma; the difference between their expected wOBA &lpar;&period;035&rpar; and slugging percentage &lpar;&period;057&rpar; in the sixth inning or later was the greatest in baseball last year&period; Their batting average differential &lpar;0&period;24&rpar; and BABIP &lpar;&period;350&rpar; were the second-highest in baseball&comma; trailing only Boston in both cases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The Phillies saw rough seasons from <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;b&sol;brogdco01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Connor Brogdon<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;w&sol;workmbr01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Brandon Workman<&sol;a>&comma; and <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;m&sol;morgaad01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Adam Morgan<&sol;a>&period; And there’s really no way to excuse that&period; The most obvious bright light in the bullpen was <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;p&sol;parkebl01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Blake Parker<&sol;a>&period; Despite walking a staggering 5&period;06 batters per nine innings&comma; he was effective&period; The eight-year veteran overcame his control issues to strike out over 36&percnt; of batters&comma; a large part of what led to a tidy 3&period;38 FIP and even better 2&period;81 ERA&period; His split-finger did the majority of the heavy lifting&period; Batters hit Parker&&num;8217&semi;s four-seam fastball &lpar;which he threw as often as his split-finger&rpar; particularly hard after he struggled to keep it off the heart of the plate&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"gHL8Un0o" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- Display Ad --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-7814068302911952" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1407500180" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;h&sol;hunteto02&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Tommy Hunter<&sol;a> was similarly effective&comma; just not to the same degree&period; He bounced back from a 2019 season lost to a forearm strain by striking out a comfortable 9&period;57 per nine and walked 2&period;19&period; The results were fine&comma; a 4&period;01 ERA&comma; and 3&period;31 FIP &lpar;114 ERA&plus;&rpar;&period; However&comma; he’s thrown up a lot of unfavorable flags&comma; notably his relatively flat sinker&comma; poor spin&comma; and questionable command&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Finally&comma; the primary sources of misconception&colon; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;r&sol;romerjo01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">JoJo Romero<&sol;a> and <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;n&sol;nerishe01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Hector Neris<&sol;a>&period; Drafted by the Phillies in 2016&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;s since found his way onto multiple Phillies&&num;8217&semi; top prospects lists&period; 2020 was Romero&&num;8217&semi;s first big league season&period; It looked ugly &&num;8211&semi; but it wasn’t&period; A 7&period;59 ERA and 1&period;41 WHIP aren’t exactly encouraging&comma; however&comma; Romero was much better than that&period; Romero’s results are likely&comma; in part&comma; a by-product of the shortened season&period; He simply didn’t have an opportunity to regress to the mean&period; Opponents tagged him for a &period;375 BABIP while he stranded just 44&period;9&percnt; of base runners&period; JoJo’s opponents’ OPS with runners on was 41&percnt; higher than the league’s while it was 6&percnt; lower without runners on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Moreover&comma; there’s peripheral evidence of his actual performance&period; His K&sol;BB ratio was 5&period;00&comma; while his FIP was a strong 3&period;66&comma; slightly higher than expected while maintaining a strong groundball rate &lpar;50&percnt;&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Hector Neris&comma; who served as the team’s closer for half the season&comma; wasn’t his usual self&period; After 6 productive seasons in Philadelphia&comma; 2020 was a slight step backward for Neris and in a way very comparable to Romero&period; His ERA was higher than pedestrian &lpar;4&period;57&rpar; alongside a lofty 1&period;71 WHIP&period; But again&comma; he continued to strike out twice as many as he walked&comma; even if he was striking out fewer per walk than he historically has&comma; and his opponents’ BABIP was &period;381&period; Neris’ ceiling is lower than it should be &&num;8211&semi; his expected FIP &lpar;4&period;10&rpar; and SIERA &lpar;4&period;26&rpar; aren&&num;8217&semi;t as optimistic as Romero’s&comma; but that’s largely a derivative of the decline in strikeout-walk ratio&comma; something that may be remediable&period; If he’s able to move closer to the strikeout and walk rates he’s produced in the past&comma; his FIP &lpar;2&period;50&rpar; might more accurately reflect his productivity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;98&period;1 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>So&comma; it wasn’t all absolutely terrible &&num;8211&semi; there were a lot of positive takeaways&period; However&comma; that’s not to suggest that their bullpen was practical&period; The Phillies are a team trying to compete&comma; even if they now have to put up with the now lucrative Mets and Atlanta’s threatening roster&period; And the bullpen they limped through 2020 with will not cut it&period; After the type of investment&comma; they made two offseasons ago&comma; they owe it to their fans and roster to finish the job&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>First&comma; let’s clarify where the bullpen stands and what’s changed from 2020&period; Neris and Romero&comma; the two most projectable Phillies relievers from the 2020 staff are returning&period; Connor Brogdon is also returning and despite a rocky 2020&comma; he’s young and projectable&period; Brandon Workman is currently a free agent and Adam Morgan has moved onto the Cubs&period; Assuming Workman doesn’t return&comma; flushing those two arms already helps to improve the Phillies’ outlook&period; And that may be mutually beneficial&period; After their seasons&comma; they are most likely to find success alongside a change of scenery&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Tommy Hunter and Blake Parker are both free agents&period; They’re older &lpar;34 and 35&comma; respectively&rpar; and they likely fit better with a different organization&period; Perhaps one willing to retool and refine them&period; Given their strong 2020 campaigns&comma; even with the troublesome indicators that exist&comma; they’re ideal candidates for a sub &period;500 team to acquire and flip at the trade deadline&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The Phillies are off to a good start&period; Following the arrival of veteran executive Dave Dombrowski&comma; they’ve added two high ceiling arms to their existing core &lpar;Neris&comma; Romero&comma; Brogdon&rpar;&colon; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;a&sol;alvarjo03&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Jose Alvarado<&sol;a> and <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;b&sol;bradlar01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Archie Bradley<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Both carry strong resumes without the lofty price tag that other relievers do&semi; something that&&num;8217&semi;s going to have to be a theme for the Phillies going forward&period; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;c&sol;coonrsa01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Sam Coonrod<&sol;a> is another addition who fits this theme&period; Dombrowski openly admitted that Philadelphia won’t be viewed as a highly competitive team&comma; however&comma; the organization still intends to secure a postseason berth&comma; a statement that contrasts with Dombrowski’s traditional style&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Archie Bradley has never quite achieved an elite level of production&period; But he came close in 2020&period; And that’s what makes him a great fit for the Phillies&period; He’s a consistent and quietly effective arm&period; After splitting the season between Arizona and Cincinnati his combined 2020 season produced a sub 3 ERA with an agreeable FIP and a WHIP just over 1&period; More importantly&comma; he’s done an excellent job at sustaining that production throughout his career&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Bradley has been a picture of consistency since finding a home in the bullpen in 2017&comma; his third major league season&period; Since then&comma; pitching all but 1&period;1 of his 234&period;2 innings once out of relief&comma; he’s amassed a 2&period;95 ERA&comma; collecting 9&period;9 strikeouts per nine innings&comma; a 3&period;19 FIP and most impressively a 152 ERA&plus;&period; Having come about as close to being elite without actually occupying that space&comma; the Phillies were able to add a productive arm to the back of their bullpen for a somewhat economical &dollar;6 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Jose Alvarado doesn’t have the same track record as Bradley&comma; however&comma; he’s probably shown more upside&period; After four seasons with the Rays&comma; Alvarado established himself as an arm capable of great things&period; Particularly in his 2018 season&comma; which saw him achieve a 172 ERA&plus; with an elite 11&period;3 K&sol;9&period; He also dominated the StatCast leaderboards&comma; with upper percentile fastball velocity and shiny expected averages&period; When hitters did overcome his lofty whiff rate&comma; he reduced the barrel rate of just 4&period;6&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Most recently in 2020&comma; he worked under a reduced workload after dealing with shoulder issues&period; The results were ugly&comma; his second consecutive unproductive season&period; Now&comma; through two seasons of injuries on his throwing arm&comma; Alvarado is exactly the type of gamble the Phillies are going to have to &lpar;and appear to be looking to&rpar; capitalize on&period; Alvarado&comma; with little opportunity cost&comma; could have a huge payoff if he’s able to recapture some of what he was able to accomplish in 2018&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"oQd7V0eA" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- Display Ad --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-7814068302911952" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1407500180" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;r&sol;realmjt01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">J&period;T&period; Realmuto<&sol;a>&&num;8216&semi;s return is going to play a significant role in limiting runs&period; As one of&comma; if not the best farmer in baseball&comma; he makes the whole pitching staff better&period; Simply put&comma; price per pound is a lot higher behind the plate&period; Bradley and Alvarado prove that Philadelphia is willing to get creative to add talent&period; That’s to say that they don’t need additional payroll to improve their bullpen and there&&num;8217&semi;s no reason that the retention of Realmuto should prevent them from exploring further upgrades&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>We’ve seen bullpens duct-taped together before&period; It takes some careful curation throughout the off-season&period; But the Phillies are poised to do that&period; Despite not being linked to the market’s top free-agent relievers&comma; the likes of <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;h&sol;handbr01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Brad Hand<&sol;a> and Liam Hendricks&comma; acquisitions like Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado show that this team is making very intentional&comma; meaningful additions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Additions that may not be flashy but should offer some hope for Phillies fans&period; It’s not hard to imagine this bullpen competitively finding their way through 2021&period; The Phillies&&num;8217&semi; approach is quickly gaining popularity across Major League Baseball&period; And why not&quest; With such an influx of both arms and information&comma; there’s always jackpot opportunities for teams willing to do the legwork to identify high ceilinged&comma; cost-effective additions&period; The Toronto Blue Jays have modeled this approach&comma; and continue to do so&comma; recently signing <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;y&sol;yateski01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Kirby Yates<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Over the past half-decade&comma; Toronto sourced several arms&comma; the likes of <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;h&sol;hudsoda01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Daniel Hudson<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;h&sol;hatchto01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Tom Hatch<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;o&sol;ohse01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Seunghwan Oh<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;c&sol;coleaj01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">A&period;J&period; Cole<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;p&sol;phelpda01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">David Phelps<&sol;a>&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;d&sol;dolisra01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Rafael Dolis<&sol;a>&comma; and <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;b&sol;biagijo01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Joe Biagini<&sol;a> by diverse means&comma; the Rule 5 draft and Japan included&period; Eventually&comma; given a steady workload and some consultation with one of baseball&&num;8217&semi;s most underrated pitching coaches&comma; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;w&sol;walkepe01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Pete Walker<&sol;a>&comma; each contributed to the Jays&comma; either directly or through the return they produced in trade&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The Phillies aren&&num;8217&semi;t that far from being competitive&period; They’ve got a lot of valuable players who are capable of some very good things&period; Winning the National League East may be an unrealistic goal given the fierce competition&comma; however&comma; they’re continuing down a path that could position them well for a wild card spot&period; Especially if Major League Baseball elects to expand the playoff picture in 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Targeting players who can help shore up their weakest link&comma; the Phillies are working to get better&period; Not every team can say that&period; So&comma; here’s something&comma; given the proper substitution&comma; 30 teams and their fan bases can say&colon; With a bullpen necessitating turnover and finite resources&comma; Phillies fans &lpar;and Dave Dombrowski&rpar; may have to get comfortable with a different type of aggressiveness&comma; signing more&comma; smaller checks rather than fewer large ones&period; But&comma; this off-season especially&comma; there’s an excellent opportunity to dangle those dollars in front of some aging yet subtly effective pitchers&period; <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;b&sol;boxbebr01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Brad Boxberger<&sol;a>&comma; David Phelps&comma; and <a rel&equals;"nofollow noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;baseball-reference&period;com&sol;players&sol;s&sol;shrevch01&period;shtml&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;Linker&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;direct&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;linker-">Chasen Shreve<&sol;a>&comma; to identify a few remaining free agents&period; There’s plenty of opportunities yet for more meaningful addition&period; And plenty of opportunities yet for Philadelphia to host an ambitious baseball team in 2021&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"dzv9VhdP" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-7814068302911952" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"2531094727"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-text-align-center"><em>All data sourced from fangraphs&period;com&comma; baseball-reference&period;com and baseballsavant&period;mlb&period;com&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<hr class&equals;"wp-block-separator is-style-wide"&sol;>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-text-align-center"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;wordpress&period;com&sol;view&sol;prospectsworldwide&period;com" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener"><strong>Find all our 2020 MLB Playoff Coverage Here&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;a><br><strong>As we cover each series as the Playoffs unfold with an Analyst assigned to each series&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-text-align-center"><strong>Follow us on Twitter <a rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" 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