The Phillies did not exactly get the bullpen help many fans were clamoring for at the deadline, but Brooks Raley and Caleb Kilian were supposed to bring something useful to the table anyway: middle-inning stability between the rotation and Jhoan Duran. Both arrived with strong seasons on their résumés, which is why their first night in a Phillies uniform landed with such a thud.
That debut came Wednesday night, just two days after the trade. It was rough in every direction.
Raley and Kilian got just four outs combined and were tagged for seven runs, six of them earned, in a loss. The rest of the pitching staff, meanwhile, held up its end of the bargain with 9.2 innings of three-run ball.
There is no reason to assume this is what the Phillies are getting going forward. But there is also no hiding from the reality that these two relievers matter a lot to what comes next for a team trying to navigate October with a bullpen that still has questions.
Brooks Raley: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 HR
Caleb Kilian: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 5 runs (4 ER), 2 BB, 1 K
Allowed 7 of 11 batters to reach base, with Raley holding a 1-run lead and Kilian…
- John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) August 6, 2026
Raley entered with a 1.96 ERA and a .556 OPS allowed to left-handed batters. Kilian brought a 3.59 FIP and a 27.5% strikeout rate. Those are real weapons, and the Phillies clearly believe they can squeeze value out of them over the coming months.
But neither pitcher is bulletproof. That showed up fast.
Brady House and Jacob Young, both right-handed hitters, did the damage against Raley. Kilian then unraveled after handing out a pair of walks and missing spots early in counts.
The profile is obvious: skill on one side, flaws on the other.
That’s the tension with this deadline haul. Jhoan Duran can cover a lot of ground in the late innings, but he cannot paper over everything.
The Phillies rank 24th in reliever ERA at 4.41, even while sitting fifth in reliever fWAR at 4.4. Strip Duran out of that total, and the bullpen drops to the 18th-most valuable in the league.
There were plenty of high-end relievers available this summer, which is why the Phillies’ approach left room for criticism. Raley deserves credit for what he did with the Mets this year, but when Luke Weaver and Jeff Hoffman are also moved, it’s easy to understand why the reaction around the fan base was so lukewarm.
Maybe the offense-first path, with Luis Arraez as the centerpiece, pays off in October. But one game was enough to show why a partial bullpen overhaul can feel like a missed opportunity. Raley and Kilian are going to have to settle in quickly if the Phillies want to keep that regret from hanging around.
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