The Phillies are staring at another bullpen puzzle, and this one comes after a night when they barely had enough arms to piece together a win.
Philadelphia has been grinding through 14 straight days, and the extra-inning chaos has left interim manager Don Mattingly trying to squeeze every last usable pitch out of a taxed relief corps. In the series opener against the St.
Louis Cardinals, the plan was simple: let Andrew Painter and Alan Rangel absorb as much of the game as possible, no matter how it unfolded. They did exactly that, combining to cover eight innings before Jonathan Bowlan, the only other reliever available, locked down the ninth for his first career save.
That three-man pitching staff was enough for a 6-5 win, but it did not reset the bullpen the way a lot of people might expect. Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic reported that the group still won’t be fully available Tuesday, even after six arms were rested against St. Louis.
“Mattingly said the bullpen won’t be fully available Tuesday despite resting six arms against the Cardinals; it will take additional time to recover from the bizarre, up-and-down baseball that taxed the bullpen and everyone’s collective sanity last week and left the Phillies reeling into Monday,” Varnes wrote.
Rangel looks like the safest bet to stay down. He threw 55 pitches over 2.2 innings, and that workload makes him almost certain to be unavailable. Bowlan needed only 10 pitches to finish his inning, but he was also making his fourth appearance in six days, so using him again would seem to be reserved for an emergency.
The list of likely unavailable names could grow from there. Orion Kerkering has been used four times in five days, while Jhoan Duran has already piled up six appearances in the first nine days of August. Caleb Kilian, who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline, is on the injured list with an oblique injury after pitching four out of six days since joining the club.
If those three are out again, the late innings would likely fall to Brooks Raley and Jose Alvarado, both deadline additions themselves. Tim Mayza should be in the mix too, since he has been alternating appearances with off days. Chase Shugart, recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley when Kilian went on the injured list, also appears available; he worked three of four days from Aug. 5-8 but has not pitched since.
Cristopher Sanchez gets the ball for Philadelphia tonight, and that may be the best bullpen help of all. He has not gone seven innings in an outing since the All-Star break, but this is the kind of night where the Phillies would love to see him get there again.
In Other News...
Phillies Already Created A Bryce Harper Problem They Couldnt Afford
The Phillies built this latest infield shuffle around a simple idea: get Alec Bohm to first base after the Luis Arraez acquisition and slide Bryce Harper back to the outfield to cover the rest. In theory, it gave Philadelphia a cleaner alignment and let the club keep its bats in the lineup. In practice, it quickly reminded everyone why moving Harper off first was never going to be painless, especially after he had not played the outfield since early 2022.
Harpers return to right field has already come with a health concern, and the timing only sharpens the scrutiny on the rest of the arrangement. Bohm, meanwhile, remains entrenched in the middle of the order even though the production has not followed, leaving the Phillies with a spot that is both awkward defensively and underwhelming offensively. For a team trying to sort out its post-deadline shape, that is the kind of problem that can linger if the answers do not start coming soon. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Farm Shakeup Just Put One New Arm In The Spotlight
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McFarlane, in particular, has turned enough heads with his work between Triple-A and Double-A to land on the radar for a possible major league look, especially with bullpen injuries creating openings. The Phillies have reason to monitor him closely now, because the path from depth piece to real option can open fast once the big league relief corps starts thinning out. And while Parras rise is a story in its own right, the more immediate question is which arm Philadelphia trusts next if it needs help sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Turn To Intriguing Bullpen Arm As Relief Pressure Mounts
With the bullpen taking on a heavier workload in recent games, the Phillies made a fresh move to add another arm to the mix by recalling right-handed pitcher Alex McFarlane from Triple-A. McFarlane has put together a strong minor league season, posting a 1.83 ERA across 36 outings, and he already has one scoreless appearance in the majors on his rsum.
The shuffle gives Philadelphia another option to help manage the late innings, even if the exact role is still taking shape. To make room on the roster, the Phillies sent Alan Rangel back down, leaving the team to see whether McFarlane can turn his recent run of consistency into a meaningful boost at the big-league level. [Read more 🡒]