It Has to Be Better, Right?

Your Philadelphia Phillies held leads in 49 of the 60 games they played in 2020. They managed to lose 21 of those games, Jayson Stark reported yesterday in The Athletic. Thanks, worst bullpen in modern history.

Jayson added this to add lemon juice to the paper cuts:

Was it some kind of planetary alignment that caused this historic suckage? Or was it just bad, terrible, awful luck, with a healthy helping of bad pitching? New Phillies VPBO Dave Dombrowski has made it his mission to retool the bullpen for 2021.

Members of the 2020 bullpen who are no longer with us include Brandon Workman, Adam Morgan, Victor Arano, Heath Hembree, Tommy Hunter, Reggie McClain, Blake Parker, Cole Irvin, and probably some other I forgot because their performances were so, well, forgettable.

The biggest addition to the bullpen for 2021 is Archie Bradley. They've also added Jose Alvarado and Sam Coonrod. Holdovers from last year include Hector Neris, Connor Brogdon, David Hale, JoJo Romero, and Ranger Suarez. You have to think that addition by subtraction will make the 2021 team better. Even lowering the bullpen ERA by a run would make a big difference. 

One guy I'd like to see back, if he's healthy, is David Robertson. He's the guy who was healthy throughout his whole career until he joined the Phillies in 2019. He pitched a total of 6.2 innings in 2019 and didn't pitch at all in 2020. If he's healthy, I'd love to see the Phils sign him for a low base salary (maybe $2 million) and load it up with incentives. He made $23 million for his 6.2 innings with the Phils. He almost owes it to the Phillies to come back and earn what he was paid.

The equipment truck leaves snowy Philadelphia on Monday for Spring Training in Clearwater. The first official workout for pitchers and catchers is Wednesday, Feb. 17, pandemic permitting.