It’s still the offseason in MLB, a slow slog towards spring training. We usually think of the winter meetings as the time when most of the action occurs, yet here we are on December 29 and there are still a ton
of free agents that need a home before equipment trucks depart for Arizona and Florida. For some teams, they still have some heavy lifting to do, but for the Phillies, they’re mostly done. Outside of continuing to wait on J.T. Realmuto in a weird game of chicken and maybe a surprise signing, the team has completed its biggest moves of the winter.
Let’s turn our attention to the bullpen. They have a new look right now with names on their way out and a few on their way in. Matt Strahm is in Kansas City, Jordan Romano is in Los Angeles (well, Anaheim) while Brad Keller, Jonathan Bowlan and Zach McCambley are waiting to go to Clearwater. It begs the question: is the bullpen in a better spot today than at the beginning of the offseason? I wouldn’t mind another higher leverage arm added to the mix, maybe in the form of Tatsuya Imai (if they don’t think he’s a starter right away), but I’m actually more excited about the potential of this group than the one that they tried to finagle their way through the postseason with.
