Much like this year, the 2024 Phillies were in need of relief help midway through the season. But instead of finding a long-term solution like Jhoan Duran, last year they went the “rental” route and traded for a pending free agent in Angels’ closer Carlos Estevez.
The trade was mostly met with approval. Estevez was an established closer who had been an All-Star in 2023, and it gave people like me an opportunity to make Rick Vaughn jokes.
Estevez endeared himself to Phillies fans, because he was mostly effective, and also because he did a Kamehameha celebration after successfully converting a save.
Still, I never fully trusted the guy. He allowed too many baserunners, and while he converted most of his save opportunities, none of them felt as easy as they should have.
I was unfortunately correct in not trusting him. While he was certainly not alone in his failings during the 2024 NLDS, when the Phillies needed him most, he faltered.
Estevez was a free agent in the offseason, and since he was looking for a multi-year contract, the Phillies never seemed that keen on a reunion. They instead chose to replace him and Jeff Hoffman with Jordan Romano, and counting on a return to form by Alvarado. (Before you get too upset, remember that broken road eventually led us to Jhoan Duran.)
Estevez signed a three-year deal with the Royals and has put together a solid season. He made the All-Star team, and although he hit a rough patch in July with three straight blown saves, he’s since rebounded to convert his last 14 opportunities. (It should be noted that during that stretch he has a couple of losses where he entered tie games.) Does that mean I’ll count the Phillies out if they’re trailing in the ninth inning of a game this weekend? Not at all.
X-Men character of the series
Unus the Untouchable
Like the Phillies and Royals, the X-Men had a memorable battle with Unus the Untouchable many years ago. The force field generating mutant wanted to prove himself worthy of joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and attacked the X-Men. Ultimately, the good guys emerged victorious.
After a few more conflicts, Unus went away for a while – It was believed he lost control of his forcefield and suffocated himself – but he eventually re-emerged alive with no explanation – and re-established himself as a minor nuisance.
Additional thought about the series
This probably isn’t the Philadelphia vs. Kansas City sports matchup that most people are worried about this weekend, but with the Phillies in hot pursuit of one of the National League’s two playoff byes – and possibly the top record overall – it is an important series. For selfish reasons, it would be great if they could reduce their magic number to zero this weekend, so we don’t have to stay up until 1 AM to watch them clinch on the West coast next week.
Last weekend, I warned that the Marlins series might be a “trap” series. The Phillies ended up doing just fine, but this series has even more potential for the Phillies to overlook it a little. They’re coming off an emotional sweep of the Mets that basically sealed up the division, and next week they’ll face a Dodgers team that is their main competition for one of the league’s two byes. It’s possible that they might not have the same intensity against an also-ran from the American League.
The Royals aren’t awful, but they have been disappointing. After earning a Wild Card spot in 2024, they expected to take a step forward this year. Instead, they’ve been one of the lowest scoring teams in the majors and will struggle to finish .500.
Facing a poor offensive team is good news for the Phillies who won’t be using most of their top tier starting pitchers this weekend. It’s difficult to know what to expect from any of Walker Buehler (making his Phillies debut), Taijuan Walker, or Aaron Nola at this point. Hopefully, they can all pitch at least well enough to keep the Phillies in the game and give the offense – averaging almost six runs a game in September – a chance to win it.
