On Thursday, April 3, baseball legend and former Philadelphia Phillies‘ third baseman Mike Schmidt visited Holy Name of Jesus Church in Fishtown to discuss skin cancer prevention and sun-smart practices.
Sitting with the Hall of Famer to discuss his journey through his diagnosis, becoming cancer-free, and then working diligently to spread awareness was a truly insightful evening. But Schmitty—referred to only as Mr. Schmidt by myself out of respect—offered insight beyond the scope of what brought him back to Philly that evening.
Before parting ways, the topic of the current Phillies naturally came up. Schmidt would join the Phillies’ home broadcast team for their Sunday matchup against the Dodgers, offering his opinion on the team. Ahead of that appearance, he provided a preview of his take to Metro Philadelphia.
“I think they have a chance to be great,” Schmidt said of this season’s Phillies team. “I now come to understand that it’s all about the bullpen, as you saw [against Colorado]. The 3-0 game, and then it was a 3-1 game. And that happens. Eighty percent of the games are put in the bullpen’s hands, right? And if the bullpen gives up one or none, or whatever, keeps the Phillies in control of the game, then they win. If you have a mediocre bullpen, and every time that fifth inning on, you give it to a mediocre bullpen, you’re not going to win. You’re gonna be a .500 team.”
Philadelphia has already been bitten and blessed by the bullpen at various points this season. Jose Alvarado has earned a win, a hold, and two saves through his first five appearances this season. This includes the performance that Schmidt alluded to. The 35-pitch outing against the Colorado Rockies saw Alvarado allowing a run after a walk and two straight singles to open up the inning.
Alvarado would strike out Jacob Stallings in response before loading the bases after allowing yet another single, this time to Kyle Farmer. With the lead down to two, the bases loaded, and only one out on the board, Manager Rob Thomson was left with the difficult decision to either bring out Alvarado for the likes of Tanner Banks, Joe Ross, or Matt Straham, who, like Alvarado would be making his second appearance in as many days. Thomson opted to continue riding with Alvarado, who would respond by striking out Tyler Freeman and Brenton Doyle to secure the save.
It was a gutsy performance by both Alvarado and Thomson, but one that paid off. As exciting as that moment was, the Phillies have had equally depressing performances out of their bullpen this season, often compliments of offseason addition Jordan Ramano.
Romano was brought in as a medium-risk, high-reward option to potentially claim the closer title, if not contribute heavily to the committee. The experiment has not gone as the Phillies have hoped, as Romano has allowed multiple runs in three of his five appearances this season. Philadelphia has managed to win every game that Romano has pitched in, almost miraculously.
While Romano’s inefficiencies have yet to truly burn the team, a wild outing by both Orien Kirkering and Tanner Banks factored heavily into the Braves’ come-from-behind win over the Phillies on Tuesday evening.
There’s no immediate need for Dave Dombrowski to panic and rush to acquire an additional arm for the pen, but it’s also far from unlikely that the team will not consider an addition by the deadline, as teams often do. What the Phillies must avoid is adding “an arm” and must instead add “the right arm.” Carlos Estéves and Tanner Banks were fine, but Philadelphia needs greatness in their bullpen.
Alvarado and Straham have earned a large amount of confidence, and one run for Kirkering in an odd outing is no reason to sound the alarms. For now, the Phillies’ bullpen is a strength, but one that will certainly need to get even stronger by the deadline.
