Phillies Bullpen Coming Into Focus
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies have enjoyed strong competition for bullpen roles this spring, and recent moves are beginning to clarify the final makeup.
Over the course of the winter and on through the Grapefruit League we have been examining the candidates for that 2016 Phillies bullpen here at TBOH. Over the winter it was David Mosemann looking at a number of the incumbents, and Mike Azzalina has picked it up with the newcomers here in the spring.
As major stories developed, we have treated those with special pieces. A week ago, I covered the battle among a handful of lefties for bullpen roles. A week earlier, I took a look at how the race to become the new Phillies closer was shaping up among the favored candidates.
Well now as the team moves within a week of opening the regular season, those battles are beginning to come into sharper focus. The Phillies made a number of moves today, sending both Elvis Araujo and Luis Garcia out to AAA Lehigh Valley, and reassigning Bobby LaFromboise, Chris Leroux, and Reinier Roibal to minor league camp.
While Leroux and Roibal were decided longshots throughout the spring, all three of Araujo, Garcia and LaFromboise were legitimately in the race to make the final cuts. Especially LaFromboise, whose quirky motion and gaudy spring stats opened some eyes.
The moves involving LaFromboise and Araujo mean that there are three key lefty relievers remaining in camp, and all three are strong contenders to make the club. Those left-handers are Brett Oberholtzer, who can be considered a sure thing, Daniel Stumpf, the Rule 5 draftee who needs to stay or be returned to the Royals, and veteran James Russell.
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That would appear to leave four spots for right-handers. Three of those spots are likely to go to David Hernandez, Dalier Hinojosa, and Jeanmar Gomez. In that scenario, the odd men out would be Andrew Bailey, Edward Mujica, Ernesto Frieri, and Hector Neris.
Since the Phillies can send both Neris and Bailey to the minor leagues, Neris because he has an option remaining, and Bailey because they don’t need to make a roster decision on him until May 1st, that would seem to make the final bullpen battle between veterans and former closers Mujica and Frieri.
Mujica has clearly outpitched Frieri, at least where results are concerned. Frieri, always susceptible to the long ball, would seem like a bad fit for Citizens Bank Park in any event.
Much can change still. Injuries could pop up. Someone could suddenly begin looking really bad out on the mound. But as of now, I would call the Phillies bullpen as Oberholtzer and Gomez as the lefty/righty long men, Russell and Stumpf as situational lefties, and Mujica and Hinojosa setting up Hernandez as the closer. Having any of those final three actually named the closer to open the season would not surprise me.
The club would then still have Bailey, Neris, Araujo, LaFromboise, and Garcia among the bullpen arms they could draw from in the minor leagues should injuries or major ineffectiveness crop up at any point.