Five Things We Learned from Mets Sweeping Phillies
By John Town
The Phillies Need a Lefty Reliever
Through the first nine games of the season, the Phillies left-handed relievers have not been up to par. The team placed their hopes on an unproven quantity in Joely Rodriguez and failed starter turned reliever Adam Morgan.
It took Morgan just two appearances for the club to decide he wasn’t up to the task. In those two outings, Morgan gave up six home runs, including four during Tuesday night’s game against the Mets. It didn’t take long after the game before Morgan was optioned to Triple-A and Luis Garcia was recalled to replace him.
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Rodriguez has not performed well this season either. In 5.1 innings over four appearances, the 25-year old has already given up seven runs, three home runs, ten hits, and four walks. His average fastball velocity is down nearly two miles per hours compared to last year (95.0 mph in 2016 vs 93.1 in 2017). Rodriguez just isn’t the same guy we saw at the end of last season.
With Morgan back in the minors, the Phillies have just one lefty in their bullpen in Rodriguez.
The only other lefty on the 40-man roster is Elniery Garcia, who is currently on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue.
If the team wants to bring up another lefty, they will be forced to add one of Hoby Milner, Wander Perez, or Cesar Ramos to the 40-man roster. They could also look outside the organization in a trade or free agency, but it’s hard to imagine the team giving up significant assets for a short-term problem.