The most recent Phillies rumors link them to a new veteran reliever
Jon Morosi of MLB.com has thrown a new name into the batch of Phillies rumors this offseason.
According to Morosi the Phillies are among several teams with active interest in free agent reliever Andrew Miller.
Morosi says the Phillies, Cardinals, and Mets are among several teams in on the 33-year-old lefty, but a deal is not close with any team.
Miller established himself as one of the most consistent relievers in baseball, but was arguably overused by the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees.
Miller missed three months of the 2018 season with injuries to his knee, hamstring, and shoulder, but according to his agent in an article by Joel Sherman, the lefty is healthy going into the offseason.
From 2014-17 Miller has a 1.72 ERA in 260 games and 261 innings with 51 saves and 421 strikeouts. Last year, however, for the Indians he was limited to 37 games with a 4.24 ERA.
Cleveland used Miller in 19.1 innings over 10 games during their 2016 playoff run, during which he had a 1.40 ERA.
Philadelphia could use Miller in a variety of fashions such as a closer or multi-inning middle reliever. Philadelphia’s bullpen was decent last year with the promotions of Seranthony Dominguez and Victor Arano and the re-signing of Pat Neshek.
Closer Hector Neris struggled and was demoted to Lehigh Valley and free agent signee Tommy Hunter struggled throughout his first season in Philadelphia.
Right now the Phillies bullpen looks to consist of Dominguez, Hunter, Neshek, Arano, Luis Avilan, Luis Garcia, and Adam Morgan, with others competing for jobs.
Miller would likely take a job from Morgan, a former top prospect converted from being a starter and can work multiple innings out of the ‘pen as a lefty.
We recently examined the recent history of relievers signing big deals and whether the Phillies should pay free agents or pay another team with prospects for a young reliever.
Miller won’t get the big payday he was destined to get after several consistent years, but he’ll likely get a multi-year deal.
The potential addition of Miller would make a lot of sense for Philadelphia, and if he’s healthy he could be a star in the bullpen with Dominguez.