5 free agents who would significantly improve 2021 Phillies

2. Blake Treinen

The Phillies need to improve their bullpen this offseason. That much is obvious. However, building a bullpen on the free-agent market can be tough.

It doesn’t help that the Phillies have a pretty bad history when it comes to giving big contracts to free-agent relievers. In 2018, the Phillies spent a combined $34 million on Tommy Hunter and Pat Neshek. In 2019, they spent $23 million on David Robertson. And don’t even get me started on the Jonathan Papelbon contract from the 2012 offseason. While these moves weren’t all disastrous, none of them turned out particularly well for the Phillies.

However, with very few internal options, the Phillies will have to pay good money to some free-agent relievers this offseason, and Blake Treinen is as good an option as any.

For one thing, he’ll likely be a buy-low candidate. While he was lights-out from 2014 to 2018, he struggled mightily in 2019 which absolutely tanked his value.

However, he was much better in 2020. His underlying numbers from this past season look much closer to his 2014-2018 stats than his 2019 figures. His 3.15 FIP was the best it’s been since his rookie season, which is particularly promising.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, the Dodgers might be inclined to keep Treinen, especially if he pitches well for them in the rest of the World Series. The Dodgers have a clear financial advantage over the Phillies, and Treinen seems to have positive feelings towards his current organization. 

If the Phillies do miss out on Treinen, there are plenty of other free-agent relievers the team should consider instead. Liam Hendriks, Shane Greene, and Alex Colome are all talented pitchers who will be available this offseason. A reunion with Ken Giles could also be in the Phillies future.